Charlie Clausen
Plays Zac MacGuire
Charlie Clausen was born in Melbourne, Australia, on July 31, 1977. As the youngest of nine children, Charlie learnt the gift of the gab at a very young age.
"I didn’t dream of being an actor when I was a kid, but I was the youngest in a large family that would have these deep discussions around the dinner table. If you wanted to be heard, you had to learn how to speak up."
After finishing high school, Charlie went on to do a Media Arts degree at Deakin University and majored in film and video, while also doing student theatre.
"The main thing I wanted to do was tell stories. I would write and short films and sketches and I guess acting became a by-product of that."
While performing in local theatre, Charlie was spotted by a director who cast him in his first professional play. This led to more theatre work and, eventually, secured him an agent.
Charlie got his first big break on the ABC drama Head Start. He then scored a recurring role on McLeod’s Daughters, was a regular on the short-lived comedy series Big Bite, before landing the lead role of Alex Kirby on Blue Heelers, staying with the show until the series in finale.
More roles followed on Canal Road, Neighbours and Satisfaction, but Charlie was already positioning himself for a move back behind the camera. In 2008, he founded Blackberry Films with his partner Gemma Lee. The company has enjoyed great success over the past four years, producing commercials, short films and web content, as well as music videos for some of Australia’s most popular artists, including Guy Sebastian, Kasey Chambers, Reece Mastin and Paul Dempsey.
"Gemma and I are extremely compatible creatively. She’s a director and a visual artist, I’m a writer and producer, and so we compliment each other really well."
One of their first collaborations, a short film called The Wake, was a film festival hit, screening at Palm Springs, Flickerfest, London, Tribeca, Salt Lake City and St Kilda Film Festival where it took home the SBS Award. Later that year it was nominated for Best Short Film at the IF Awards.
Charlie was also the co-host of TOFOP, a weekly podcast he created with comedian Wil Anderson. The funny, irreverent, stream-of-consciousness show became Australia’s most popular comedy podcast, with over 50,000 downloads a week and a legion of dedicated fans.
In 2012, Charlie joined the cast of Home and Away, playing Zac MacGuire, a character that has a history with Natalie (Catherine Mack). Having spent the last few years behind the camera, Charlie is looking forward to the challenge of working on such a high profile series, while also balancing his numerous outside interests.
"The best bit of advice I’ve ever been given is, ‘Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like mad."