Alter -ego a tough act to follow
AS A working actor, there isn’t a day that goes by when Jordan Abbey-Young isn’t grateful for his upbringing on cattle stations.
“I play a bushranger at Dreamworld while I’m between jobs at the moment, so where you come from does come in handy – being a stereotypical-looking country bloke has benefited me quite well,” he said.
Most people will probably recognise Jordan from his social media persona Seca Bush-Jones.
His Facebook page, Angry Christmas Productions, has almost 40,000 followers and he has created a raft of viral videos.
Through that platform he pokes fun at PETA, has a five-minute satire about the heartache of losing a 10mm socket and has a Valentine’s Day video declaring his love for Dan Murphy’s.
He’s a funny guy, but there’s a serious method to the madness – Jordan is determined to make it as an actor.
It’s a far cry from his background – growing up working alongside his family on cattle stations near Forsayth, a small town near Georgetown in far northern Queensland, about 500km away from the nearest city, Cairns.
He moved to the Gold Coast in 2016, completed an acting course and has since slogged it out snatching small parts here and there.
Last year he secured a supporting role as Private Ron
Eglinton in Danger Close, The Battle of Long Tan.
The part allowed him to “make some good money” and bump shoulders with the likes of established Aussie actor Lincoln Lewis.
“The story is about the Australians having one of the biggest military engagements in history,” he said.
“The film had a proper budget, so there were all the fireworks and bells and whistles - it really made me appreciate my history.
“We trained with proper military advisors, and we met with the fellas in the actual 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment who are serving today.”
The film is set to be released later this year.
Previously, when he wasn’t picking up work as an actor, he would drive north to fall back on his skills contract fencing.
However, this year he has decided to give his career his all and will stay on the Gold Coast. He has a plan to later move to Sydney or Melbourne, before eventually making the bold leap to Hollywood.
“I want to go the whole nine yards,” he said.
He loves the thrill of making people laugh and being the centre of attention (“I’m an actor, let’s be honest, I can’t say I don’t”) but talking about himself doesn’t come easily.
He has bucked the trend in his family to pursue an agricultural career – his dad, uncle, aunt and nanna all run stations in the Georgetown area – instead chasing a creative one. He always knew he would have to leave the bush to give acting a crack, but that didn’t mean moving to a city came naturally.
“There was definitely an adjustment period,” he said.
“I came down here with the idea of people wearing skinny jeans and having to pay to use the dump.”
As an actor, he has to look the part, so much to the amusement of his mates back north he now waxes his eyebrows.
“I tried to explain to the boys back home it was a normal thing,” he said.
“And you have to watch your waistline down here – there is a McDonald’s on just about every corner.”
He misses the country but is fully committed to carving out a career. He said his “bush mentality” made him determined not to quit.
“The life of a working actor is all about trying to be a working actor,” he said.
“It comes in dribs and drabs; there are highs and lows.
“When I was on the set of
Danger Close a few of the young fellas and I were talking, saying how we would never take a job as an extra again.
“But it doesn’t work that way. I’ve realised now I can’t be thinking I’m too good to do something.”
Although he is working towards his dream, Jordan doesn’t come across as a dreamer.
He has listened to the advice of his acting coaches and is prepared to put in the work before moving abroad.
“My teacher said ‘you want to get some runs on the board here in Australia before you go over there’,” he said.
“It’s a smaller pool here, so you need to get some laps in so you have a better chance of making it at the Olympics, which is Hollywood.”
As for Seca Bush-Jones, Jordan has plans to expand the content for his Facebook page, but won’t be retiring Seca as a character just yet.
“I got the name when I was running a fence, it just came to me – ‘Seca Bush-Jones’. I assume I must have been looking at a seca bush... and Jones came from, you know, keeping up with the Joneses, and Indiana Jones. It’s a good strong name. On a video I said ‘G’day, I’m Seca Bush-Jones’, and showed how to open a beer with a catch of your door handle. My mate had showed me how to do it some time prior. That video had 10,000 views. So I kept it going since then as it’s giving people a few laughs.”