Home grown talent

ACTOR, director and producer Steve Nation needed no acting skills to play the role of a tradesperson when it came to renovating his Maudsland acreage home.

The former Neighbours

actor, who has also played a lawyer on Home and Away,

spent eight years as a carpenter before entering the entertainment world.

He came across the acreage property six years ago when it was “in dire need of renovation”.

“This property had enormous amounts of potential and to me as an actor, it’s been a great place to seclude myself when I get roles and be alone and private,” Mr Nation said.

“Magnolia Manor”, with its federation-style house nestled in a lush valley, private lake populated by turtles, gardens with love seats and a chapel with a claw foot bath, was the perfect setting to imagine his latest role.

Mr Nation steps into the persona of a police officer thrust into a world of a teenage girl who acquires magical powers.

The Bureau of Magical Things was filmed on the Gold Coast and is due to hit TV screens this year.

The 20-part series followed a role alongside actor Melissa George in drama The Butterfly Tree that premiered at the 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival.

Mr Nation also recently had a “little role in a musical filmed on the Gold Coast” and has been involved in various local television and web

“I’ve got casting in projects right now, it’s an industry where one minute you’re working and the next minute you’re not,” Mr Nation said.

“It’s good to get roles on the Gold Coast and be able to be based out of home rather than travelling all the time.”

In his early days, Mr Nation spent time acting overseas, often drawing on his tradie past in his spare time.

“As an actor I work all over. productions. I was living in New York in what was a famous church called the Abbey. It was converted in the ’80s to an apartment complex but it had original features like the stained glass windows.” he said.

“We totally gutted the place and renovated it as well.”

At the Maudsland property, which is going to auction later this month, Mr Nation revamped its bedrooms, wine cellar, formal lounge and breakfast sun room.

He also converted the charming chapel into a twobedroom cottage for his mother-in-law.

Mr Nation said Maudsland had been an ideal suburb to raise his two primary schoolaged children with his wife.

“Maudsland was recently voted number one suburb for families on the Gold Coast and we love it,” said Mr Nation.

“We are ready to move on to the next project. We want to buy again and build a Queenslander or Hamptons house.”