Hidden agenda

Tim Kano has returned to Neighbours to reprise his character Leo Tanaka. He tells Danielle McGrane what brought him back to the long-running soap.

Leo Tanaka didn’t get much of a send off when he left Ramsay Street for the bright lights of New York City.

“His departure was kind of poignant. It wasn’t a happy wave off in the cab, ‘See ya Ramsay Street’ departure, it was really depressing. He leaves a note on the bench and leaves in the dark of night because the love of his life, Terese, is getting with his dad,” said actor Tim Kano.

Kano had been playing

Leo since he was first cast in Neighbours in 2016, and he played him until early 2020.

Thankfully, Kano now gets to make up for that clandestine departure with an extended guest role appearance as he returns to Neighbours, drawn back for family reasons.

“He (Leo) went on this soulsearching mission to New York and did really well in business,” Kano said.

“But then he heard his brother David is trying to have a baby and his number one goal in life has been to protect David, so he’s coming back for that. He’s had a few bad relationships in New York so he needs to come home, realign, readjust and feel the love from his family again.”

When he returns, Kano says Leo is in full-on protective brother mode, after being warned about Nicolette, who has agreed to be a surrogate for David and his partner Aaron.

“Paul went to see him and planted some seeds of doubt about this Nicolette character saying he didn’t really trust her much, so of course Leo being the protective brother wanted to come and suss that situation out, which he does quite well,” Kano said.

But Leo’s motives aren‘t purely altruistic, and there’s more to play out on the soap, giving Kano plenty of scope to explore his shady side.

“Leo’s following in Paul’s footsteps, you can’t really go wrong with a sort of villainous father like that,” the actor said.

But the villains are often the most fun to play, and Kano has enjoyed modelling Leo on various different characters in popular culture – starting with his onscreen dad Paul Robinson, played by longrunning Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis.

“I remember when I was auditioning I was told that Leo was the young Paul, so that was definitely a big part of him. But he’s a real amalgamation,” he said.

“I watched a lot of shows like Suits because Leo is a bit of a businessman so anything with a bit of a skewed moral compass in the business world is also quite influential, also Mad Men, I love Don Draper, those kinds of characters. You want to know what their motives are and that’s what I love about Leo too because he’s got so many layers, he’s a bit of a sensitive soul and I think quite sad beneath the bravado. I think he’s quite lonely, he’s always bouncing around.”

Kano was pretty pleased to get the call to return to the soap, particularly because it meant he got to act across from Stefan Dennis again.

“He’s such an incredible actor and he’s got such a presence so it’s really nice to bounce off him,” he said.

“I just love anything to do with Leo and Paul because Leo is a bit of a young Paul as opposed to David, who is more morally conscious. Stefan is amazing and he’s such a hoot, he’s hilarious.”

Kano didn’t really expect to return to Ramsay Street, but says it’s been a particularly welcome move.

“COVID hit so the whole of last year, industry-wise, was really tough for everyone across the board. So I was so excited when my agent called me and said ‘They’ve got this storyline, would you be interested?’ I just said yeah it would be awesome,” he said.

“It really is like family there. It’s been a blessing after last year, so this return has been really nice.”

Tim Kano: “Leo’s following in Paul’s footsteps, you can’t really go wrong with a sort of villainous father like that.”

Neighbours, weeknights, 6.30pm, 10 Peach