PETER THURNWALD
THE AUSSIE ACTOR STARS IN XO, KITTY, NETFLIX’S UPCOMING TO ALL THE BOYS SPIN OFF
You left your university physics degree to pursue acting. What sparked that career change?
Sitting in a room surrounded by equations and unwashed hair isn’t everyone’s dream, and it certainly wasn’t mine. When I started uni, I had a friend who was an extras casting agent, and she helped me get on a bunch of TV shows as background. The more sets I found myself on, the more I enjoyed the feeling of working in lm.
Tell us about your role in XO, Kitty.
I play Alex, a young, eager, but goofy teacher who travels to South Korea to look for his birth parents. I begin teaching at KISS, the same school where Kitty moves, and we quickly become friends, bonding over our complete lack of knowledge of Korean culture.
Your character is searching for his birth family in the show, which we’ve heard is something you can relate to in real life. Can you tell us a bit about that?
I was adopted by Aussie parents from South Korea at 6 months old and so I grew up full Aussie, like, barefoot street cricket level. But just as I left school – around the same time I decided I wanted to pursue acting – I started to have this hollow feeling. I felt like a stranger in my own town, in the community I grew up in. My identity was coming into question, and I realised it was because I didn’t know the person who brought me into this world. Since then, I’ve been able to somewhat remedy this feeling by feeding into my art, and XO, Kitty allowed me to do this by playing a character who I can relate to wholeheartedly.
Have you got anything else exciting in the pipeline?
Right now, I’m focusing a lot on the production and creation side of lm. Even though I love acting, I think I love storytelling even more, and so I’ve been working on a lot of projects over the past few years. I’ll be producing my rst horror short called Rear View Mirror in association with Pathline Pictures.
Is there another actor’s career that you would like to emulate?
Steven Yeun. The work he does is so soulful and it’s clear that he’s enjoying putting e ort into the shows he’s both acting in and creating. I mean, have you seen Beef? It’s so good! The ultimate goal is to work with him one day. (Stream XO, Kitty on Net ix now)