I WISH... XANDER MANKTELOW

When you Google Xander Manktelow for long enough, one of the things you find are the results of some age group athletic tournaments. It turns out, the actor put his height to good use, and was a champion high jumper as a teenager.

“This is what I flex, I was number one in the country for about a week, before people stole my position. My peak was aged 16, and then I stopped growing.”

Athletics eventually got put to the side in favour of acting, and in May this year, Manktelow, 21, became the fifth actor to play Shortland Street’s Harry Warner – or Thompson, depending on who you’re asking. The days of “Harry, please tell me this is not your penis” are long gone, and now Harry is all grown up; a surgeon just like his dad Chris Warner, and deeply entwined in some dark – and big – storylines on the show, especially heading towards the end-of-year cliffhanger.

Manktelow, who grew up in Karori, Wellington after moving to New Zealand from the UK aged five, calls the job a blessing, but admits the medical terminology pronunciation occasionally requires a bit of help from Google.

AS TOLD TO BRIDGET JONES

I WISH I KNEW 10 YEARS AGO THAT…

how to be motivated to train more. With my high jumping and things, I wish I’d put a lot more of myself into it, and pushed myself to see where I could go. Don’t get me wrong, I have still got hops, I can still dunk a basketball, but it’s not the same.

I WISH EVERY DAY I COULD

E AT… pizza, and it would not ruin my body – lactose does not agree with me.

If I could just get away with that, it would be a dream. It would be a pizza with too much pepperoni and a lot of chilli flakes – I like things spicy.

I WISH I COULD LIVE IN…

I love living in New Zealand. I feel so lucky I got to grow up here. It feels safe and people are always so kind. Being noticed by fans is a big change. The rare times people come up to you, it is nice and you can take a photo, but usually you get the looks from people in cars who recognise and point at you. If I hear people randomly yelling ‘Harry’, I do assume it’s directed at me. If not

New Zealand, I’ve got roots in the Netherlands, I think living over there would be wonderful too.

A similar kind of energy.

I WISH I COULD SPEND A SUNDAY WITH…

THE PERSON I WISH I COULD SWAP LIVES WITH IS…

there’s no one in general, but I’d love to swap lives with a voice actor and just have a day working in the booth. Whether it’s screaming like an anime character or doing a stupid voice for a cartoon, I love that stuff and I would love to have a chance to do that.

THE NOISE I WISH I WOULD NEVER HEAR AGAIN IS…

my girlfriend, number one. She is my best friend and we joke and have fun and it is always a good time.

my alarm. I’ve been trying to change it for so long because I have heard ones that sound good. This one just grinds my gears every morning – and now I’m used to hating it, so it kind of works. But it is still horrible. Early mornings on the set of Shortland Street are quite frequent for me – being one of the newer, younger characters, they tend to give you the worst [filming] slots, so starting early and finishing late.

THE PERSON I WISH WAS ON A BANK NOTE IS…

something stupid, like putting Ronald McDonald on there. Put him on the five dollar, that would be fun.

I WISH NEW ZEALAND WAS MORE…

I wish we were more accepting of people. We’re pretty good at it, but I think there’s still a lot going on, there has still been some divisiveness recently.