Aussie actor Daniel Goddard has been on the set of The Young And The Restless less than a year and he’s lost count of how many actresses he’s shared a bed with. Daniel plays Cane Ashby, a mysterious Australian bartender, on the iconic soap. It would be a dream gig for a lothario, but for this former Home And Away star, it only makes him more excited to go home to his publicist wife Rachel and 18-month-old son, Ford.
You gave up a business course to start acting, then found yourself playing Isla Fisher’s love interest on Home And Away. How did that happen?
I studied economics and had about nine months left to get my degree and I was just at the point where I didn’t want to do it any more. I’d always wanted to act but it’s the kind of thing you don’t really take seriously as a job because back in the day there wasn’t enough money in it to sustain a life and a family. In 1996 I headed over to Los Angeles as part of my way of discovering what I want to do with my life after I worked on Home And Away.
How did your parents feel about it?
Mum was supportive, but now it’s good to know that it’s finally put me in a place where I can say to my dad, “Well, it worked out, I landed on my feet.” You want your family to be proud and know that you didn’t waste that opportunity you had.
You’ve been in LA for 10 years. Did you ever have to live in your car?
You know it’s funny, I actually slept on a kitchen floor for about eight months. I rented a studio for $180 a week. It was one little room and a kitchen. It didn’t let me get too comfortable and kept me focused with my eye on the prize, and I didn’t buy a mattress for that reason.
So you had a hard time bringing dates back to your place then?
I know, it’d be like, “Hey love, here’s the kitchen floor!”
Did you have a bed by the time you met your wife Rachel?
I did. At that point I’d moved. I got a job working at Denzel Washington’s restaurant, that’s where we met. I didn’t call her for 10 days, though, because I just knew when I met her that she was the one and I had to make sure I knew I was ready. I didn’t want to fall in love and end up living somewhere else because I’d given up university and my life in Australia to act.
What were her first impressions of you?
I’d often have clothes in the car to change between auditions, and she saw bags of them in the back seat and thought, “Oh my God, this guy must be homeless!”
So did Denzel ever come into the restaurant?
Yes, he came in all the time. I waited on everybody — Kevin Costner, Steven Spielberg, Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg. I gave Morgan Freeman a script I wrote and I sent it to his agent but he wasn’t interested in the role.
How does Rachel cope with you kissing beautiful actresses all day?
Being a publicist she understands the mechanics of the business and understands completely that I like to play a character as if it were very real. So when you have a love scene, you introduce your wife to the actress. She still hasn’t seen one of my love scenes on Y&R yet and that makes it easier for me because it’s not in the back of my mind. I would be totally comfortable with her doing it, but I don’t know if I’d want to watch it.
The Young And The Restless screens on W. on Foxtel, weekdays, at noon and 6.40pm.
More celebrity interviews in this week’s Woman’s Day
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