In a move that could be seen as one giant jeté away from his role as typical Aussie bloke Justin Morgan in Home And Away, actor James Stewart is lacing up his dancing shoes and preparing to tear up the dance floor on the new season of Dancing With The Stars Australia.
“I’ve always wanted to be a triple threat [someone who’s skilled in three different areas, such as acting, music and dancing],” James, 48, reveals to TV WEEK of his participation in the Channel Seven reality show.
“I’ve been acting and playing music most of my life. And I’ve always had a great respect for the discipline of dancers. So when they [the producers]approached me, I digested it for a little while and talked to my family and we made the decision that if I’m ever going to do it, I have to do it now.”
James adds that when he told 12-year-old Scout, his daughter with his first wife, actress Jessica Marais, she chortled.
“She’s a bit of a comedian at the moment, so she lets the silence do the talking. But then she let out a big, drawn-out, ‘Ooo-kaay….’ But she came to watch and after that she was like, ‘OK, yep – you’ve got this.’”
The actor says seeing Scout in the audience at every show was a highlight.
“She’s kind of into Billie Eilish [the US singer-songwriter] and doesn’t really do jazz hands that much, but she came and saw Dad get up and do something difficult. I’m so chuffed.”
James says he also got some advice from fellow Home And Away cast members Emily Weir (who plays Mackenzie) and Ada Nicodemou (who stars as his wife Leah), who both did well on Dancing With The Stars in the past. They told him to push through the nerves.
“They said, ‘Before you get there, you freak out, because you’re judging yourself. But once you meet the other contestants, you’ll have so much fun.’ And they were right. That fun is so contagious.”
With his co-stars’ and daughter’s support – and Home And Away kindly allowing him the time off to take part – James says he threw himself into training. But even for someone as generally fit as James is, it proved hard.
“I already knew I was going to work hard, but dance-fit is totally different,” James says. “They told me to stop lifting weights, as you want to lengthen the muscle, not shorten it. So I started doing Pilates and swimming and, by the time I got to Jorja Rae – my beautiful dance partner – I was able to throw my body weight around more.
“But I’ve used muscles I’ve never used before, and I honestly didn’t know my hips could do that! I’m not sure Aussie blokes have hips like Latin men, but once you start doing a Latin dance, you become sore in the hip flexors, sore in the butt and in the shoulders.”
James adds that he bonded with everyone in the cast – which includes MasterChef Australia legend Julie Goodwin, former AFL star Ben Cousins and SAS Australia host Ant Middleton – saying they’ll all “be mates forever”.
And, while it’s given the star a taste of the opportunities outside of the TV drama that’s made him famous, don’t expect him to leave anytime soon.
“I love Home And Away and I’ll stay there for as long as they want me,” he says.
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