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West Australian

Actor hailing from regional WA reflects on journey from bush childhood to Shakespearean plays

Spending his childhood in regional Australia gave actor-turned-director Myles Pollard the confidence to succeed in the industry. It was the 'quiet confidence that you get from getting lost in the bush, falling down and dusting yourself off and having another crack,' he told the 2025 Leadership Conference, hosted by Bunbury-Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the conference, Pollard shared his journey of how a kid from rural Australia got to be on stage for Shakespearean plays and then on the big screen, before taking to the director's chair. Growing up in Port Hedland, Karratha and Onslow honed that confidence, a value he said was 'more about presence and consistencies than about your title'. 'They are built not in theory, but they are forged in the fire of lived experience, of falling down, dusting yourself off and having another crack,' Pollard said. After finishing high school and then completing a bachelors degree in teaching, he worked as a teacher before working in the mines. Pollard soon realised his career was definitely not in drilling. 'My theory was, I did not want to be tied down to one predictable career path and I wanted to play everything, and an actor gets to do that,' Mr Pollard said. He then finished an acting degree at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and soon got into theatre. If what he learnt from the bush was confidence that came with a lot of freedom, being in a Shakespearean play in theatre he found something different. 'The type of pressure and unpredictability, every single night and sometimes twice a day, you've got 800 people staring at you, and they are all scrutinising you, they are all judging you, and you have to stay sharp, you have got to recall a lot of content,' he said. 'There are so many words and so many ideas and so many discoveries, and you're having to do that all in flow, publicly with all that scrutiny and it takes a lot of rehearsal, and it takes a lot of self-management.' Despite his many successes, Pollard shared an audition mishap he said should be used as an example of what not to do when selected as one of the 10 people shortlisted for a franchise like Lord of the Rings. 'I was up against actors like Val Kilmer, Ethan Hawke, Ewan McGregor, Richard Roxburgh and David Wenham,' he said. 'I rocked up, I am in this casting room and there is Peter Jackson, who is the writer, director and producer of the franchise and another reader. Then he said, 'So Myles, what do you think about the books?'' Pollard's response was: 'I have not read it mate, but if I get the gig, I will give it a crack for sure.' Pollard said he knew right away he was not getting a call back.