20 March 2007
The Gold Coast Bulletin

HE’S known to thousands of TV fans as Lucas Holden, but very soon Home and Away’s Rhys Wakefield could be making a name for himself on the big screen.

The 18-year-old Sydneysider has just finished working alongside award-winning actress Toni Collette on his first feature movie, The Black Balloon, and he believed it was his best performance yet.

“Artistically, it was very fulfilling,” said Wakefield, who plays the `frustrated’ brother of an autistic boy in the film.

“The producer (Tristam Miall) pushed me to the limits. He made me so vulnerable on set. It was very, very emotional.”

Wakefield, who caught up with CC while on the Gold Coast last weekend, was hopeful the movie, destined for film festivals this year, would be released on the big screen.

Back to Home and Away and CC couldn’t resist asking Wakefield about coming story lines for his character, who had recently been `dumped’ by a girlfriend for the second time.

“Lucas goes away for a while and then comes back and has a relationship with an older character,” he laughed.

As for Wakefield’s future career path?

“Ultimately, feature films would be a great way to go and I would like to move overseas in a few years, so I’ll just see where it (acting) takes me.”