![\"Benjamin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/200dfe53161159865d0b70661715db24a4388aa8201497556e57331c509499ca.png\")
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we\u2019re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they\u2019re given. This week, he talks to Erik Thomson. The Scottish-born, New Zealand-raised Australian actor, 59, has won an AFI Award<\/a> and is a two-time Silver Logie<\/a> winner. He\u2019s best known for his roles in All Saints, Packed to the Rafters and Aftertaste<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some people feel artists should shut up and entertain. Others feel they have a responsibility to change the conversation. What about you? It\u2019s a fine line you\u2019ve got to walk. It\u2019s a case of picking your battles, because people turn off after a while. With everything that was happening in Gaza, I thought, \u201cThis is wrong. We [as artists] must step into that [public conversation] immediately.\u201d Entertainment can be a Trojan horse for important messages, too. This play that we\u2019re doing \u2013 84 Charing Cross Road <\/a>[adapted from Helene Hanff\u2019s memoir] \u2013 is a beautiful story about a decades-long, epistolary, trans-Atlantic friendship. It\u2019s a window to another time [the postwar austerity of the 1950s and \u201960s].<\/p>\n You\u2019re a trusted face. You care about the world. Would you run for office? As I\u2019m getting older, I might. You always put politicians \u201cup there\u201d as these wise, old people, but now\u2009\u2026\u2009I\u2019m there: I\u2019ve lived, I\u2019m informed, I\u2019m engaged. In Tasmania, I\u2019ve met people like Bob Brown and Peter Whish Wilson \u2013 Greens senators \u2013 through mutual friends. Obviously, Bob is a legend. Seeing people who are so committed to their cause and vision is inspiring.<\/p>\n Would I be right to assume your party of choice would be the Greens? Probably independent with Greens affiliations. Having to toe a party line isn\u2019t really something I can see myself doing. I\u2019m a big fan of David Pocock; he talks a lot of sense.<\/p>\n Related Article What would be your three biggest platforms? Wealth inequality, the environment and funding for the arts.<\/p>\n MONEY<\/p>\n What was money like for you, growing up? Both of my parents were from Scottish, working-class backgrounds. But Dad became a doctor and was the first in our family to become middle-class. So when I became an actor, he was horrified: \u201cI finally get out of the working class, and you\u2019re going to take us back into it, Erik! Go on, join the navy, be a teacher, become a doctor \u2013 whatever \u2013 but don\u2019t be an artist!\u201d<\/p>\n That almost sounds like a coming-out process: \u201cDad, I\u2019ve got something to tell you\u2009\u2026\u201d It was a tough conversation to have. So early on, I really wanted to make money so I could prove to him that I could support myself.<\/p>\n You\u2019re famous now. Does that mean you\u2019re rich, too? [Laughs] Absolutely not. I did [about] 175 episodes of All Saints over four years [1999-2003], won a Logie or two and was nominated multiple times. Had I done that in America, I could retire. But the year after I left All Saints, I made $8000 in one financial year.<\/p>\n Related Article Oh, man. In Australia, celebrity does not mean money.<\/p>\n So how have you made it work? Well, [channels] 7 and Nine \u2013 back in their heyday, before the streamers arrived \u2013 had stables of actors they\u2019d use. After All Saints, I went to Channel Nine for a show called The Alice for one season. I did five years on Rafters [Packed to the Rafters], then three with 800 Words on Channel 7. So I was working for a corporation, earning corporate money. That allowed me to buy a house, an investment property, look after my family, have international trips; I had constant work. If I ever got a TV gig, I\u2019d use it to get my foot in the property market, as opposed to going, \u201cWoo-hoo, I\u2019m going to have a great time and party like it\u2019s 1999.\u201d I held on to that Scottish, working-class ethic.<\/p>\n BODIES<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been candid in the past about your problematic relationship with alcohol. How do you reflect on those years of addiction now? On a day-to-day basis, it\u2019s behind me. After playing Hamlet, you\u2019d go to the bar, drink a few drinks and unwind that way. That\u2019s OK when you\u2019re 25. When you\u2019re in your 30s, your body metabolises it less well. When you\u2019re in your 40s, you\u2019re carrying extra weight. That was about the time that I started my sobriety journey. I\u2019ve had long periods of sobriety and falling off the wagon, but the desire is there to not drink.<\/p>\n When did you realise your relationship with alcohol was problematic? When I realised I was drinking for the medicinal aspect of it rather than the social: it\u2019s a fast-track to relaxation. And when it was impacting my relationships. I got sober for the first time between series four and five of Packed to the Rafters. I became very aware that I was abusing the opportunity that I\u2019d been given.<\/p>\n Do you have another vice now? Coffee.<\/p>\n When have you been most embarrassed by your body? When my son was about one, I was in my mid-40s. We went to Bronte and I was playing in the sand, walking around in togs. As we left the beach, I put my son on my shoulders and someone \u2013 a paparazzo \u2013 took a snap of me with my shirt off.<\/p>\n Related Article So violating. Yeah, and I was fairly heavy. Serious dad bod. I didn\u2019t know about it until about six months later. I was at the dentist\u2019s and picked up a magazine. There was a shot of this fat guy with a hairy belly, kid on his shoulders, and I went, \u201cOh, that looks like my son.\u201d And then I went, \u201cOh, f—, that\u2019s me!\u201d [Laughs]<\/p>\n When was the last time that you were naked that didn\u2019t involve sex or \u2009showering? Skinny-dipping in Tassie.<\/p>\n Wow, that\u2019s brave. Yeah! It\u2019s cold, but there\u2019s nothing better.<\/p>\n diceytopics@goodweekend.com.au<\/p>\n Erik Thomson stars in 84 Charing Cross Road at Sydney\u2019s Ensemble Theatre until June 13.<\/p>\n Get the best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15db51307cca72402ec88c695ace83b3ae3aefef.jpeg\")
Erik Thomson: \u201cThe year after I left
\nAll Saints, I made $8000 in one financial year.\u201d POLITICS<\/p>\n![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3676b133b2cf111c597e70aaa9a98bacee91035e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Erik](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d9f4f45faff03feb7500b184c12a59b7d65c1eb1.jpeg\")
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