#AlexOLoughlin ‘s Diary (#1) – From Birth to Before Hawaii Five-0

I’m a working class kid.

My appreciation for what I have in my life is great.

Alex O’Loughlin,

TV Guide,

April 2009

This is our ‘biography‘ of the actor Alex O’Loughlin – It is a chronological account of his life (mostly his career), gathered from the information of events he attended, interviews, articles, candid pictures, posts by his friends and colleagues, and his own old, and now deleted MySpace blog.

Where no specific dates are known, we just give the approximate year or month.

We hope that this will be a complete reference guide for his many fans and we intend to update this page on a regular basis when old information is better explained and as the story of his life unfolds …….

(Remember that the underlined words in blue are links to the original source material.)

If you have queries about any of the information on here, or have more accurate sources on events covered her, contact us with it please.

1976:

• 24 August 1976 – Alex was born in the morning on this day in Canberra, Australia. His mother was a community nurse and his father a teacher. For the most part of his youth, he grew up in Canberra (Capitol City of Australia)

1978 -1979:

During these years:

• Alex’s sister Jacki, who is 1 year & 8 months younger than him, was born in 1978.
• Alex’s parents got divorced and his father later move to Sydney to teach at a private boy’s school.
• In the interview with MediaBlvd in 2008, Alex said that his grandmother remembers him already saying at the age of 2 or 3, that he wanted to be an actor.

1985 -1986:

• In various interviews, including the one for LA Times in 2010, Alex said that at the age of about 9 or 10, while doing a school play, Alex felt the audience react to his part. He said that at the time he thought that this is what he wanted to do. An idea that did not seem possible to him as a working-class kid and it got lost for most of his years as a teen.

• From the age of 10, Alex started to travel to Sydney more often, to visit his father, who had moved there after the divorce. He said that he felt more at home in Sydney where he could disappear.

1994 -1999:

• Alex was in his late teens (around 19) when he was goofing around while watching a sports event and a friend called him aside and told him he was wasting his talent and ability to entertain people. This inspired him to pursue a career in acting. (source: MediaBlv)
• At the age of 19, Alex read the book ‘A Fortunate Life’ by author A.B. Facey and described it as a life-changing experience. (source: Application for NIDA) He traveled the world and even took a turn in Hollywood in those early days (1997), but did not stay long as he did not have a support system over there yet. (source: Pauly Shore Podcast)
• By doing odd jobs, Alex supported himself, while taking night classes and doing some plays to pursue his acting.
• 1 July 1997 – Less than two months before his own 21st birthday, Alex became a father, when his son Saxon was born. Alex and Saxon’s mother were never married, but he was there for the birth and remained very supportive and close to his son. Saxon lived with his mother in Australia for most of his life, until December 2011 when he moved to Hawaii to live with Alex. He stayed there until June 2014, when he moved back to Australia. Over the years Saxon regularly visited the sets, where Alex worked.
• Late 1999 – Alex works as part of the background crew on the set of the movie ‘Mission Impossible II’, while it was being filmed in Sydney. (source: Actor’s Workshop)

2000 – 2002:

• With encouragement from Saxon’s mother, Alex at the age of 23, enrolled in a 3-year acting course at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) in Sydney, Australia for the school years 2000, 2001, and 2002. By the end of 2002, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, joining an illustrious group of Alumni of this prestigious institute. During this time he worked two jobs over weekends to support himself. Read about it here: Our Review of Never Before Posted Old Footage Of #AlexOLoughlin at NIDA
• In July 2002, Alex was the lead actor in the play at the inaugural public event to open the Parade Theatre at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), in the sprawling Australian epic Country Music, written by Nick Enright in collaboration with NIDA’s third-year students.

2003:

• In this first year after graduation, Alex appeared in a few advertisements for Libra Tampons, Toyota, and Mitsubishi.

• After graduation, Alex started his acting career with some guest roles in Australian Television projects. He featured in an episode of  White Collar Blue as Ian Mack (broadcast 5 May 2003) and in an episode of the short-lived FOX8 series Love Bytes (broadcast 3 February 2004) as Dave.  

• Alex filmed his first two movies, Man-Thing as Eric Fraser and Oyster Farmer as Jack Flange in  2003 – both only released in 2005. On the set of his first movie, Man-Thing he met Jack Thompson (an Australian acting legend, who he later called his mentor and the person who ‘potty trained’ him as an actor). Alex also made friends with Jack’s son Patrick. Jack once again joined Alex on the set of Oyster Farmer later that year.

2004:

• September 2004 – Alex attended the Toronto Film Festival to promote Oyster Farmer. He went to the event reluctantly, not knowing if he would be welcome, but in the end, enjoyed rubbing shoulders with a lot of people in the industry.
• Another Australian TV appearance for Alex was in one of a TV Movie series episodes called BlackJack: Sweet Science as Luke Anderson (broadcast 7 November 2004)
• October – December 2004: During the 12 weeks of filming, Alex took up the role of Will Bryant, one of the leads in the Australian Television mini-series drama The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant. Alex was nominated for it as Best Actor in a lead role by the Australian Film Industry in 2005 and also got a Logie Award nomination for it in 2006.

2005:

• January 2005 – The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant with Alex in the role of Will Bryant (Mary’s husband) was broadcast in Australia.
• January – February 2005: In collaboration with his other partners in Honour Bright Production, Alex filmed the movie Feed with him as Michael Carter and Brett Leonard as director. The movie originated from an idea that Alex and Patrick Thompson came up with, after seeing a documentary about Feeders and Gainers.
• In the beginning of 2005 Alex moved to the USA to find work in Hollywood. He felt that there might be better opportunities, with a bigger pool of acting talent. During this year Alex went to a lot of auditions and did promotional work, as most of his earlier work was only released this year.
• April 2005 – Man-Thing with Alex in one of the supporting roles, Deputy Eric Fraser, premiered on DVD.
• 10 to 25 June 2005 – Alex, Jack Thompson, and David Field attend the Sydney Film Festival for the Australian premiere of Oyster Farmer, with Alex in the lead role of Jack Flange. The movie was nominated for Best Movie and Best Cinematography by the Australian Film Institute in 2005
• June 2005 – Alex and Jack Thompson appear on Rove Live to promote the Oyster Farmer.

• July 2005 – The movie Feed with Alex in the lead role of Michael Carter, was first screened at the Fantasy Film Festival in Nuremberg Germany.
• August 2005 – Alex models for Nicole Cleary in a photoshoot at Melbourne’s Docklands
• 8 August 2005 – Alex confirmed that he took part in the auditions in the UK, to be the next James Bond, being invited by the director, but he said that he was probably too young for the role at the time.
• October 2005 – Feed was also showcased at the “Paris’s L’etrange Film Festival”.
• By the end of this year, Alex found himself in Vancouver (Canada) on the set of his first Hollywood movie The Invisible

2006:

• January to April 2006 – Alex spends the first few months of this year in New York to film the movie, August Rush. Although he auditioned for the lead role, he got the part of the lead’s brother, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The role was expanded by the director (Kirsten Sheridan) to accommodate Alex and he sported an Irish accent (for 4 months while filming) and played his own guitar in it.
• 31 March 2006 – Alex attends the first screening of the movie Feed in the USA, at the Philadelphia International Film Festival. Alex and producer Melissa Beauford answer questions from the audience after the screening.
• 20 June 2006 –  Alex was interviewed on the set of The Shield. They were shooting the first of 7 episodes of Season 6 in which he guest-starred as Kevin Hiatt. This was his first major break in American Television. Alex later said that he learned a lot from lead actor Michael Chiklis on how to be number one on the call sheet.

• June 2006 – Alex and Holly Valance are seen together in West Hollywood. It soon became clear that the two are a couple and had moved in together. (Their relationship lasted for nearly 3 years)

• December 2006 – The first major Hollywood movie that Alex took part in was released. In The Holiday he was part of a kissing couple in the first few seconds of the movie. His co-partner in the kissing scene later made the comment that it took a whole day of shooting the kissing to get it right, but that it was all good fun. (Such I small non-speaking part is rarely listed, but I guess all the kissing made it memorable).
• December 2006 – Alex and  Holly were seen together in Australia, as they went back home for the holiday season.

2007:

• Early 2007 – Alex films a TV series pilot called Twilight about a Vampire PI. (Here we compare Moonlight with the original Pilot)
• 19 March 2007 – Alex finds himself in icy cold Manitoba Canada shooting the film Whiteout, with Kate Beckinsale and Gabriel Macht. Alex plays an Australian pilot, working in Antarctica. One of the first scenes to be filmed was of him and a few other men running naked across the ice in the freezing cold. Although the scene is hardly worth mentioning, it is a subject that he had a lot to say about during interviews for the movie.

• 24 April 2007 – The episodes Alex filmed for The Shield in 2006, air on Television.
• 27 April 2007– The movie The Invisible, with Alex in the role of car thief Marcus Bohem, premiered.
• 16 May 2007 – Alex attends his first CBS Upfront event in New York City. This occasion formally announced that CBS picked up the series Moonlight (previously known as Twilight, but which had to be renamed because of another project with the same name). Alex was photographed at the Tavern on the Green, attending the party following the presentation.
• 28 May 2007 – Alex and Holly Vallance spend some time in Melbourne Australia

• 26 – 29 July 2007 – Alex and Sophia Myles attend Comic-Con in San Diego.
• 18 July 2007 – Alex took part in CBS Television Critics Association (TCA) all-star interviews for Moonlight.
• 19 July 2007 – Alex and girlfriend Holly Vallance attended the CBS TCA all-star party held at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles.
• 30 August 2007 – They start filming Moonlight – Alex’s first role as the lead actor in a television show. He is the only actor from the original cast, that survived the cuts that were made after the pilot got picked up. The show also took on a whole new look, and the location was moved from New York to LA. The pilot episode had to be redone completely. (Here you can find the links to posts we have done for Moonlight)

• 17 September 2007 – Alex does an interview on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. (Transcript)
• 25 September 2007 – While shooting Moonlight Episode 6, a number of journalists were allowed on the set. They interviewed Alex and the cast.
• 28 September 2007 – Moonlight with Alex in the lead role of Mick St John, airs on CBS. The series got mixed reviews but soon build a devoted fanbase that still last to date.
• From 5 November 2007 to 12 February 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor unions Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) went on strike. This affected Moonlight, as production halted after 12 episodes, and the survival of the show became uncertain.
• 2 December 2007 – Alex attended the Charity Racing Event ‘Toys for Tots’ at the Pole Position Raceway.
• 12 December 2007 – Alex and girlfriend Holly Valance are once again seen in Australia when they visit Sydney and Melbourne for the holidays. They also attend Holly’s sister’s 21st birthday party on the 15th. His fellow star Jason Dohring also mentioned that he and his wife will visit them in Australia, but we never saw any detail of it.
• 28 December 2007 – The movie August Rush with Alex in the role of Marshall Connelly, premiered. (Link to one of the August Rush articles)

2008:

• 8 January 2008 – Moonlight wins the People’s Choice Award as Favorite New TV Drama, having received more than 10 million votes. Alex thanked the fans from Sydney, where he was still on holiday.
• 20 February 2008 – Alex and Holly attended the W Magazine’s Hollywood Affair Pre-Oscar Party held at the Terrace Room in the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood.

• 20 April 2008 – Alex and his co-star in Moonlight,  Jason Dohring, attend Comic-Con in New York at the Jacob Javits Centre. They were asked a lot of interesting questions by fans.
• 21 April 2008 – Alex took part in an interview on the Early Show.

• 22 April 2008 – Alex and Holly, together with the full cast of Moonlight attended a press conference at the Paley in Beverly Hills. Holly reportedly joked and commented that it sucks to date a vampire. It was maybe misunderstood by some but apparently, she made her comment in good spirit.
• 26 April 2008 – This is marked as the last day of shooting on the set of Moonlight. Apparently, the last scene to be shot was that of the team hijacking the ambulance.

• 26 April 2008 – Alex and Holly attend the premiere of Speed Racer (co-produced by Joel Silver) at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
• 27 April 2008 – Alex and Sophia Myles attended Fangoria.  (You can read a fan story about the event here )

• 1 May 2008 – Alex features on TV Guide Sexiest Stars list, getting a double spread page. Alex and Holly attended the party and he commented that he never thought he was “that” hairy until he saw the picture in the magazine.
• 14 May 2008 – Alex posted a heartbreaking account of his thoughts on the cancellation of Moonlight on his MySpace blog. To me, it showed a little bit more of the soul of the man behind the actor and public figure.
• 16 May 2008 – the last episode of Moonlight is broadcast and it is announced that the series was canceled. Alex was devastated and he and Holly went down to Mexico for a few days to rest after he received the news.
• 14 August 2008 – Alex signs a one-year holding contract with CBS, in order for him to work on developing something new to star in.
• 15 – 17 August 2008 – Alex attended Pebble Beach and he looked like he was having a good time. The Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races are a popular event in a series of automobile events held every August.

• 13 October 2008 – Alex posted on his MySpace Blog that his time with the Red Cross came to an end and he thanked the fans who got involved with the blood drive in an attempt to save Moonlight.
  

2009:

• 6 February 2009 – Alex posts on his MySpace Blog that he is back in the USA after spending a few months in Australia. He announces his break-up with Holly. They were a couple for more or less 2 years and 8 months (June 2006 – February 2009).
• 25 February 2009 – Alex finds himself as a guest on the set of Criminal Minds, shooting an episode in which he played a serial killer. This came after a dry spell of 10 months of no involvement in acting of any sort. He called it a great way to blow away the cobwebs. (Pictures from the set)
• 12 March 2009 – News leaked that Alex has been cast as lead actor and a Doctor, on a series called Three Rivers that was set around a transplant hospital in Pittsburgh.
• 27 March 2009 – Alex posts another MySpace Blog entry, this time confirming his role in the upcoming episode of Criminal Minds and also him confirming his present shooting of the pilot for a new CBS medical drama, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh.
• 29 April 2009 – The episode of Criminal Minds called The Big Wheel with Alex as guest star Vincent Rowlings airs on CBS. (Link to an interview)

• April 2009 – Alex starts filming the movie The Back-Up  Plan. It is the first lead role for him in an American movie and he plays the romantic lead opposite Jennifer Lopez on her return to the movies, after giving birth to her twins.
• 2 May 2009 – Alex made another My Space entry, confirming him working on The Back-Up Plan and therefore apologizing for not being able to go to the UK in June for the Starfury convention.
• 9 May 2009 – Alex and Jennifer Lopez attended the Noche de Niños Gala at the Beverly Hilton, an annual celebration and concert benefiting the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
• 17 May 2009 – Alex joins his old friends (colleagues) from The Shield when he attends The Bash with them. It is a charity in support of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Play Therapy Fund. The charity event, organized by LA-based teens for teens, took place at the legendary Beverly Hills restaurant Crustacean. Among the guests were also Alex’s former colleagues from The Shield: Walton Goggins (pictured with Alex) and Michael Chiklis, who was there to support his daughter Amber, a board member of the charity.

• 20 May 2009 – Alex is photographed leaving the London NYC Hotel in mid-town Manhattan. He was in New York City for the CBS Upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall
• 20 May 2009 – Alex attends CBS Upfront in New York where it is confirmed that the medical drama Three Rivers was picked up.
• 13 June 2009 –  Three Rivers received an award from Donate Life even before the broadcast of the first episode. Donate Life Hollywood honored CBS-TV’s new fall show Three Rivers with its first annual Inspire Award. Bestowed by the organ and tissue donation and transplant community, it was presented at an awards dinner hosted at the Directors Guild of America as the culmination of the daylong Donate Life Film Festival.

• 17 June 2009 – Alex attend the screening of The Tender Hook at the Harmony Gold Theatre and was photographed together with fellow Australian actor Matt LeNevez, who starred with him in Man-Thing and Feed.
• 27 July 2009 – Alex attends Jennifer Lopez’s 40^th birthday bash. The event called ‘An Evening with Lola’, was a surprise birthday party for Jennifer, organized for her by her husband Marc Anthony.

• 30 July 2009 – In another MySpace Blog entry, Alex talks about the wrap-up of shooting on The Back-Up Plan and not really getting any time off before starting to film, Three Rivers.
• 31 July 2009 – Alex takes part in the Television Critics Association (TCA) Panel for Three Rivers.
• 3 August 2009 – Alex attends CBS’s Television Critics Association (TCA) Summer Tour All-Star party at the Huntington Library in Pasadena. He tells about himself working in a lot of restaurants (waiter, barman & kitchen) flipping burgers, frying chicken & working in construction. Building a house together with someone and even doing a bit of landscaping.
• 26 August 2009 – In a short entry on his MySpace blog Alex thanks the fans for all the birthday wishes.

• 6 September 2009 – Alex makes another MySpace entry to keep fans up to date with his latest activities.
• 7 September 2009 – Alex takes part in the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

• 9 September 2009 – After two years of post-production, the movie Whiteout premieres. Alex attended the red carpet event together with the lead actors in the movie.
• 15 September 2009 – Alex attended the LA Dodgers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Game at Dodger Stadium in LA and pitched the ceremonial first ball, later describing the incident very lively on the Bonnie Hunt show.

• 16 September 2009 – Alex attended the CBS Premiere party at MyHouse in LA.
• 18 September 2009  –  Alex once again found himself playing model in a photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Preview.

• 19 September 2009  – The Annual Emmy Gift Lounge, held to honour the 2009 Emmy Award Nominees and Presenters. GBK’s A Luxury Bazaar for the Senses took place at a private estate in Beverly Hills. Alex also visited Donate Life’s gifting suite.
• 29 September 2009 – Alex appeared on the Bonnie Hunt show and later voiced his regret for forgetting to wear his Donate Life Pin.
• 30 September 2009 – Alex attended the Outfest Legacy Awards at the Directors Guild of America to support honouree Alan Poul, director of The Back-up Plan. The Legacy Awards is an annual benefit for the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation, a collaboration between Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It is a unique program dedicated to saving and preserving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender moving images.

• 1 October 2009 – Alex participated in a TV.com live chat, looking a bit awkward in front of the computer answering some interesting questions. In a MySpace entry, Alex reminds the fans to take part.

• 2 October 2009 – Alex appeared on the show The Dr’s promoting his upcoming show Three Rivers.
• 4 October 2009 – Three Rivers with Alex as Dr. Andy Yablonski, airs on CBS, and just as with Moonlight a lot of the leading roles from the original pilot, were recast.
• 13 October 2009 – Alex in a TV Guide Hollywood 411 interview, tells the story of living on his friend Sam Gould’s couch for 9 months and at one stage throwing out his back and having to sleep on the floor.
• 17 October 2009 – Alex posted on My Space Blog, making a plea to his Moonlight fans to also tune in to watch Three Rivers.
• 24 October 2009 – Alex appeared on Entertainment Tonight.

• 10 November 2009 – Alex attends TV Guide Magazine’s 2009 Hot List Party at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles.
• 11 November 2009 – Alex attended the event ‘IWC Schaffhausen Celebrates the work of Michael Muller and a shared collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation’ at Milk Studios in LA. Swiss watchmaker. IWC Schaffhausen celebrated their partnership and commitment to the Charles Darwin Foundation through an exclusive exhibition of renowned photographer, Michael Muller’s pictures from his Galapagos project.
• 1 December 2009 – Alex posted a MySpace Blog telling the fans that the plug was pulled on Three Rivers. Yet another show that Alex poured his heart and soul into, got canceled.
• 3 December 2009 – Alex attended an evening described as  ‘Alex Band’s Donate Life Rocks Presents an Intimate Evening with Alex Band at Cafe Was on N. Vine Street in Hollywood’. The event marked the release of singer/songwriter, Alex Band’s Live in Brazil DVD and the launch of his bracelet/music line Black Star Bracelets. All proceeds from the event were to benefit Donate Life.
• 5 December 2009 – Production on Three Rivers ends
• 18 December 2009 – Alex dedicated a Family Circle Rose to ride on the 2010 Donate Life Rose Parade Float in honour of Fernando, whose family consented to eye donation because they were fans of the CBS show Three Rivers and wanted Fernando to help people like on the show. Alex in his personal dedication writes:

Fernando’s legacy lives on through his family, friends and those whose sight he restored through cornea donation. I will always be inspired by Fernando’s generosity.

Sincerely,

Alex O’Loughlin

This is the end of Part 1 of our ‘Diary’. Part 2 can be found here.

We would like to dedicate this page to the site owners,

Mary (from the closed down site Alex O’Loughlin.Org),

Mizzoh (from the closed down site AOLR)

and Tiffany (Alex O’Loughlin Online).

All the dates of events and articles they collected over the years on their sites, helped to compile most of this information.

Mahalo! 🙂