Hottie Alex O’Loughlin knows all about being third-time lucky. After starring in two television series, Moonlight and Three Rivers (as a vampire and a doctor, respectively), they were canned after the very first season, Alex now has a bona fide hit on his hands as Commander Steve McGarrett in the action-packed revisit of Hawaii Five-O.
Cleo New Zealand
12 March 2012
We chatted to Alex about why this is his toughest role yet, how he deals with being recognised and having his dream crushed as a kid!
Everyone in Hawaii seems to love the show…
“…It’s kind of a big deal. The locals know how important this show is to the economy and to tourism. They’re just so full of love and we fight really hard to maintain the integrity and the truth of the Hawaiian people and culture. It’s genuinely respected by them.”
It’s the toughest role I’ve ever had…
“…The thing with playing McGarrett is that in every episode there’s a huge stunt sequence: he’s going to dive out of this plane or he’s going to wrangle this horse or he’s going to shoot all these people so, for me, as the actor who’s nowhere near as tough, capable or smart as McGarrett, I need a vigilant and balanced life around work. This means a good diet, enough sleep, and some kind of relaxation to keep the mind clear so you don’t get too stressed.”
I also seem to take my shirt off — a lot…
“…Because that’s so fascinating, right?” [he laughs].
I get recognised a lot here in Hawaii…
“…Some days, it’s great, But some days you just get dickhead after dickhead filming you and getting right up in your face. It becomes your day-to-day life and you develop a mechanism to deal with it.”
I don’t get back home much…
“…I bought a house here [in Hawaii] that’s just beautiful and it’s always full because my friends and family visit. But I miss my mum. And I miss my mates.”
As a kid, I wanted to be a fighter pilot…
“…When I was in first grade, I had a teacher who was a real piece of work. She said, ‘Okay, class, let’s talk about what you want to be when you grow up.’ I answered with ‘I’m going to be a fighter pilot!’. She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t you have asthma?’. I said ‘Yes…’ and she goes, ‘You’ll never be a fight pilot’, and moved on to the next kid. She crushed my dreams!
I’m still not a fighter pilot, but I love my job…
“…I go to work and ride horses, scuba dive, jump out of planes and fly stuff. It’s insane.
My thoughts – added a bit late
- I just want to add that I don not think Alex was talking about fans who ask nicely for picture. I presume he was mainly referring to people taking pictures of him and or his family without asking. He said on many occasions – just ask...
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 
Reblogged this on alixia94's Blog.
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“It becomes your day-to-day life and you develop a mechanism to deal with it.” And what a great mechanism he developed. Always nice, funny and humble. Never tired to take the umpteenth pic with one of his fans.
And the teacher really hurt him, must have been rather insensitive that Alex still remembers it after all these years.
Love your pics and gifs going with the text. He is looking so sad missing his mates… lol…
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Paula is so good at finding just the right picture to go with the words. 🙂
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She really is. I fear we do not ever give Paula enough credit. It must be quite time-consuming! And she has such special skillz.
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Althought, i love to see alex in a different role, I LOVE his STEVE McGarrett! I love steve, because he saves the world, deals with troubled friends, cares, saves his girl! I’m a helpless romantic, and steve(portrayed by alex wonderfully) is my hero!!! Thanks for the beautiful pics!
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This is most of the kids dream, playing james bond on tv and being a hero! I like that some part of alex still is a boy! My boys want to be stevemcgarett when they’re grown up!
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Fans love the pics, but he does need his private time. It’s the last thing I would ask for if I met him. He’s a regular guy we love to watch on TV and yes think the world of. Truly he must get tired as he put it of the dickheads – those that interfere with his quiet meals with his wife or outings with his kids or pop up out of no where. Paparazzi even can be forceful. As for the asthma, never stopped my son from the military…but when you think about it, he got even with that teacher, he plays a Navy Seal which is even better and with the stunts he does and the running- he does well with the asthma. (and he smokes cigars too) Give a big shout out to him, and the love he has for his mama..love reading about that. Now that’s a pic I would love to see, him and his arm around his mom. She deserves a shout out for raising such a great guy.
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That kind of behavior kills me. Jesus, he’s a person, let him eat his f***ing sandwich already! Almost a lifetime living in LA and years working at a store frequented by famous people taught me that you just DO NOT impose on people like that. At a public event, yeah, maybe, if there haven’t been 500 people already tiring the guy out. But on an ordinary day? At a shopping mall? At a restaurant? Only if you want to prove beyond a doubt that you’re a selfish…well, dickhead.
Great rule of thumb for anyone in these situations: ask yourself if *you* would want some stranger accosting you and demanding your attention right now. You wouldn’t? Then *don’t*. Simple. Get an eyeful from a decent distance and Leave. The. Guy. Alone.
Nice to know he’s cool about it, though. Don’t think I could put up with such nonsense 24/7. Somebody’d get hurt eventually, LOL.
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I totally agree. I have a friend who is a former TV star and he won’t let his photo be taken anymore. He’s retired and says no more. I had one fan tell me they owned him and made him a star so he owed them. He told me he went into it for the money and hated the stardom part. Yup how unsettling is that to have someone say they owned him. I feel for Alex. These people go into acting because they love it like a job for them, and the fans come but it’s a job they love doing…and to make money.
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“I had one fan tell me they owned him and made him a star so he owed them. ”
Jesus, the arrogance. I wonder if that fan has ever told a cop, “Hey, I pay your salary!” The logic is the same. The sense of entitlement some people have is staggering. But it’s the shadow side of theater and drama: the art connects so intensely with people that it can really drive them a little crazy (or a lot). And you know, a young actor might think about the possibility of this kind of thing, but nothing can ever prepare you for what it actually means to have it happen, and nobody can understand it who hasn’t gone through it. ‘Tis why the whole “you shoulda known it would be like this” train of thought makes me want to slap people.
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I know it is a bit late – but I added a thought to the post.
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Even if they asked he is the type of guy who would not say no despite not wanting it done. He’s that type of person, he would hold it in and be mad inside. Think fans just have to step back.
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It’s possible he’s also talking about the kind of leech that wants ten autographs and then sells them on eBay. Let’s make a pact that if any of us ever sees this kind of thing around Alex, we’ll gang up and pound the guy’s head into the dirt.
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I’m in with you Serai. We have a pact. And one fan did say that, ‘you should have known’ to my friend. It was no wonder his marriage broke up due to paparazzi. I come from the other side on this as a close friend of a star, as much as I love the photos of Alex I would never ask him for one and would probably grin as I walked by him on a street. Know that he puts his pants on one leg at time like every other guy, rolls out of bed with messy hair and probably bad breath in the morning and has BO. Think of it that way. He’s a normal guy…
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I like your style. I’ve blown kisses a couple of times and that usually gets a laugh, which is nice. And of course working at the bookstore brought a whole range of encounters, but that’s where I really learned the art of reading someone’s vibes. It’s a delicate process where it’s best to default to backing off, but it is possible to have an unexpected encounter that turn out very positive – in ’98, Robin Williams thanked me for adding a little squee to our transaction, because he said he’d been feeling down and I’d cheered him up. But again, that’s a situation where one is already interacting, so different from the kind of person who doesn’t know “how to human”.
I’ve just had a thought that instead of beating the guy up, we could engage the “Oh, THERE you are!” tactic, wherein you run up to someone in a bad encounter and rescue them by pretending you couldn’t find them. Might be less alarming, LOL.
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Yes, go up softly and go ‘there you are, always getting lost’, give him a huge smile and move on, or better yet if he’s in a coffee shop buy him a coffee send a thank you note with it, pay it forward and leave before he gets the coffee and if you can watch from a far distance and see the reaction. That in itself is worth it.
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Aha, yes, that would be lovely. But I meant if any of us see him being accosted by a jackass. “Oh, THERE you are! Sorry I’m so late, but I couldn’t find the parking lot. But how’s it going? I talked to Brian, but he said Monday’s no good – oh, hi, who are you? excuse us, we have business – anyway, Thursday’s better…” and you gently take his arm and wink at him when your back is to the idiot. As soon as the jerk’s gone, smile and say, “Hope the day gets better!” and take off without a backward glance. Not only helpful and dignified, but you’re guaranteed a smile if he ever sees you again.
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I like a paintball gun for the jackasses. lol he would probably get into it with us. I do like your style, yes it would be nice and he would know we had his back.
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Crush Poll: as if robert downeyjr would stand a chance 🙂
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I have been very close to Alex several times, and in a public setting. I have NEVER asked for an autograph. I do have an autograph of him, but it was given to me by a very nice fan. Taking a pic with him is my biggest dream, but not sure it will ever happen at this point. And that is okay.
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