Over 20 years after he first appeared on screens as part of the original cast of Shortland Street, Kiwi star Martin Henderson is back in Ferndale to help celebrate the show’s milestone 25th anniversary.
Speaking to the Herald, the actor revealed that he was still “reeling from the experience” of coming back.
“I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it because it is oddly familiar but also there’s been so much water under the bridge, so many years.
“So I feel like a bit of an alien in a way, like a ghost,” he said.
Of course, Martin has a special place in Shorty history, having been part of the original cast back in 1992.
The soap helped launch his career and set him on his path to Hollywood, with Martin revealing that it was his three-year stint on the show that inspired him to pursue acting full time.
“It was such an important part of my life and journey – if it wasn’t for my years on Shortland Street, it wouldn’t have propelled me to the next stage,” he said.
Martin, who is currently heating up screens in the US series Grey’s Anatomy, told the Herald that prior to appearing on Shorty he hadn’t seriously considered acting as a serious career and was planning to head to university to study science and business.
Once on set, however, he was bitten by the acting bug.
Martin with the rest of the original 1992 cast of Shortland Street.
“I’d never trained I didn’t necessarily feel that I was qualified, but by the end of it I didn’t doubt whether I was an actor, my confidence had grown so much that I was more than willing to try my luck as an actor,” he said.
Martin’s not the only star with fond memories of his time on Shortland Street – check out the video below to watch what other Ferndale favourites have to say about their favourite moments on set.
Shortland Street’s feature-length anniversary episode airs tonight on TVNZ 2 at 7pm.
