Will Hall may have left acting, but acting is taking its time leaving him.
The star has built up a solid profile as an actor over the past couple of decades, with roles including the skateboarding Dr Kip Denton in Shortland Street, a team leader in the pub-quiz drama series Nothing Trivial and lady-magnet Detective Mike McCarthy in Westside.
He was a fan favourite on Shorty.
As Mike, Will had some eye-popping scenes sporting a short, burnt-orange towelling bathrobe, an iconic garment that he still owns. But it’s all over… for now. The 43-year-old has called time on acting for the sake of his family.
And showed his saucy side on Westside.
Born and bred in Christchuch, Will has long been based in Auckland because that’s where the work was. But last year, Will and his wife Sarah decided to move to Christchurch to make a better life for their two boys, Freddie, six, and Jed, four.
Another major reason for the change was to be closer to his parents, who still live there.
Now comfortably settled in the suburb of Redcliffs, Will is chasing two new roles, running for city councillor and a place on the community board in next month’s local body elections in his ward of Heathcote. It might be just the ticket to get the acting bug out of his system.
“I do miss it terribly,” he sighs, “and I only recently have stopped dreaming about being back on set. Not dreaming about the work so much, but dreaming about the mundane stuff like going to the makeup chair and getting your food from the catering service. It’s never a nightmare!”
His decision to quit acting came to a head after the COVID lockdowns, when work dried up, followed by the ordeal of a string of rejections.
“There was one too many near-misses in the acting world,” he recalls. “That whole rejection thing, it’s all part of the gig, but children were involved and other people were dependent on me. I had mouths to feed and it was one rejection too many.
“I went cold turkey and removed myself completely from the world of acting. When the bad times start outweighing the good times, that’s when I knew it was getting too much for me. But I’m lucky – I had a good run.”
Now it’s family first. Will and Sarah, who married seven years ago, decided the boys would have a better life if Dad switched careers.
Will and wife Sarah with gorgeous sons Freddie (left) and Jed.
“Acting can seem such a self-indulgent profession,” he admits. “I had previous relationships, but there was no question that if a job came up, I was going to do the job and not take into account other people’s feelings. But you do have to pivot, especially if you have a family and want to remain in a relationship.”
Before moving back to his home town, the Hall family was living in Millwater, north of Auckland, a tiring daily commute for Sarah for her job as a digital marketing manager.
The couple’s dream started to take hold when Will was cast early last year in a production of Ladies Night in the Court Theatre in Christchurch.
“We came down for three months so I could do the play and we really loved it,” he tells. “What was amazing was buying back almost three hours a day with our kids and cutting out that commute. When I grew up in Christchurch, I was only a stone’s throw away from anywhere I needed to be.
“That doesn’t really exist in Auckland any more. When we were looking at Christchurch, we could see the different kind of lifestyle we were going to be having with our kids in Auckland where Mum and Dad – that’s us – were going to be really struggling to get from A to B, and to be available for the after-school activities.
“It’s not just the commute. We’d always be working to pay the mortgage.”
Since moving to the Garden City, Will – who recently completed a degree in property management at Lincoln University that he’d first started after leaving school – has been working as a fundraiser for CureKids. “CureKids is a better fit right now, a chance to give back,” he asserts.
When Woman’s Day speaks to Will, he is mulling over some election campaign plans with a difference.
“I want to be a champion for where you live,” he says. “I’ve been looking at the Heathcote map and I’ve noticed a few really cool craft breweries. I could get a bus and do a little craft-beer tour of the east of Christchurch. It could be a PR disaster!”
That might appeal to the guys, but what about the good ladies of Heathcote? Maybe he could deploy Mike McCarthy’s legendary bathrobe.
“There was a time when people were having Westside dress-up parties and would ask me if I had anything I could lend them. I’d offer them the robe, but no one was ever game enough to wear it!”
