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Actor Michael Dorman is best known for his roles in Territory and The Secret Life of Us. Now, the 45-year-old, who is set to star in ABC-TV’s Treasure and Dirt, talks about the important women in his life, including his long-time agent, and his wife, fellow actor Julianna Guill.
My maternal grandmother, Nina, is a Māori woman from Te Araroa, New Zealand, a resilient lady who taught me about pain and how to endure it. She told me to get comfortable with the uncomfortable in life. She was a prankster and told the dirtiest jokes. She loved a cigarette and a glass of wine.
My mum, Veronica, is also Māori; a strong woman who taught me about the strength of love. In our culture, it’s not uncommon to have more than one family living in a home. My maternal aunty also lived with us, as did two female cousins and my sister, Megan.
I’ve been surrounded by feminine energy my entire life, and always felt comfortable around women. I’ve always been a mummy’s boy. She’s the rock of the family, the nurturer.
Megan is 2½ years older than me, and was integral in my journey into theatre and acting. I was a mild delinquent when I was in high school, and left home at 15. She was the one who came to me and said, “Hey, I want you to come and try something that I think will be good for you.” She made me audition for a drama school, and I studied at QUT [Queensland University of Technology].
My first kiss happened at age 11 with a girl called Sarah behind the bike shed at school. I remember listening to Sara by Jefferson Starship on cassette and thinking of her.
My celebrity crush was actress Emily Watson in the 1996 Lars von Trier film Breaking the Waves. I
remember watching her performance and being blown away – there were lots of feelings that came with watching that movie.
Producer Amanda Higgs gave me my first job on The Secret Life of Us in the early 2000s, which led me to Melbourne. She told me she liked my tape when I gave my name, my height and told her a little about myself including “I just need a f—ing job.”
My manager, Suzan Bymel, has been with me for over 20 years. She’s always believed in me and when I didn’t book a job for over 10 years, she didn’t drop me. Director Madeleine Gottlieb, who I worked with on my new TV show, Treasure & Dirt, is also very inspiring. She reignited the joy I find in storytelling.
I have had two serious relationships before now – the one with my former wife [Tessa Richardson, with whom he shares two daughters] lasted around eight years, and the other for six. They weren’t that long, but they were important to me. My two daughters are aged 19 and 20, and I have a stepdaughter, aged eight.
When I first met Tessa, my life was a little out of control. We grew together, and got to a space where my career started calling me to move around the world. They’re a wonderful human and always will be, but it didn’t work out.
I helped deliver my second daughter. It was all by chance because there were two other women that needed midwives and only two at the hospital on the day that three women gave birth.
I moved to America three years ago for my wife, actress Julianna Guill. She encapsulates all the qualities that I knew were possible in life. I looked in many places to find that feeling, but it was never quite right.
We met on a Zoom chat in 2020 in Canada. It began as a bunch of us talking, and then it came down to two of us. Nothing eventuated for the first few years – we remained good friends. I was working in LA or Australia, but still living in New Zealand. Julianna is the glue in our home; we’re a large, blended family.
I didn’t see the relationship coming. I just saw this person as a good human and an example of what was possible – but I also noticed the kind of mother she is. It was a big conversation for me to move overseas; there were a lot of people involved in that conversation, but Julianna and I have a connection and understanding that feels magical. I feel lucky.
Treasure & Dirt airs on ABC TV and ABC iview from July 19.
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