Paralympian Dylan Alcott's unexpected career choice
Dylan Alcott has revealed his next career move after retiring from professional wheelchair tennis in 2021.
Since his retirement, the 34-year-old Aussie Paralympian has taken on a commentating role and appeared at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but now he has confirmed a new career move that is a big step away from sports.
Alcott told Daily Mail Australia that he wants to pursue a career in acting.
After taking on his first ever acting role as Marcus in Stan's series Bump, he explained that he wants to get more roles in the film industry.
"I'd been on set before as an athlete but not as an actor and I bl**dy loved it, " he told the Daily Mail.
"It was a good test to me to see if I loved being on a set every day, and I really did so hopefully I'll have more opportunities soon."
Alcott explained that he even took acting lessons and classes, and even hired a coach to make sure he was up to the standard he needed to be.
"I didn't want to be that famous guy that just goes 'I can act', I've done lessons and classes and I've got an acting coach," he told the publication.
"I tried to do the best that I can and everyone was really accommodating."
Alcott, who starred in the fourth season of the show alongside Claudia Karvan and Angus Sampson, recalled how he was able to keep up with his co-stars, despite it being his first time acting.
"The biggest challenge was everyone is a really, really good actor and I was like ''what am I doing?'' when I first got there," he recalled.
"Then I realised that everyone was so accommodating but I could also hold my own."
The Paralympian was fully involved in his role and even created some of his character's jokes, and even does his own stunts.
"Often, if you're an able-bodied person writing a disabled character, you're not sure what you can and can't say, but I was like ''no let's push it'' and it was so cool," he said.
He added that he was proud to be able to provide positive disability representation on screen, which was something he rarely saw growing up.
"[Acting is] something I've wanted to do since I was a kid, I really struggled with disability representation on screen," he shared.
"Whenever it was, it was always super negative and sad and not people being themselves. So that's why I started doing acting and when Claudia and Kelsey [Munro] called me with a role, I couldn't believe it!"
Alcott will be returning to screens as Marcus in the fifth and final season of Bump on Boxing Day.
Image: Allison Voight/ Shutterstock Editorial