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A new sex symbol surfaces.
Byline: ROBERT FIDGEON
IN just 12 weeks, he's become Australian television's ``thinking woman's sex
symbol'' ~ though the guy who's set hearts aflutter as Diver Dan in ABC-TV's SeaChange is not big on opinions of what it takes to make
one a ``hot item''.
The thoughtful, softly spoken David Wenham regards himself simply as an actor
(who has a partner) delivering the very best he can with the material provided.
As Wenham sees it, he is co-star alongside Sigrid Thornton ~ the respected name
on which the producers (Artist Services-ABC) sold the series.
When the series started, Wenham was not so well known. He was, however, a well-credentialled actor who had won the 1997 AFI Best Actor
award for his role in the Artist Services-ABC mini-series, Simone de Beauvoir's Babies.
This week sees the conclusion of the first series of the 13-episode SeaChange, which has given Nine's Sunday powerhouse 60
Minutes a tough run and is the ABC's most successful Australian-produced
series. For SeaChange fans, the burning question for
the finale is whether Dan and Laura finally sleep together.
Wenham's performances on stage caught the eye of critics before he moved to
films such as Cosi,
For Wenham, one of the highlights of working on SeaChange
was the chance to share the camera with Sigrid Thornton. ``She's a very giving
actor and brings so much to her role,'' he says.
Presently in
``Its acceptance has been extremely gratifying, which has been great for all
concerned,'' he says. `But then we did have quality material to work with.''