Got to Dance

The Adam Factor

He’s a tap dancer, an actor and a reality TV judge, but Adam Garcia hopes to shine as a soccer star when he takes part in a Harrow charity football match on 18 August. The easy on the eye Aussie talks to Kaye Holland about training, tap dancing and Drew Barrymore

Adam Garcia breaks with the usual celebrity tradition of never saying sorry and apologises for missing our original interview. “Sorry about last week,” he sighs. “My Blackberry died. I hate Blackberry.”

Wow, I’m already impressed. Despite the fact that he is phoning from fame obsessed LA, Adam comes across as wonderfully un-starry. He’s sharp, funny and happy to chat about the forthcoming charity football match - which will see Adam and Radio Northwick Park take on a team of ex Arsenal pros. “I’m very excited,” says Adam. “I’ll probably play left back. That’s where I feel comfortable.”

His commitment to the event isn’t in doubt. “I have been training at Catz in LA, which is where Beckham trains,” he reveals. “It’s going well. As long as I am able to run and not have my lungs fall out of my mouth, I’ll be happy.”

Not that the affable Aussie is content with the recent Ashes result (England beat Australia to retain the trophy). “We’ve reached a nadir in terms of our cricket talent and ability,” Adam reluctantly acknowledges “but we’ll come back!”

By contrast Adam’s own career continues to go from strength to strength. Having become an accomplished tap dancer in his teens, his big break came when acclaimed choreographer Dein Perry cast him in tap ensemble Hot Shoe Shuffle. The show transferred to London where Adam found dance fame as Tony Manero (the part that made Travolta a star) in Saturday Night Fever. The role - for which he received an Olivier award nomination - established Adam as hot commodity and Hollywood came calling. He starred in Jerry Buckheimer’s Coyote Ugly, Riding In Cars With Boys opposite his friend Drew Barrymore (“a genuinely amazing person. She’s caring, clever, funny...”) and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen with Hollywood hell-raiser Lindsay Lohan.

Back in Britain, he trod the boards in Where We Live, Wicked and Kiss Me Kate, and proved his talent as a dancer with the West End revival of Tap Dogs and his role as a judge on TV show Got To Dance.

Effortlessly gorgeous (the 40 year old looks younger than his years), Adam’s career has been nothing if not varied and I’m curious as to what his preferred platform is. “I really don’t know,” he says. “I’m a bit of a slut and like trying my hand at new things - even if I’m not that good at them,” he adds with usual modesty. “But for me, dancing has always been impossible to give up.”

Ask Adam for his career highlight to date and he cites Saturday Night Fever as “pretty special and something I owe to [axed Strictly judge] Arlene Phillips. Arlene took a big risk in putting an unknown 25 year old in the lead role of a West End production.” Other standouts include “opening the Sydney Olympics in 2000.”

The Sydney boy has been based in London for 19 years. “London is a great city, but I had no idea I would stay this long,” he laughs and confesses to missing the “beach, surf and wildlife” of his native Oz.

His most recent trip Down Under was to shoot Camp - a television series currently airing in America. Whether Adam’s army of British fans will get to see the show isn’t clear. “It’s about summer camp, which the UK doesn’t really have,” he explains, “but it’s very funny.”

Adam will be returning to Oz in September to film political thriller, The Code. First though there’s a “five week holiday - woo!” to look forward to. And the football match, where he’ll be doing his best to defend “against the might of the ex Arsenal team.”

Tickets to the Charity Football match on 18 August cost £5 (under 12s go free) and can be purchased here www.radionorthwickpark.org/football/

View the PDF of the article: AG

Interview - Adam Garcia:

 The Aussie hottie on Drew Barrymore, tap dancing and a charity football match of ex-Arsenal players

By Kaye Holland

 

You’re best known as an actor, tap dancer and TV judge but on August 18, you’ll be playing in a London hospital radio station’s charity football match...
That’s right. A friend of mine made me aware of the charity and the football match [Garcia will be joining Radio Northwick Park’s side as they take on a team of former Arsenal players], and I thought, what better way to help than to play the game I love the most?

What’s your position?
I’m probably going to play left-back or as a central defender. Football isn’t massive in Australia – we’re more obsessed with AFL, then rugby league, then cricket and then football – but everyone plays. I was a winger when I was a kid, but by the time I was a teenager, I played left-back. That’s where I feel comfortable – defending. Defending against the might of the ex-Arsenal team.

How’s the training going?
Pretty well actually, yeah. I have been training at a place called Catz in LA, which is where David Beckham trains. I have a few friends there who are trainers and they have been helping me with my fitness. As long as I am able to run and not have my lungs fall out of my mouth, I reckon I’ll be happy.

Have you been enjoying any other sports this summer?
I haven’t been enjoying the cricket. We’ve reached a nadir in terms of talent and ability but that’s alright – we’ll come back. I like anything with a ball, really. Put five people in similar coloured shirts, kicking a can down the road, and I’ll watch.

You’ve been in London for 19 years now. Did you ever dream that you would enjoy such a love affair with the city?
Never. I had no plans to come to London but it’s a great city and as soon as I arrived, I knew that I wanted to stay longer. I had no idea it would be this long though!

What do you miss most about Australia?
The beach, the surf and locally grown fruit, like mangoes. I also miss the enormous array of wildlife and waking up to a dawn chorus, instead of just the sound of blackbirds.

Tell us a bit about Camp, the new US TV series you’re starring in...
We shot the show near Australia’s Gold Coast earlier this year, and it’s airing in the US right now. I have no idea whether it will come to the UK. It’s one of those shows that is very American – it’s about summer camp, which the UK doesn’t really have. It’s funny – like a dramedy – and the Americans seem to like it, so hopefully it will find its way to the UK.

Is TV your favourite medium?
I like the variety of dipping in and out of different mediums, I really do. I love theatre, which was the first thing I did as a performer. There’s something exciting and adrenaline-thumping about being in front of a live audience that you can’t replicate. But then TV and film are rewarding too: you get to do the scenes over and over again in a very specific way and create a story.

What have been your career highlights?
Saturday Night Fever was amazing in terms of being thrown in at the deep end. To lead a West End show at 25... Opening the Sydney Olympics with the rest of the Tap Dogs in 2000 was pretty special. Working with Trevor Nunn was another highlight, and working with Drew Barrymore [in Riding In Cars With Boys] was great too.

Speaking of Drew Barrymore, you have worked with some of the world’s most beautiful women in her, Dannii and Kylie Minogue and Kimberly Wyatt. Who was your favourite?

Drew is certainly up there. She is a genuinely amazing person and because we were playing son and mother, we had this really interesting on-screen relationship that developed into a lovely friendship. Drew is clever, funny and just a very good person.

What’s next for Adam Garcia? I’m on holiday – woo! I have all of August off, which is fantastic. I’m currently in LA but will be back in London for the football match. Then I’ll hang out with my girlfriend before flying to Australia, in September, to film political thriller The Code for ABC. It’s quite heavy, so very different from what I’ve been doing.

Tickets to the charity football match, which kicks off at 2pm at Harrow Borough Football Club (gates open 12pm) on Aug 18, cost £5. Earlsmead Stadium, Harrow, HA2 8SS radionorthwickpark.org/football Stations | South Harrow / Northolt Park

Photos: Getty Read more: Interview - Adam Garcia: The Aussie hottie on Drew Barrymore, tap dancing and a charity football match of ex-Arsenal players - TNT Magazine Follow us: @tntmagazine on Twitter | tntmag on Facebook

Save the date: Sunday 18 August

As some of you know, I am a volunteer at Radio Northwick Park - a London hospital radio station, run entirely by volunteers, that has been providing entertainment to patients and visitors at the hospital for more than 40 years.

On Sunday 18 August, the gorgeous Australian actor Adam Garcia - star of the film Coyote Ugly and television show Got To Dance, will be joining Radio Northwick Park’s football team as we take on a team of former Arsenal players and celebrities.

Not a fan of football or Adam (maybe you're from Mars or something?!) No problem: the day will be filled with entertainers, food and a fête, as well as the match itself. Spectators will also be able to take part in a half time penalty shoot out with the players and to round up, there will be an after party at Harrow Borough’s football ground to which everyone is invited!

Tickets to the match, which will kick off at Harrow Borough Football Club on Sunday 18 August at 2pm, are only £5 (and under 12s get in for free). What's more, all the money raised will be split directly between Radio Northwick Park and the Arsenal Foundation: a charity launched to help engage young people in the community.

You can purchase tickets for yourself, friends and family here. Alternatively if you'd like me to pick one up for you (we’re expecting them to sell out soon) when I am next in at RNP, please email me or contact me on 07899 987001 asap!

Thanks for your support and hopefully see you on the 18th!