Against All Odds
by Ellen Jay

Julian McMahon smells great today; he's been told that by a number of people. Included among them is the waiter who appears at our table to welcome us to an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. When the waiter suddenly asks if he's wearing a cologne called Kouros, McMahon flashes a surprised smile and responds that he is. Most people wouldn't think of asking a stranger what cologne he is wearing, but that's exactly the kind of approachability that the Australian born actor's personality invites. Any man who could come between one of ANOTHER WORLD's most loved couple, Jake and Paulina, and still get a favorable reception from the fans is a very likable fellow indeed.

Just like another famous Australian actor, Paul Hogan, Julian McMahon was discovered without having had a prior interest in the acting profession. While attending the graduation ceremonies at a school for etiquette, grooming and modelling, the owner of an Australian agency approached him and asked if he would be interested in auditioning for commercials. "A couple of days after that, he gave me a call and said, `Would you like to go out for an American Pepsi commercial?' Which I did, and that's how I got started," reflects McMahon. The son of the former prime minister of Australia, the late Sir William McMahon, Julian seemed to be following in his father's footsteps for a time. Until fate intervened, he was working towards a degree in law. His career path took a swift turn, however, after he made his first commercial. "I made a lot of money, I met a lot of nice women and I thought, `Here we go! This is better than a law degree,'" McMahon says, laughing. Although he never had any formal training, the actor has
rarely found himself without a job during his five years in the business. McMahon appeared in an award winning Levi's commercial which proved to be a huge launching pad for him. "It got a lot of exposure and a lot of publicity. I had agents and producers knocking on my door. The next thing I knew, I was asked to do a well known television series. I did that for a year, and then I did Australia's most popular television series for a year." As a result, McMahon won the award for most popular actor on a couple of occasions. The awards, he explains, are comparable to our Emmys.

In making the move to the United States, McMahon forfeited an established career in his native country. "I was offered a lot of great jobs in Australia - leads in films, leads in television series - so it was a big move for me to just dump it and say, `Well, okay, I'll start from scratch again.'" He took a big risk by turning down jobs just for an opportunity that might arise. He was willing to give up the security of his homeland because he had always felt that if he was going to make it in his profession, he might as well make it in America. Putting it as plainly as he can, McMahon says, "The fact of the matter is that this is where the big money is, this is where the big opportunities are, this is where a lot of the talent is and this is where you're going to achieve what you want to achieve in this business." As it turned out, the actor didn't have to struggle for very long in his new surroundings.

Two weeks after he arrived, he found himself auditioning for the part of Ian Rain on AW. In fact, it was his first audition. McMahon felt an immediate kinship with his character. "I knew that he was a good guy and that everything he was doing was from his heart." When asked if that is something to which he aspires, without hesitation he answers, "Something I am." McMahon admits that it was difficult to be placed in the role of the new man in Paulina's life. "For me, it was a huge challenge to bring the audience around to accepting the fact that I was a good enough guy for `their' Paulina." Jake and Paulina's immense popularity was somewhat intimidating to the actor who knew that he would eventually be the spoiler of that relationship. "Jake and Paulina were two of daytime's hottest characters, an d such a popular couple as well." Getting over the hurdle of "Jake and Paulina" did not prove to be as difficult as McMahon had originally thought. He reports that his fan mail was positive. "Even though they thought
Ian was a bit of a nasty guy, they still liked him. It was really wonderful of the audience to accept me the way that they did." Considering the issue further, he ponders, "Maybe they just don't give me the bad mail."