I don't think he even told mum until the last minute, he'd kind of got the visa,
got the air tickets and then said come on,
pack up, let's go.
As a Palestinian born actor in Australia,
you can find yourself cast in, bit parts, like:
a taxi driver,
an extremist
or a crime kingpin, in Underbelly.
But his latest part as Ishamail, in SBS's Safe Harbour,
is no mere stereotype.
It's complex, gripping, Aussie TV.
"We go to Australia."
"You take us."
Whether on screen or on stage,
this guy has a presence that's hard to miss.
He's Hazem Shammas
Can you remember the first time you ever did any sort of performance,
when did acting actually start for you?
My first ever gig was,
I'd like to say kindergarten where I played the little drummer boy
and I remember standing in the church aisle, just waiting for my moment to come up and deliver,
deliver the drum.
And I was like, I've got some ideas about this,
I know how to do this.
Tell us a little bit about your parents and where they were born.
My parents and I and my older sister were born in a little Palestinian Arabic town
in the north of Israel called Fassuta.
So we came out in the mid seventies on the back of Whitlams good grace.
He had opened up the doors for people like us, families like us.
When your dad decided to come to Australia,
I hear it's a bit of a crazy story.
What was that like?
There's a certain madness I guess to
wanna leave everything you know behind
and then go somewhere else
I don't think he even told mum until the last minute, he'd kind of got the visa,
got the air tickets and then said come on,
pack up, let's go.
That might not be the most true version of the story,
but I feel like I've heard that along the way somewhere.
Do you see yourself in him, in your dad?
Yeah for sure.
He passed away in 2004.
He was young.
It was a shock to the family.
Especially when started to pursue this as career, acting,
going against his advices and testing his fears for his son.
Ever since then I kind started seeing myself more and more in him in terms of his restlessness
and him following his dream and his passion and
he was astounding in what he was capable of doing.
He came out here with nothing, the classic tale
and he literally built this life.
"My son could be in there!"
"You need to stay calm at this point."
"Who are you to tell me how to behave?"
"You have no morals, no self respect."
What was their reaction when you said this is what I wanna do with my life?
They just really encouraged us to do anything,
to do whatever we wanted.
As long as there was some smarts behind it.
I think it was part of the deal I made along the way,
I kinda said look I'll get this degree and I'll get a real career out of the way
and then I'll go do what I want.
So you've worked in theatre, TV, film.
I wanna hear about some of the roles you've played in Australian television in particular.
In television I've mostly played
drug dealers, taxi drivers,
refugees,
I'm trying to think what else.
That's pretty much it. That's the repertoire.
"It's no competition. We sell a thousand caps a night."
The game changer will be when they start casting guys like me, with strange names
to play the Ryan's of Australian families,
who don't have to explain
their kind of brownness.
Safe Harbour is probably really changing and shifting the kind of stories we're telling.
How did you feel when you first read through the script and realised who your character was?
The script was so tight and so amazing, I was heartbroken and gripped
and quite devestated to see what these people are capable of doing.
"Go to fucking hell and burn there!"
The depth of the humanity and the complexity of each and everyone,
the way right and wrong is blurred.
The contradictions are real
and the surprises are real
and the love is complex.
Cause on the surface this character that you do play,
is similar to other characters that you've played before.
He is a refugee, he is a taxi driver-
but it's different.
Yeah but first and foremost he is an Australian,
whether it be a new Australian or not.
He's a father and a husband
and a man and he grapples with his masculinity
and grapples with his grief.
And that's what's exciting.
You know? To see that on Australian TV.
"My daughter is dead."
"Whose suffered the most to you?"
Even in the trailer, there were comments online saying
this is proprganda, I don't wanna watch this.
The people who have made their minds up about that kind of stuff,
doesn't matter.
They can go watch My Kitchen Rules or whatever and carry on with their existence.
I don't think it's about changing minds, it's actually just about
exploring who we are as Australian's through fiction.
Quite a lot of the series is actually filmed on the water,
What is that like physically, actually being in that environment and filming on a boat?
They deliberately made our fishing boat and our refugee boat
the most horrible uncomfortable place to spend a few days.
A kind of makeshift, diesel stinking, not a place to sit.
Piece of crap
that'll just barely float.
Did you know it was going to be that real?
I didn't expect it to be that uncomfortable.
And I didn't think that they'd forget there was no toilet onboard.
Maybe the basics of water and...
some light refreshments might be on hand.
There's an ongoing HR complaint going on right now.
Yeah totally.
We didn't have to act, we didn't pretend.
How did you feel about those national labels
coming into your teens or as a young man?
Did you call yourself an Australian?
Did you call yourself Palestinian?
I've always been Palestinian, I've always been Australian.
I've never really had a doubt.
But to be honest it kind of feels like it's...
only in the last maybe ten or so years
where it feels like I've had to defend that more than I remember growing up.
You've just had a son
do you think that you're going to raise him
in a better Australia than the one your parents found when they first got here?
Yeah without a doubt.
I have nothing but hope and optimism for...
for us.
And especially that generation
Would you want him to get into acting?
Nah.
Of course not, he's gotta get a proper profession first.
He's gotta get something to fall back on.
Did I learn nothing from my dad?
But he'll probably end up an accountant.
Or a builder.
Builder, good profession.
If you have a say.
Of course, a real estate agent, good profession.
Accountant, good profession.
What else can you do?
Yeah, actor?
Rubbish.
Thanks so much for giving your time today.
It was great, heavy chat.
But thank you.
It was good, it was lovely to share.