Paul Danan dramatic life change after being forced to get normal job after quitting Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks star Paul Danan has revealed that his life took an unexpected turn after his departure from the soap as he was forced to work in a phone repair shop to make ends meet
Paul Danan speaks of his career demise after quitting Hollyoaks
Actor Paul Danan was one of the most sought after celebrities following his stint on Hollyoaks as he appeared on a number of reality TV shows.
The TV star, 46, had even made it as far as Hollywood after appearing on reality TV shows including Celebrity Love Island, but things soon took a turn for the worse as he ended up working in a phone repair shop. In a recent interview, the TV star, who has battled drug addiction in the past, has now blamed the demise of his TV and film career on starring in reality TV shows.
Speaking to the MailOnline, he said: “It’s very tough. I mean, maybe years ago I shouldn’t have left Hollyoaks, but I made that decision because after four years, I didn’t want be typecast and back then, everyone didn’t want to be the next Ken Barlow. You wanted to go off and play different roles, especially when you’re a real actor. ”
He continued: “I needed to play different roles, I mean how many storylines can one character have? I wanted to go to LA and I did. And I got very close to some very big, big films and things like that. But the rejection… the one thing I hate in life is rejection. ”
However, after starring in reality shows, Paul became a talking point within the industry for a number of reasons – some of which led to the demise of his career. He went to add: “It was a detriment to my acting career because it didn’t help. Maybe if I had stayed in the background and didn’t make a big splash, I would probably have been alright. But you know me, if I’m on a show, I’m going to give it my all and be TV gold! It didn’t help with my acting career because suddenly people were like ‘oh, we don’t want to hire a reality star!'”
He then said:” Casting directors were a bit snobby like that, they don’t people want to see me on a TV show thinking ‘isn’t that the guy from Love Island?’ It wasn’t good for my acting career and it took a long time to get that back. I don’t know if it’s even fully redeemed even all these years later.”
According to the star, back in 2005 through to 2007, actors who appeared on reality TV shows were seen in a bad light, instead of remembering their career in films, theatre and soaps. And this led to him seeking out work outside of the industry in order to make ends meet. He even worked at a phone repair shop as well as retail clothing stores.
He said: “I worked in a place called I Smashed It, which is where if you if you drop your iPhone or your phone and the screen smashes, then we’ll fix the screen for you. I was working there for a bit, probably about 10 years ago. And that was just to get a bit of money on the side.”
In his candid interview with the publication, he explained: “Suddenly when you make such a big splash on a reality show… that is so powerful. It’s just six weeks but suddenly casting directors are like ‘we can’t have him because he was on that Love Island!’ I’ve worked in recruitment. I used to work in Ted Baker. I worked in the markets when I was younger and I’ve worked in different clothes shops and stuff like that. And of course in between jobs, you have to still do that. ”
But this turn of events made it difficult for Paul to deal with as he struggled to come to terms with life outside of the industry. Speaking of his downfall, he added: “But when you get to kind of like, the real professional side that I am at, it’s very difficult now for me to go and do a little job in Tesco’s or the travel agent or whatever. And that’s what makes it even harder because you know financially, you don’t know when your next paycheck is coming.” Now, regretting his decision to take part in reality TV shows, the star said that his decision was also fuelled by the need to take care for his son Deniro, eight.
He said: “I am not on benefits or anything like that. But I have a little one [son Deniro, eight] I have to pay for and the cost of living at the moment it’s crazy. So I do struggle sometimes because I’m not on the telly all the time. You don’t know when the next gig is coming, and hence the reason why the reality shows, some of the time I said yeah, because I needed to pay bills. And I probably didn’t want to do a reality show did I? I should have just stuck to my acting.”
