TALK to any aspiring actor, writer, producer or journalist and chances are they’ll share the common pipedream to make it in the United States.
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For many in the industry, Hollywood is still the Mecca of the entertainer’s career, whether that career is in the limelight or shining it on the greats and for former Tenterfield local Dean McCarthy, it has been a long road to get there.
The former Tenterfield High School student and St. Joseph’s Primary School captain has been behind the interviewer’s microphone since his teens, hosting a weekend radio show on the local community channel Ten FM.
From early days in the broadcaster’s seat on Tenterfield’s community radio frequency, 89.7, Dean took the leap over the Pacific and now spends his days rubbing shoulders with LA glitterati.
“I live here in Hollywood and I interview celebrities at red carpets and at movie premiers and the content airs back in Australia,” He said last week from his home base in the Hollywood Hills.
The journo to the stars has built his career behind the camera, interviewing the new generation of super-celebrities and while he is now a regular fixture on the red carpet, he said he still has his surreal moments.
“I’m getting kind of used to it now, but it was very overwhelming in the beginning,” he said.
“I interviewed One Direction in New York City and I interviewed them at their premier in front of thousands of screaming girls and it is such a surreal moment, interviewing these people who are so famous and you’re having a one-on-one conversation with them.”
Dean said oftentimes the Hollywood celebrity class are just keen for a friendly chat.
“I interviewed Jennifer Lawrence last year for Hunger Games and it is so weird being in the same room with her. She is one of the biggest movie stars in the world and we were talking about her hair, we were talking about just normal, everyday things,” he said.
While he is regularly surrounded by silver-screen royalty, Dean said he has not forgotten the skills he learnt as a teenager on air in Tenterfield.
From community radio to Brisbane’s B105’s breakfast show and on to Sydney and LA, Dean said it was Tenterfield’s live radio media that kick started his career.
“Working at Ten FM started my career because I actually got to use that experience to work for B105 on their breakfast show as their movie reviewer on air,” he said.
“It actually was a very key part of my career and gave me a huge love of presenting and music as well.”
He said the romance of live radio broadcasting has endured through his career in television, with appearances on social media and a one-time gig at the Tenterfield Star.
“It is such an exciting medium—it’s live, there is nothing more exciting than being live on air where anything can happen and the cool thing about that experience which you just can’t get anywhere in the city—you would never get a job like that when you’re a teenager,” he said.
From a spot on the school captain’s honour roll at St. Joseph’s Primary School in 1996, Dean went on to Tenterfield High School, took work experience with the local newspaper, but said his career success is the work of one influential mentor.
“My biggest mentor was Annabelle Berridge,” he said.
“She was the one who said to me Dean, no one is going to come and knock on your parents door and say 'hey we’ve got a job for you in Hollywood, you have to make it happen for yourself'."
After making his mark in Hollywood, Dean said he is looking to break in to the US television industry alongside his regular appearances on Australia’s Scoopla and Hot Hits on channels Nine, Eleven and Southern Cross 10.
He said his interests in radio are still going strong as Hollywood correspondent for CFM radio, but he is keen to make his mark on more US screens.
“I want to work for more Australian outlets and start to work for some big American TV shows as well,” he said.
He said having feet on the red carpet at some of Hollywood’s blockbuster events has been a dream a long time in the making and one he is not finished shaping yet.
“It was a long process,” he said.
“It started with a dream in Tenterfield, I pursued that dream in Brisbane and I strove for that dream in Sydney. I quit my job in Sydney and bought a plane ticket over here and it has really worked out.”
“It was just about having the dream, being really focused on it and just not giving up.”