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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Ron Cerabona

The Canberra-born actor playing a cop you'll either love or you'll hate

Canberra-born actor Jackson Heywood, 35, left the national capital when he was four, but he still has a couple of vivid memories.

He recalled an air show when the F18 fighter planes flew over and fireworks going off - even, he says, fireworks dropped from a plane into backyards.

On his latest series there are fireworks of a different kind.

Critical Incident, a Stan Original series, is a crime drama set in the western suburbs of Sydney and looks at the relationships between, and within, the police force and the multicultural community.

Senior Constable Zilficar "Zil" Ahmed (Aksha Khanna) chases teenager Dalia (Zoe Boe), a suspect, onto a crowded railway platform. During the pursuit, a bystander is critically injured. Not only does Zil feel terrible guilt over the victim, he faces the pressure of a critical incident investigation and the attendant publicity.

To add to his burden, Zil finds out that Dalia was not the perpetrator. But - perhaps out of guilt, perhaps of shame, perhaps to salvage something from what happened - he becomes obsessed with pinning something on her.

And some of his colleagues encourage him.

Jackson Heywood plays Greg Hall in Critical Incident. Picture Matchbox Pictures

Heywood plays the "more grey than black and white" Senior Constable Greg Hall.

"He's a divisive character - people are going to love him, people are going to hate him."

Hall, he said, "knows the system very well and what he can get away with to do the job well".

He already knew some people on both sides of the law - some became police, others ended up in jail.

Heywood grew up in Newport and Narrabeen. He studied drama at school and enjoyed it but as a teenager was more focused on playing the guitar and singing.

"There was a bit of humility involved. I hit 18 and wanted to be a full-time musician."

But he realised he had a big problem.

"I didn't have a very good voice.

"That's when I found acting."

His sister Millie Rose Heywood, two years older, had already embarked upon an acting career.

He did a National Institute of Dramatic Art short course and, he says, "fell in love with it.

"It sparked something in me."

One of the teachers mentored him and helped him prepare a show reel and it wasn't too long before he had his first job, a recurring role on Home and Away playing Lachie Cladwell for a few months in 2009. Lachie, a footballer and abusive boyfriend, was involved in a love triangle.

"That never ends well - my character came off second best and left the bay."

The longrunning show has a reputation as a training ground for young actors - among those who have appeared on it were Heath Ledger and Naomi Watts.

Heywood said, "It was a great start - I learned a lot."

Jai Waetford,left, Jackson Heywood and Nicholas Burton in Critical Incident. Picture Matchbox Pictures

As it was his first professional role he didn't know what to expect and soon discovered it was shot on a fast-paced schedule.

"I didn't have a lot of time to spend with the work and delve into it. It was my first job, I didn't know any different ... You do the best with what you can."

Evidently he impressed those involved: he would later be cast as another character, the ice-addicted chef Brody Morgan, whom he played in more than 330 episodes from 2016 to 2019, honing his skills.

He said researching and playing the character's addiction was challenging - the details of ice addiction "startled me a bit".

Heywood's other credits include the feature film Vulnerable and the series East West 101 and during a period in Hollywood, an episode of Teen Wolf.

He has just filmed an episode of NCIS: Sydney, the international spin-off in the NCIS franchise.

Now, he's going to write and direct his first short film.

"I want to expand my skill set in the industry."

  • Critical Incident is on Stan from August 12.
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