Soap star Andy Newton-Lee’s quest to help Aussies make it big in Hollywood

This article was in the Sydney Daily Telegraph today, for anyone interested:


Soap star Andy Newton-Lee’s quest to help Aussies make it big in Hollywood.

FORMER British soap actor Andy Newton-Lee is opening a Sydney office to help Aussie celebrities with their visas for the United States.

Newton-Lee’s clients include Ruby Rose and Natalie Imbruglia, as well as actors from Home and Away and Neighbours, providing a path to navigate the often difficult, time-consuming and expensive visa process.

“We are kind of like the first port of call,” Newton-Lee told Confidential of his business, Next Stop LAX.

“We aren’t lawyers, we are consultants. The difference between us and others is that I’ve been through their struggle, their visa woes. Even with high-profile individuals, the period of uncertainty and waiting is like nothing else because if these things are not processed on time, you can lose jobs.”

While Aussie actors continue to dominate the Hollywood landscape, it remains a difficult and daunting process to be allowed to work there with much publicised strict immigration laws in place.

“Especially with the success of all of these Aussies breaking through now, there has never really been a better time for Australian talent to make it in America,” he said.

Newton-Lee, known in the UK for playing Robbie Flynn on Hollyoaks, fell into the business.

Having moved to Hollywood to work as an actor and writer, he “became the go-to person for helping other English actors”.

“I assisted a few British actors and then Australian actors started coming to me,” he explained.

“People come to me because I am not the guy in a suit. I am a hand-holder, rather than a guy in a suit making a transaction. That is why we have such a high success rate.”

While this visa work takes up most of his time, Newton-Lee is still active creatively.

“I keep my toe in the creative stuff,” he said. “Never say never, these days you can evolve and do multiple things. Next Stop LAX is my number-one priority but I would never say never to doing something creative again, you can’t take the actor out of the actor.”