Meyne Wuatt has joined the cast of Neighbours.
Wyatt will become the first indigenous actor to join the main cast of the Australian soap opera in a substantial role since the show began broadcasting in 1985.
Meyne Wyatt
© fickr/BelvoirSt
Meyne Wyatt
The actor will star as Nate Kinski, a non-indigenous recurring character who has loose ties to Susan and Karl Kennedy. Susan was once married to Nate's uncle.
The soap's first indigenous character was played by Tony Briggs, who starred briefly alongside Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce on the show in 1987 and 1988.
The news of Wyatt's appointment comes shortly after Fairfax Media published a report declaring Australian theatre and television industries "whitebread", deploring a lack of diversity.
The show's series producer Jason Herbison said that the casting of Wyatt was not a reaction to the report.
He said in a statement: "While cultural diversity is definitely important, in cases where we don't need a specific ethnic background, our brief to agents is to put forward their best people and that was the case for this character.
"Meyne is an exceptional young award-winning actor and very much on the radar of casting directors. We feel very privileged to have him join our regular cast. From his first audition, we knew we had found the best actor for the role."
Wyatt has begun filming for the show in Melbourne.
Neighbours' Sonya Rebecchi will lose her temper and slap Naomi Canning later this month after discovering that she tried to kiss her husband Toadie.
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