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TV WEEK
25 August 2009

With Sea Patrol docked until next season, Kristian Schmid took time to appear in this week’s episode of Packed to the Rafters.

Kristian plays a cerebral palsy-sufferer – and brother of new Rafter’s hunk, Jake (James Stewart).

“I wanted to be sure that I got it as right as I possibly could, so I spent some time at the Spastic Centre and talked to a lot of people with cerebral palsy,” Kristian tells TV Week.

“It’s terrifying taking on a role like this because there’s also the danger of offending people. I’ll be giving the guys at the Spastic Centre a call to make sure that they were happy with what I did.”

Kristian Schmid on Rafters

David Knox
TV Tonight
26 August 2009

There are quite a few stars popping up on different networks at the moment.

Next week we’ll see Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s appearance on Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation.

An hour later Sea Patrol’s Kristian Schmid has a role in Packed to the Rafters, as the brother of Jake (James Stewart).

“I’m playing a character with Cerebral Palsy and he is the brother of Rachel’s boyfriend,” he told TV Tonight. “It brings up a whole lot of ‘how am I going to deal with this?’ subjects.”

“The cast are really friendly, as are the crew, and they make the guest artist feel very welcome, so I’ve been having a ball.

“It’s really got some fantastic writing on it as well, which makes my job a lot easier.”

It airs 8:30pm Tuesday on Seven.

Temporary Rafter

Daily Telegraph
31 August 2009

SEA Patrol’s Kristian Schmid recently returned to civvies to film a six-part guest role for Seven’s Packed To The Rafters from this week (Tuesday, 8.30pm).
Schmid debuts as Jake’s (James Stewart) brother Alex, who suffers from cerebral palsy.

“The function of the character is not just to explore what it’s like to have cerebral palsy but to show how it affects the people around him,” Schmid explains.

“It raises questions for Jess Marais’ character (who is seeing Jake) and how she deals with it.”

While Sea Patrol actors Jay Ryan, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Saskia Burmeister have left the series, Schmid confirms that he will set sail on the program’s next voyage, which starts filming in and around Mission Beach this month.

Sunday Telegraph
September 2009

Closer – Vanessa Santer talks about the old days with Kristian Schmid.

Many remember him as Tod from Neighbours, but Kristian Schmid is all grown up and set to join another of TV’s most popular families. He joins the cast of Packed to the Rafters tonight as a guest role.

Q Are you on set at the moment?
No. I’m at the park with my son. We’re having a nice day together. I’m about to start work on Sea Patrol (where he has a recurrent role) in September. We film in far north Queensland. I take my family with me, but we’re in Sydney otherwise.

Q You had such an iconic role on Neighbours. Do you still get recognised as Todd?
It’s a strange one. Yes I do, but also Neighbours was associated at the time with growing up and was a really positive time in life for people. So I get a lot of “did I go to school with you?” or “did you go to this whatever?” Sometimes I say yeah, sometimes I say no, it depends on what sort of mood I’m in.

Q Yours was surely one of the best deaths ever on a soap opera. Was it a good way to gout of Neighbours?
It was very traumatic for many people. Being hit by a van is pretty good – it’d have to be up there.

Q Were you a fan of Packed to the Rafters before scoring the role?
Yeah, I think it’s a great show. I watched the first series and there are very talented people working on the show. To be honest, I’m a big fan of all the new Australian dramas. I think they’ve cast it (Rafters) really well with people who like working with each other, so there’s a bit of magic there and it’s really good writing. It looks at interesting issues without getting too heavy and dark.

Q You play a character with cerebral palsy in Packed. How challenging was that?
Look, it’s interesting because normally you’re just focused on the acting and hitting the right emotional keys, but when you’re playing someone with any sort of disability or physical trait there’s something else to think about. After talking to people with CP, it’s about muscle spasms that you don’t have a lot of control over. I’m generalising, but usually they have to concentrate extremely hard to control any twitches. There are so many things going on you get a similar look of concentration.

Q Why acting?
It changes all the time, but the easy answer is because I can. I truly like telling stories and there’s an element of me that likes to be the centre of attention. And it’s a great that as a male you get to embrace a lot of the emotional side of your like that some others may hide away. I get to play for a living. I don’t consider it work; I really enjoy what I do. When I’m doing 14-hour days that’s something to rejoice in.