Dacre Montgomery Instagram – After ten years of pursuing a career in this industry – here’s a story about how it all started… I got a call, on a Friday (the last week before graduating drama school). Directions were to get on a plane the following morning (Saturday) for a test deal in Los Angeles for a film I hadn’t taped for. Casting had seen 1 of the 98 other tapes I had done that year, at home each night after finishing class. I split the business ticket for two economies and took my mother, who’d helped me the whole way. We set off from our (relatively) small city in Australia, which seemed like a billion light years away. I tested the next morning (Sunday) in front of the whole studio of executives, casting and the director. I’d never been to LA. I’d never done a test. I was scared. Fuelled by passion, but blinded by nerves. Scared about loosing my anonymity if I got the role, scared it’d been so long pursuing it, what if I couldn’t pull it off? The next morning (Monday), I got the call. A few minutes (and a mini heart attack) later – I was told I HAD THE ROLE. My mother had spent the better half of a decade telling me – “you never know what’s around the corner”. My mantra had been – “be ready for where preparation meets opportunity”. It was at this moment, I was ready. Every moment, every trial, every tribulation had happened for a reason and made me who I was. So that I could step in the shoes and the role and have the work ethic and maturity required, to make the most out of it. I had turned the “corner”. I had prepared. I was ready. The IMDB photo is just a number. But #1 – 3 weeks in a row – this means something to me. It holds value, it gives me hope. I will not squander the opportunities I have been given. I would urge each and every one of you to go out there, AND GET IT.