Wally Elnour had never even heard of his on-screen colleagues before he stepped on the set of new SBS drama Sunshine back in March.
He had never been in front of a camera, had zero acting experience, and knew nothing about the production he was about to embark on after being plucked from obscurity on the recommendation of his basketball coach.
Now he is making his acting debut alongside renowned actors Anthony LaPaglia, Melanie Lynskey and Vince Colosimo, in the gritty crime drama filmed on his home streets.
“I had no idea who any of them were when I first started,” Elnour said.
“I got told what they had done after my first day, and I thought ‘wow, they’re celebrities,’ so I was a bit starstruck after that.
“The whole thing didn’t feel like a job, it was just more fun then I ever thought it could be.”
To say that Elnour walked on set as a raw acting talent would be an understatement.
The 19-year-old Sunshine man was busy trying to pursue his basketball dream when SBS came looking for Sudanese basketballers to star in the show, and he very nearly didn’t chase the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I was training in Werribee for a national basketball tournament when they [SBS] came and were handing out flyers,” Elnour explained.
“I didn’t really want to do it because it’s not my thing, I’d never thought about it before, but my coach convinced me to give it a try.
“I went with some friends just for the fun, and then I got the part. It was a bit of a surprise, because acting is not natural for me.
“There were two acting auditions and one basketball one, so the basketball was easy and the acting I just tried to be myself.”
Elnour plays Jacob, an aspiring South Sudanese-Australian basketballer with fictional team ‘Sunshine Kings’ who aspires to make it to the professional ranks of the NBA, but it all hangs in the balance when he is drawn into an investigation on the assault of a teenage girl.
LaPaglia (Without a Trace, Balibo and Lantana) plays a former NBA player and coach who agrees to coach Jacob’s under-performing team, while Lynskey (The Intervention and Heavenly Creatures) plays a Sunshine lawyer who comes to the aid of Jacob and his friends.
Sunshine director Daina Reid (The Secret River, INXS biopic Never Tear Us Apart, Paper Giants) took the production across the west to give the show its authenticity, including many scenes at the Recwest Braybrook stadium and Sunshine train station.
Elnour said the parallels between himself and the character he plays were striking.
“My character is basically just me, except he is more serious,” Elnour said.
“The character is very well thought out, he’s trying to support his own dreams of going to America, and all his friends are his teammates as well. It was very easy to relate to and made the acting easier.”
He said it was important for him that the show portrayed a realistic version of his experience as a Sudanese-Australian, and also highlighted issues at play in society.
“The show will open peoples’ eyes and show them a different perspective,” Elnour said. “It shows that we’re [Sudanese-Australians] more than just gang members, we are much more than that. Being young and black in Australia is tough, I’ve experienced racial profiling and people judging me early so I could really relate to the events in the show.”
While he was plucked from obscurity for this role, Elnour has been pursuing his basketball dreams as well, playing high school basketball in Denver last year and is planning to return soon to play in either Denver or Oklahoma.
And while this was his first acting gig, he hopes to balance basketball and more acting jobs in the immediate future.
Sunshine premieres on SBS on Wednesday, October 18 at 8.30pm, and continues at the same time on October 19, 25 and 26.
