Australian-born Felix Mallard returns as Marcus, the troubled neighbour of Ginny in Netflix’s murderous mother-daughter hit Ginny and Georgia. Making room for conversations about mental health and more diversity in the industry, Felix describes the show as the portrayal of honest storylines which delves into race, disability and self-harm, without emphasising tokenism. “The biggest thing we wanted was audiences to feel represented and feel seen, and the fact that that many people watched the show just meant that we achieved what we set out to do,” says Mallard. As overwhelming as the response to Ginny and Georgia was - with his Instagram blowing up during the mandatory isolation - Felix comforted himself from the instant attention by putting his phone down and choosing to be present in his surroundings. “After all, I can go outside and get in the Ocean, you know?”

How has this year been for you so far?

I’ve had the best year! I’ve been so lucky and privileged to tell this story and revisit and reconnect with all my mates shooting Ginny and Georgia - that was such an amazing way to start the year. And as soon as we wrapped, I got to go over and film a movie called Turtles All the Way Down.

Turtles All the Way Down is an adaptation of a John Green novel - can you tell us anything about that project? How was your experience filming?

TAWD is this beautiful book that John Green has written that is so eloquent and really describes this journey of mental health and self-discovery in such a raw, respectful and honest way. On film, you have the time and the ability to really make more nuanced choices because you have a lot more time on scenes - you can sit with the stillness, which is such a great exercise, in acting, in storytelling. I feel like drama lives in those moments in between.

Ginny and Georgia’s first season premiered back in 2021. How did you prepare to get back into the role?

To get into Marcus as a character, I have a bunch of playlists that suit whatever mood he is in. Season 2 feels like you’re trying to force two magnets together, the truth is gonna come out no matter what and it's how these characters deal with it. For Marcus, to be able to live openly and honestly in this relationship, is such a sign of growth and change, for him to be able to be that vulnerable. But as with Marcus and with a lot of young men, all of those emotions become too much to deal with. He doesn’t know how or isn’t equipped to handle things when they get dark.

I was going to say that! There were all the clues pointing to Marcus not being okay, but he didn’t have the necessary tools to talk about it. It’s interesting to see the evolution of the characters - to see the parallels between Ginny and Marcus’ relationship versus Ginny and Georgia’s relationship. It’s very refreshing to watch a show that can go in this deep in just 10 episodes.

I know! They cram in a lot. And I think the irony with Marcus and Ginny is that the reason they’re together and the reason their love is so strong is because they see themselves in each other. They share all these vulnerabilities and these insecurities. To Marcus, she’s the only thing that makes sense which is just exactly the reason he feels he needs to let her go. He wants to be the one supporting her, the one helping her through these hard times because he knows exactly how hard she’s struggling and for him, the journey of season 2 is that he doesn’t believe that anyone else should be burdened with his problems. He doesn’t think that Ginny deserves that, he thinks she needs someone who loves himself enough to love other people.

Full look **Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello**

Another important theme was the tumultuous relationship between teens and parents, which is interesting to see from different perspectives. How did you feel portraying these themes which I think give a voice to teens?

What I love about this show is we want to make audiences feel seen - we want to reflect honest and truthful stories on screen, and that means we want to reflect an honest and truthful experience of what it is to be a parent and how hard that is. And also how hard it is to grow up and where those two things meet is where our show lives.

Okay, let’s be honest: Marcus often says the wrong things and slows down the eventual love story. What relationship advice would you give to him?

Communication is the key to everything else, which is why it’s so hard because it's so difficult to communicate when you’re feeling a certain way, or even articulate, or even recognise. For Marcus, that’s his learning journey - he is learning how to recognise in himself what is going on and how to communicate it in a healthy way instead of what most young men do which is bottle it up, ignore it or push it away. Because it will always come out in different ways, it will come out in ways that damage other people.

You grew up in Australia - how does it compare to Hollywood?

America was always in the back of my mind and it was always something that I wanted to work towards. Ironically, I felt like it would be a little bit easier to break out here than in Australia, because there’s less stuff being made [there] and by that virtue, less possibilities to be hired. In Australia, they like to hire the same ten/fifteen people for every project. I wanted to see what America was about and tell a bit more diverse stories. I think the industry is shifting as a whole, but it's just very slow.

We’ve seen the amazing lead roles played by Australians such as Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and more recently Margot Robbie and the Hemsworth brothers. How does it feel to see fellow Aussies succeed and follow in their footsteps?

I’d love to follow in their footsteps. You know, growing up as an Aussie artist, we are so far removed from the rest of the world that you can kind of subscribe to the tall poppy syndrome which is where you feel that if somebody is getting too ambitious, you cut them down. Growing up to have seen these people go overseas, to achieve the insurmountable, seeing Heath Ledger go and destroy every single role he went for in such a beautiful, honest and raw way, it communicated to me at least that it's possible. But more broadly that Australians have the capacity to tell stories with such innate depth and care, and this beautiful intimate quality which hopefully the world falls in love with.