MY COUSIN THE LEON... GO GO GO MAN
of ' Touching in the Blue ' written by Joe Wenbourne
==Early LIfe==
Leon Ousby is an English born Australian Actor who has performed in over 100 full length productions. Leon Ousby was born '''Lee''' Ousby but changed his name in his early 20's whilst obtaining his British Equity card in order to permit him to land his first out of drama school 'Professional' role. Ousby graduated from LCTS (The Actor's Company) in 1997 | David Harris founder of this Drama Company. 'I took out a CDL - A careers development loan to gain the loan from Barclays bank - The case manager asked ' Give us (The Bank) a reason to loan you the money where an industry is already over flowing with Actors' " I performed a piece from Hamlet (Bit tacky) for her and her assistant - wether they simply felt sorry for me, I got the loan, which was crucial, without it, I wouldn't of been able to afford the extremely high fees - and the Drama school I went to was among the cheapest in London at the time.
I believe that all banks ceased on giving out CDL's two years later. Ousby was born in the Northern Working town Preston, seeing no future Ousby's Mother '''Carol''' along with his three sisters Jayne,Jackie and Lynne emigrated to Perth, Western Australia - where, after nearly three years of adjusting to this new '''AUSTRALIAN''' way of life, he attended WAPPA part time courses. 'Nigel Rideout is a gracious and charming gentleman and practically goes out of his way to help any aspiring actor' WAPPA has dedicated an award for top students in his honour ' The Nigel Rideout Award. Kate Jenkinson in just one of the many past students to be awarded with the honour. Nigel chose the drama school (LCTS) in London for me on the grounds of the tutors, John Jones and George Hall. Nigel even went as far as picking me up with my girlfriend at the time from Heathrow and escorted us to our hotel.
The following day Nigel introduced me to Mr Timothy West and his wife Prunella Scales as well as Tim McInnerny. About 7 months later he called me up and asked if I'd like to go and see one of his ex students in Oklahoma. He said bring your flatmate if you wish, she later regretted the kind invitation. Hugh Jackman and Jenny Lipman were the stars of the show directed by Sir Peter Hall. I'd watched Hugh's graduating performances at WAPPA 4 years earlier in Australia, needless to say when we all caught up Hughie (AS his friends call him - Im not for one minute claiming to be one) was the most humble and sincere Actor, i'd ever met, even his wife Deborra-Lee Furness was as delightful and charming. Nigel invited the Jackmans to lunch the follow day, Hugh declined has he had an audition. That audition turned out to be for X Men.
==Biography==
The delightful Tivoli Theatre Applecross.
The home of Harbour theatre for a while, where it all started for the youngster.
and after reading an open audition advert in the Fremantle recorder - Ousby attended the open audition and performed a hand written comedy piece, which he had written at the time with his best friend Michael Dornan. The Sketch was a duo piece and one of the older men just wasn't getting it. " I remember attending an open audition that i'd seen advertised in a local paper at the Tivoli Theatre in Applecross '''The temporary home for Fremantle based theatre Company Harbour Theatre a company I was part of for many years. I spotted a young 11/12 year old lad sitting quietly in the corner, so I moved over to him and pulled up a chair. I remember saying I need your help kid, Im 18 remember " Sure, said the young lad... we read through the script once made some changes, which I still have. I called over to the organiser and said, give us 15 mins and we will perform it. He was such a bright, funny kid that played my son in a sketch I wrote. He thought he'd add his own text in too. We sat for one hour and I listened to this young lad telling me in detail, all the things he was going to do, not trying to do, was going to do.. we laughed our heads off at ridiculous jokes, impressions - he loved my Pacino and he did a pretty good Jimmy Cagney - Bright remember. We were called over to perform the piece which we hadn't even looked at. We both got up and performed it like we had been rehearsing all day. He did do the things he said he would. An extremely nice, loveable guy " We would often bump into each other in Apple cross and on occasions if time allowed we would grab a coffee and have a chat. The chats were always fun and full of fantasy. We only bumped into each other a few times, I don't want to make out that we were friends and advance on that. We met a couple of times and he was just a nice lad.
After Drama school audition were far and few between. " I was offered a Job with a pantomime company as a kind of office/organiser, that was a lot of fun - I'd worked on stage for the company for about three years and one day I phoned them up and they offered me a job in the office. I thought ' Well theres not much on I'll take it ' - I worked for them for about six years. It was a family atmosphere which I loved as I'd never had that. Joe Wenbourne and Jim Holmes who owned the company 'Chaplins owned by Jim Holmes & Joe Wenbourne. The Chaplin's founders were fantastic, Joe came from a theatrical/musical background and Jim had been and still is the bass player/vocals for a quite a famous group, The Incredible Hog. I stayed with the company until the end of 2004 after events in NYC changed the course of my journey. Something I don't totally understand as I enjoyed working for these 2 incredibly funny madmen. Everyday was different. I was invited back in 2010 as their casting director to cast a number of shows, unbeknown to them in March of the same year I had been involved in a serious '''car accident''' http://susanmckentosh.blogspot.in | Susan Macentosh Interviewsand was still suffering the effects from a cracked sternum, broken collar bone and fractured left hand. A great event that came from going back to London was Ousby got to work with Actor - Clive Russell on a new play ' Touching the Blue ' written and directed by Joe Wenbourne. Myself and Clive hit it off straight away. Great guy. "We had a preview showing at a London fringe theatre over a couple of nights". "My hearing was still going hay wire from the car accident so it wasn't the best.
One evening Clive called out 'Line Lee'... I didn't give Clive his feed line as I didn't hear him say "Line Lee" - After each performance I'd go into his dressing room and give him his crit on his performance, almost every night i'd say ' You sank the Black. Throughout the Edinburgh Festival I believe he sank the black on every performance. Clive is a talented, down to earth and extremely warm hearted man. His acting credits are endless and his performances are priceless. A total joy.
This is what happens when you dodge the Roo.
Broken Collar Bone / Cracked Sternum and a fractured left hand.
Brilliant.
==Theatrical West End Debut==
I remember sitting in the dressing room of a very well know theatre is Cardiff and thinking - This can't be it, the same feeling came over me when I was waiting in wings at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon - The buzz of being part of a group of actors and crew had disappeared, what the hell is going on I thought " Here I am all the way from sunny Australia, living '''THE DREAM''' and it seems like it wasn't meant to be like this 'Ousby is a familiar face on Australian theatre stages. His early theatre credits include '''Sorcery in the suburb 1989, Finders Keepers 1989, Happy Birthday 1992. After a performance of Billy Liar he was congratulated and received an hand written note from former WAPPA director Dr Geoff Gibbs congratulating him and urging him to purse the dreaded business.
I worked on Veronica's Room, once as the stage manager and a second second time playing the lurid character. He then landed the lead of Norman in LIving Together from Sir Alan Ayckbourn's - The Norman Conquests and again reprised the role in Round and Round the Garden which was an experience. I worked with a local Perth director Grant Malcolm In 1996. He blew me away with his excellent rendition of Eqqus starring a wonderful Australian Actor - Peter Thompson. I remember thinking at the time that Grant was one of Perth's best directors. He has an ability to see something in a play and transform it. Ousby moved to London to study drama full time. He also made it known that he needed to escape the trappings of Perth. There is extremely little to no professional work in Perth, which leaves those wanting to pursue a long and difficult career one option. In today's world of 2013 things are looking up for theatre in Perth. Leon made his Theatrical Westend debut performing in a Strindberg double bill playing a rather talentless painter/artist 'Knut' and in the classic '''Three Sisters'''. He performed the dreaded deaf character ferepont. "Our director yelled at the cast during one performance at interval, of course we all thought we were doing a good performance, when he stormed in. ' Its a conspiracy to ruin me ', he ranted. Your performances are amongst the worst I have ever witnessed. Slightly over done, if I can say so, I remember sitting behind David Harris the year before, just months before I started my training. Whilst the actors were performing on stage, he was cursing and moving, shouting in disgust at the performances. I personally believed he suffered from PTS, ADHA and was a sociopath. The art to ACTING is what? and he pointed to me, to which I replied - what? You damn fool, haven't you learnt anything... YES David I have Im playing a deaf 75 year old man who doesn't give two ***** and on that note I made myself a tea. Drama Training is crucial to gain the tools to the craft, but you do not need to take cr** from a seventy year old queen who you're paying 3000 pounds a term to receive those tools.
==Chaplins Pantomimies==
I devoted a good six years to this company, found new ways for the rehearsal process, I wrote, actually i did many thing. After the 2003/04 season had ended I decided to go to NYC for a break. I won't go into the ordeal but when I returned to the company their compassion was none existent, it was if to say ' Yeah Sure ' - Well guys it happened. I received a later from the major '''Michael Bloomberg''', my ATM bank statement show where the money had been taken. '''HARLEM''', now if any body knows New York, Harlem is a district of NYC, but its pretty far out, its about a 40 minutes drive. I decided that life meant so much more than just making money for a company that showed no compassion or empathy. I travelled back to Australia to spend time with my family. When I return to the company ' I wasn't told this ' but, I was no longer the company's No. 1. They burnt me whilst I was away. The new to be No. 1 cleverly manipulating the two bosses. Over all I enjoyed the employment at '''Chaplins'''. But, they say your true colours come shining through in a time of crises or trauma. The only call I received was from a former worker '''Damion Nickerson'''http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/view.php?uid=206737 | Directing Oliver to play professor Bonkers,http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/view.php?uid=187616 | Directing Oliver for his science show, he made absolutely 100% sense during that phone call. I have never forgotten it and I never will. Ousby and Nickerson didn't always see eye to eye whilst working. But Ousby '''Quote''' he is a very compassionate and sensitive guy. For the phone call '''Thank you.''''''I actually like the guy. so, Chapla I could run your company with my eyes shut and actually start making you some money.
==The Woman in Black==
The play itself was a great success,
Australian Actor Tom Rees added the extra touch to make a production come to life.
As mentioned, Ousby has performed in over 100 full length productions, many of those, making it to a tour status. The Woman in Black was performed twice by Ousby as well as directed by him. Robin Hereford the London director saw Ousby's rendition at 'The Princess May Theatre in Fremantle and said to him that he was pleased with the over all acting and staging of the play. He also made a nice comment expressing his approval of the tiny pieces of comedy that I'd added. I believe he was jet lagged. The following summer ' The Woman in Black ' under the London production company PW Productions toured Australia. It starred John Waters as the old man telling his story and Brett Tucker as the young enthusiastic director. The production opened to mounted amount of criticism as the venues booked were far too large for this intimate piece of theatre, none the less, the two stars of the epic tale proved and provided performances that had their audiences hooked. And Hereford who directed the Australian tour stole my comedy add ins. Which of course was a delight. Ousby had the opportunity to rejoin his old company employer Chaplins Pantomimes, as their casting director that held auditions for the pantomimes at the The London Palladium' "Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg ht-the-London- was the show being shown in the evenings at the time.
I remember sneaking backstage and going down a flight of steps to the bottom of the Palladium. I thought this is pretty fantastic. I even had a 10 minute chat with the current stage manager, what a buzz. Danny Kaye, Judy Garland and the Beatles. They'd all been there. Well probably not at the bottom of the Palladium"
==Theatre Productions/Awards==
Just to let you know I smashed up all my awards in 2007 and threw them in the trash. It wasn't a good time.
With Alison Goldsmith. A wonderful kind hearted woman that I foolishly let slip through my fingers.
! Year !! Production !! Character !! Awards Event !! Director
|-
| 2012 || The Zimmerman Trails || Zimmerman || Playbill Awards (Won) || Joan Lucus
|-
| 2008 || The Owl and the Pussycat || Sherman || Annual Robert Finlay Awards (Nominated) T Felvus
|-
| 2007 || Shadows || Son || Dramafest Australia 2007 (Won - Bset Supporting Megan Burley
|-
| 2006 || The Woman in Black|| Kipps || Annual Robert Finlay Awards (Nominated - Best Supporting Actor) || Lee Ousby
|-
| 2006 || Blackadder || Edmund Blackadder || Dramafest Australia 2006 (Won - Best Cast) || Janelle Hammond
|-
| 2006 || Loose Marbles Film || The Boss || UWA Film Festival (Nominated - Best Actor) || Bryan O'neil
|-
| 2005 || Agency|| Various || International Blue Room AWards (Won - Best actor) || Di Day
|-
| 2003 || La Ronde || The Gentleman ||Southern England and Wales Awards (Won - Best Cast) || Julia Stallard
|-
|2005 || Pinter Sketches || Various || Bunbury Drama Festival (Won - Best Supporting Actor || Teresa Felvus
|-
| 2004 || The New Quintoxe || Boy || Dramafest Australia 2004 (Won - Best Actor) || Val Riches |}
==Personal Life==
Leon Ousby is currently writing comedy, a venture in which saw him and his best friend at the time Michael Dornan attempt in 1990. 'The duo Ousby and Dornan ran a graveyard shift at Fremantle's Radio station 100FM. Later they toured for a week with Australian comedian Colin Cole who is succeeding quite well in the United Kingdom. Ousby also worked with and on numerous occasions alone side Nick the Noise and Frankie (Minutello) Rooster for the comedy group - The stunned mullets
==References==
YOU HAVE MY WORD
==External Links== '
www.imdb.com
www.leonousby.com
