~*~KrIsTiAn~*~
Kristian Hargreaves aka Max Brown
How did you get into acting? I'd been going to a weekly drama group since I was eight or nine. After I did my A Levels I decided to go for the real deal and got an agent through a modelling agency. They started putting me up for things - one of which was as an extra on HOLLYOAKS. I had one line - "Can I have a beer?" - during the Millennium Party in Deva!
Did you think then you'd like to be in this sort of programme one day? It would've been quite a scary prospect being a lead in something at that stage because I knew I didn't have enough experience. I'd been to a few auditions and realised how hard it was to get through the first stage. But seeing HOLLYOAKS filmed was a help in thinking yeah, I could do this sort of stuff.
You had parts in both Grange Hill and Crossroads before joining HOLLYOAKS as Kristian, didn't you? Grange Hill was a really good first show to break me in and get me relaxed in front of cameras because obviously the directors are really used to working with kids. Crossroads was the most high pressurised acting you could imagine, but did help me overcome my problem with learning lines, which used to get me really panicky. I was fine on rehearsal but anytime they said action my heart would start pounding. It was horrible!
So how did you get the part of Kristian? It was open auditions. I had an audition that went really badly, and there was no way I thought I'd got it. They told half of us to go home, but I later realised that was because they were casting the two Dean brothers at the same time. I was all depressed, and then I got a call the next day saying I'd got the part.
What do you make of your character? It's interesting. I think he's got this evil undertone about him, but he's really nice upfront, so he's quite a two-faced character. It's quite good playing a character like that where you know he's quite suave and smooth and people like him, but he's got an ulterior motive.
What's been the most memorable moment filming HOLLYOAKS so far? Definitely the potholing episode. It was such a good way of joining a cast where I didn't know anybody: I got to go away for two weeks with all the lads.We just had a really good time, the conditions were a bit damp and the caves were really cramped, but we had a really good laugh.