FOR years he was one of television’s most recognisable faces, but now Donegal actor Gavin O Fearraigh has become the latest victim of the recession – and has turned to waiting tables in Hollywood in a bid to get his career back on track.
Gavin was the star of TG4’s Ros na Rún series for five years and once won telly’s Jigs N Reels.
But the 31-year-old Gaoth Dobhair man now juggles a part-time job at a Mexican restaurant on Sunset Strip with as many part-time acting jobs as he can find.
“It’s not really an option to not wait tables,” said the actor who played Conall Daly in the hit Irish language soap.
He shares a Los Angeles apartment with a dancer to make ends meet but thinks a return to Ireland cannot guarantee work.
“Things are a lot more difficult now,” he said.
“They’ve tightened up in a lot of things, so even acting in Ireland is becoming hard.”
And the Donegal man says that even if he were to come home, most of his friends have already left the country, most going to Australia.
“Ireland’s a different place now,” said Gavin.
“Talking to all my friends at home, a lot of them now have emigrated. I think right now they’re going to where work is.”
“Even in Gaoth Dobhair now, everything’s closing down,” O Fearraigh said. “All the restaurants have closed, all the local pubs have closed.”
But the hunk actor believes he can fulfill his American dream in Hollywood.
He added: “I want to look back as an old man and be able to say I did it.”
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