The star of New Amsterdam, Ryan Eggold talks to Des Sampson about his passions, childhood memories and playing doctors and nurses
Were you a swot or a bratty kid, at school?
I was a little punk!
I was always getting into trouble - I always wanted to mess with authority, teachers and things. I never liked being told what to do, especially at school. There were all these arbitrary rules and I'd be like, "Why?" It was even like that at theatre school; you'd see these kids come in with really interesting quirks and particularities and the teachers would try to homogenise them. I'd be like, "But don't you want to foster whatever's different about you?"
So you were quite rebellious, then.
Yeah, I was really rebellious. But I think it's really important to question things, to push boundaries. There are certain things that, sure, you want to fall in line for, like treating everyone with respect, being kind and not wanting to be a jerk. Those are all good things to learn and share but you also want to retain your individuality. Now I think I am, in general, pretty laid-back.
What sort of mayhem did you get up to?
Oh, gosh, lots of stuff. We did the graffiti thing once or twice, which was just so stupid. And I'd bring stink bombs into school. Once I brought a stink bomb on to the bus and it just stunk out the whole thing - forever. One of my friends ratted me out, though – the Judas!
Who or what rocks your boat?
I'm a huge fan of Taika Waititi and his films Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I like that Kiwi humour and love Flight of the Conchords too. There's a lot of great Kiwi art out there.