He rivets your attention while he's on screen, yet you might walk past him in the supermarket and vaguely wonder where you've seen that man before. How do actors manage to be right in your face in your own home one minute and barely recognisable the next?
Peter Feeney is a man of convincingly many parts and, like good actors do, leaves you with impressions of the character, not the person behind that actor's mask.
Feeney teaches others how to act in film and television, where often what's needed are nuances, contained responses and flickers of expression, not the big, dramatic gestures the stage demands. He'll be in Whangarei in April taking a two-day workshop called Working with Camera; one which he hopes will appeal to youngsters as well as more experienced actors.
Northland has a vibrant theatre scene for actors of all ages, but there is very little offered in the way of acting to camera, says Shelly Matiu, director of Whangarei-based talent agency, Taitokerau Talent.
Feeney's two-day workshop in the specialist area of "working with the camera" will open a whole new area to the local arts talent community, she says.