How Indigenous actor learned to walk in two worlds

You most likely have seen Luke Carroll's face on the long-running children's show Play School playing with Big Ted and Jemima.

The proud Wiradjuri man has been acting since the tender age of nine. His first appearance was in the Flying Doctors as Ernie Dingo's younger brother.

Carroll told the APP Dingo soon became a mentor to him. When they returned to Sydney from shooting the popular soap opera, the pair soon bonded over their shared love of sports.

"Ernie would come and pick me up from the city and we both have a love of sport, in particular basketball,'' he said.

"We would go down to Chinatown, have a feed and just talk.

"Over that meal he told me a lot about the industry, mainly about keeping my head on my shoulders and to not get a big head, and to keep my ego in check."

While Dingo was his main mentor within the Australian television and film industry, off the screen his late mum was his main supporter.

"My mother was a big inspiration for me to continue acting,'' Carroll said.

"I never wanted to be an actor, sport was a big thing in my life early on, but this opportunity fell into my hands and I ran with it and mum was always a big supporter."

The actor has starred in television, film and theatre roles over the years, with credits including Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Heartbreak High.

In his latest role he plays character Boyd Mansell, in the play At What Cost? written by Palawa man Nathan Maynard, from Tasmania, and directed by Noongar man Isaac Drandic.

Boyd is a proud Palawa man, caretaker of Oyster Cove, a leader of the community, a representative to the local Aboriginal land council and a soon-to be-father with wife Nala.

The play centres around reclaiming the remains of Indigenous man William Lanne from the British Museum and their return to country. In colonial times, many Indigenous people's remains were stolen and taken overseas for scientific examination.

For Carroll, the production is a real conversation starter about Australia's colonial history.

"We did this thing last year where we would go out into the foyer and people would start those conversations about colonial history and how it affected us as First Nations People right around the country," he said.

Much like his character, Carroll has had to navigate walking in two worlds.

"Boyd is a staunch man, he is strong in culture, family and in protocols of what it means to be a strong cultural man," he said.

"I have had to learn how to do that myself with balancing who I am as a person as a proud Aboriginal and Wiradjuri man and with the roles I have done."

Carroll said navigating the film industry as a Indigenous actor wasn't easy because there are cultural protocol responsibilities that fall onto the shoulders of First Nations actors.

"When I first started out I did not know my responsibilities as a First Nations person in the industry and how the mob out there in communities right around the country look up to you as a leader," he said.

"I did a production a few years back, a film written by a white man, and we went and spoke to the local Aboriginal community about it and they weren't too happy it was written and they had not been consulted.

"I have now been through this process and seen this sort of thing and now I have the opportunity to speak up and make sure that those protocols are upheld in the industry."

At What Cost? will play at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney from May 4 before touring nationally.