Home and Away star James Stewart is a dad first – and a very proud one at that.
The Logie-nominated actor has gushed over his 11-year-old daughter Scout, who appears to be following in his footsteps, showing interest in entering the performing arts industry.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Lynne McGranger, Ada Nicodemou and James Stewart practice their Logies losing faces.
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Stewart welcomed Scout with his ex, fellow actor Jessica Marais, in 2012.
With both her parents being in showbusiness, Stewart tells 7Life his daughter has “been surrounded by it”.
He shares that not only are both her parents actors but that both grandmothers are literature majors.
“At night time the rule is, if dad cooks dinner you have to run lines with him,” he reveals.
“She’s started … not directing me but kind of giving me some advice.”
He says Scout adopts a different voice for each Home and Away character, with some including Alf Stewart (played by Ray Meagher), Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons) and Leah Patterson-Baker (Ada Nicodemou).
“It’s so I know who she is playing,” he says of the duo reading lines together.
The dad says his daughter has set her sights on film, and is not interested in “song and dance acting”.
“We do a whole bunch of stuff together because she’s getting more independent, more curious about things,” he says of their relationship.
James says he has learned that a parent’s job is to be a “shepherd”, believing you “put your child in the paddock and sort of let them figure it out themselves”.
“I’m learning just as much as she’s learning but, geez, she blows me away every week,” he said.
“She’s doing something that I didn’t teach her. She started to really flex her own curiosity which I love.”
James also revealed it was Scout who inspired him to transform to a healthier lifestyle, realising he “couldn’t tell Scout what to do, I just had to show her”.
“If I was going to say, ‘Watch what you eat, watch what you drink and try to get outdoors every day’ then I had to start doing it,” he says.
“Then the benefits started happening and, once you see a little benefit, then you just want more and that’s what happened.
“I never really meant for it to happen.”
Keeping James going is his Home and Away family, who shares the healthy culture on set.
“I work with Matt Evans, Ethan Brown and Ada Nicodemou, there’s this great culture at Home and Away of looking after yourself and keeping fit,” he says.
“We’re not freaks but, yeah, it just took off.
“I love lifting weights and when I saw a six-pack I thought, ‘Oh look at that!’
“If I don’t know how to do a particular thing at the gym, I just ask one of them and they show me how to do it.”
How to vote for James Stewart
Nominated for: TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE for Most Popular Actor.
Voting is now open for all popular awards categories, and remains open until the end of the red carpet telecast at 7.30pm AEST on Sunday, July 30.
There is one exception, however — the coveted TV WEEK Gold Logie Award, which, for the first time, will stay open throughout the telecast and close at 10.30pm AEST.
You can vote now for your favourites from the shortlisted nominees at www.tvweeklogies.com.au.
Watch the 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards exclusively on Channel 7 and 7plus on Sunday, 30 July from 7pm.
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