From 2000 to 2004, he was known for his role as Noah Lawson, a bad boy heartthrob on Home And Away.
Beau Brady earned four TV WEEK Logie awards for best actor during his tenure on the show, and he was a part of many iconic storey lines, including his relationship and marriage to Hayley Smith (played by Noah’s then-girlfriend Bec Cartwright) and, of course, his horrific murder.
Although the show made Beau famous, the 39-year-life old’s these days is far more low-key.
The actor has since expressed his displeasure with his association with the long-running drama.
The actor once told TV WEEK, “I don’t want anything to do with Home And Away or anything like that.”
“Any advice I’d give to an actor auditioning for Home And Away would be to stay for a year and then leave. I had a good time, but there are a lot of stuff I’d improve if I had the chance. If a soap came up again, I’d probably say no because I’m no longer interested in that kind of thing. If it were a movie, I’d say yes, because they’re all so different. A soap exposes your entire private life and everything, while a series maintains a little more dignity.”
Beau’s high-profile relationship with his on-screen love interest Bec Cartwright on Home And Away was the stuff of soap opera fantasies. From 2000 to 2004, when they were at the height of their H&A fame, the two young actors dated for four years.
Beau proposed to Bec, and the two were engaged for a short time before their fairytale relationship came to an end.
Bec called off their engagement in 2004 and quickly moved on to tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, who proposed to her after just six weeks of dating.
Years later, in a candid interview with Woman’s Day, a betrayed Beau said that he regretted proposing to Bec.
In 2010, he told the publication, “I look back on it now and realise proposing to Bec was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.”
“It was just a dumb, youthful error, and if I could go back in time, I would never, ever propose.”
Beau changed his stage name to Johnny Brady and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his Hollywood aspirations in order to avoid the media scrutiny after his high-profile breakup.
The Breakers star took an acting class at The Acting Corps on his first visit to LA, but admitted that cracking it in La La Land was much more difficult than he had expected.
“It’s been difficult for me to hang in there. I’m doing some construction work and still working full-time. It allows you to pay your bills “At the time, the 39-year-old admitted to working several jobs.
“It’s one of those things where if it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” he said of his acting ambitions.
Beau has returned to Los Angeles over the years, landing small roles in low-budget films including Voodoo Lagoon and Damaged, as well as advertisements.
His most recent appearance on Australian television was in 2016, when he appeared as a guest star alongside Deborra-Lee Furness in an episode of Channel Nine’s Hyde & Seek.
He’s also appeared in episodes of Wonderland, Secret City, and The Bill as a guest star.
Although Beau has disappeared from Instagram, he identifies himself as a “Actor. Artist. PT” in his Twitter bio, which he uses under the name @Johnnyboybrady, indicating that he has also worked as a personal trainer.
Beau’s signature frosted blonde tips and goatee are no longer visible in an image posted to his Twitter account, despite the fact that it’s been over a decade since the actor walked a red carpet. Instead, he wears a hat and has light stubble.
Beau is clean-shaven in another photo, his angular jawline and piercing blue eyes reminding us why he was such a heartthrob at the height of his career.
The actor does his best rockstar impression when singing an acoustic version of Don’t Look Back In Anger in a 2015 audition video posted on his YouTube channel.
“I wear glasses because trying to sing and play at the same time makes me incredibly anxious… not because it’s sunny inside,” he confessed.
Last year, he was also working for the Australian Army, according to screenshots from his now-defunct Instagram account.
He captioned a picture of himself carrying a joey while dressed in his uniform taken during the bushfires that devastated the country at the start of 2020: “Another soldier, Cpl Jardine, was scouting ahead down a walking track in a national park where we were clearing trees… managed to get a hold of this little joey. Pte Routledge and Pte Trindorfer called it Bravo after 4/3 Bravo HQ in Wollongong.”
Beau was once briefly engaged to Neighbours actress Natalie Hoflin in 2007, but it’s unclear whether he’s actually dating anyone.