Local Rising Star Returns Home

By Hannah McNamara

In the spotlight for his role as the schoolyard bully, 16-year-old actor Jordy Campbell shares his journey from 'bad guy' to screen sensation.

In a Mackay Life interview, Jordy shared his interests and insights about his recent role portraying Bobby Linyette in the popular Netflix series ‘Boy Swallows Universe’. Originally born on the Gold Coast, the young star now lives in Mackay with his family. Jordy says when he’s not acting in Brisbane, he loves fishing, watching sport and spending time at family gatherings.

When asked what his dream job used to be, he replies, “My dream job was to be a footy player to be honest, and then it sort of went into acting and now I’m living the realistic dream.”

The seven-part Netflix series based on the bestselling book ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ is about a young boy who must navigate the 1980s Brisbane criminal world. The heartbreaking yet also heart-warming series portrays a life of chaos and realism within depth visuals of a young boy and his big brother growing up in a broken family, where his mother and step-father get caught up in drugs and deals, in search of a better life.

Jordy portrays the character of Bobby Linyette who is the school bully, where he picks on the main character Eli Bell, played by Felix Cameron. Jordy portrays his character in such a realistic way that he claims he received a lot of hate comments on social media after the series, however, he now sees it as a compliment in regards to his great acting skills.

When asked if he dislikes his character he responds with, “Yeah, he’s a terrible guy.

“Playing the bully was pretty fun, it’s not something you usually do but you see it happen so it’s good to portray it in a funny way.”

Despite receiving negative comments after his position in ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ he says he had a lot of fun playing the character and explains it was good to spread awareness that scenes like that do happen in real life. He acknowledges the bad behaviour of Bobby’s personality but reassures his fans that his character does face repercussions towards the end of the series.

The young rising star looks up to famous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino. With no signs of slowing down Jordy says he’d like to continue his acting career, with the dream of becoming the main character of a movie or show and hopes to be able to star in a Mackay based set.

“The main goal is to be a star in a movie, or play in more tv show casts.

“I’ll for sure continue on and hopefully there’ll be something in Mackay eventually as well,” he says.

Throughout the series, Jordy made good friendships with his co-stars including Felix Cameron played Eli Bell, as well as Zachary Wan who played Vietnamese gang member Darren Dang.

While he shares his personal experiences throughout his growing career, he underlines that being accepted into certain roles can be quite hard. Jordy’s mother Lauren explains there’s a lot of physical rejection involved in the process of auditioning which makes it difficult at times to be approved for specific roles.

“You’ve got to have thick skin, often people are rejected for something as simple as having the wrong eye colour or being too short or too tall,” she says.

Lauren emphasises the hard work her son has put into the roles he played, explaining the long hours as well as the professionalism and dedication it took for Jordy to produce such a great representation of his character. With young actors and actresses involved, Lauren points out the competence and eagerness of the young stars as they showcased their skill sets within the series.

“The kids were just so professional and they knew what they had to do,” Lauren explains.

Jordy added, “it was the best experience I’ve had so far.”

He hopes to be an inspiration to many young locals, fans or anybody out there that has a passion for acting. Assuredly, he is nothing like his character, Bobby Linyette. He is a very respectable, kind young man who has the potential to go very far in his acting career.

The team from Mackay Life wished Jordy the very best for his future.  

Caption 1: Mackay local, Jordy Campbell back in his home town of Mackay after a big year of shooting ‘Boy Swallows Universe’. Photo credit: Hannah McNamara

2: Jordy (playing Bobby) in the sound studio with the other actors. Photos supplied: Lauren Campbell

3: Bobby and Darren (Jordy and Zach) on the school set while filming Boy Swallows Universe

4: Jordy with Director Bharat Nalluri

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