“ACTION” MAN
ALEX RUSSELL is apologising profusely for being a little late to our scheduled Zoom interview. He’s been trying to track down some medication for his partner, Diana, who’s suffering from back pain, perhaps brought on by the long-haul flight from LA the two took the day before. Thanks to the new Omicron COVID variant, they’re now holed up in an Airbnb apartment in Sydney’s Tamarama, where they’re isolating for three days.
As iso stints go, this one in a pretty beachside locale isn’t too bad, Russell says. The last time he was back here in June he had to do two weeks’ quarantine in a city hotel. “Some ocean breeze is a little nicer, a little more palatable,” he says, smiling.
Dressed in a black crew neck, with short hair, a hint of stubble and betraying the odd sniffle, Russell appears trim and angular. His day job, playing wisecracking Jim Street on hit US TV show S.W.A.T., requires him to be in superior shape to absorb the action-packed drama’s gruelling physical demands. But Russell has ramped up his training in the last four months to prepare for the desert photo shoot that accompanies this story. So, in effect, he’s done something of a high-end transformation – taking his rig from good to great or from merely eyebrow-raising to jaw-dropping. We’ve caught him at his apex.
It’s a nice place to be, but Russell is wise enough to know his current physique isn’t one he can maintain for long. “I am innately a
