A fter making a name for himself on Australian television as a police constable on The Doctor Blake Mysteries and a teacher on House Husbands, Rick Donald looked to have hit the big time, landing a lead role in a US sitcom with James Van Der Beek.
Donald was cast as the fiance of model and actress Brooklyn Decker in the CBS comedy Friends with Better Lives but the show was axed last year after just a handful of episodes.
As fate would have it, Donald made his way back to Australia and late last year landed the role of Woody on trans-Tasman drama 800 Words, a series that went on to become the most-watched drama on Australian TV this year.
"The year was very quickly coming to an end so this was a great project to get on board at the end of the year because pretty much everything had been cast," Donald explained on the set in New Zealand earlier this year.
"Because I was in the US there wasn't a whole lot of new stuff getting cast, so I was lucky to get on board."
Knockabout carpenter Woody transplanted himself to the surf town of Weld from Central Australia and quickly took to life on the waves.
His work ethic leaves a bit to be desired but Woody considers everyone in Weld his friend and he inadvertently became George Turner's (Erik Thomson) new BFF after rescuing him from the waves in the series premiere.
But Donald, who grew up in Tropical North Queensland, had a confession to make: he's no surfer.
"No, I love the ocean and I love getting out and having a body surf and have always situated myself near the water in Sydney but never picked up a board," he laughed.
"So this show is going to make me a surfer well and truly.
"We're out there a fair bit. Woody and George spend a lot of time sitting on their boards out in the ocean just talking.
"We've got some really good stunties. The funny thing is, George is meant to be the one who can't surf and he (Erik) is a really good surfer, and me and Cian (Cian Elyse White) who plays Hanna are meant to be really good.
"She can surf but I don't think she's as good as her character's meant to be and I'm definitely not as good."
Donald said it had been a big -- but welcome -- change moving from a multi-camera US sitcom filmed in front of an audience to working in New Zealand.
"Even though my character has some funny moments it is based in a real world whereas those sitcoms have heightened reality to the extreme. So it is definitely nice to sink my teeth back into a real-world type of character.
"Woody is ... I think everyone has a friend like Woody. He's the type of guy who walks into your house without knocking and would make himself a cup of tea before sitting down next to you -- and you wouldn't even know he was in the house.
"But he's also the  type of person, the type of friend who can get away with that. He's incredibly optimistic, sees the good in everybody, can even be a little gullible because of that."
Donald had never been to New Zealand before landing the role on 800 Words and took the time to explore a bit of the country on a road trip with his fiancee, former Home and Away star Catherine Mack.
But it doesn't seem likely he will be using the break between seasons one and two to get married.
"No, not yet. We will have a long engagement, I think it will probably be in a couple of years.
"We want to travel, spend our money on that sort of stuff before we fork out on a wedding."
'I think 
everyone has a 
friend like Woody, he's the type of guy who walks into your house without knocking.' 
The 800 Words  season finale airs today at 8.40pm on Seven GWN7.