EXCLUSIVE: Wesley Senna Cortes shares the important reason why he wants to appear on the Aussie soap
One of the stars of the most recent season of The Bachelor Australiais hoping to follow in Sam Frost and Tim Robards’ footsteps and transition from reality TV to prime-time drama. Wesley Senna Cortes, who was one of the three leading men on the show’s eleventh season in 2023, tells Yahoo Lifestyle he would love to appear on either Home and Awayor Neighboursin the near future.
Having studied three years of theatre in high school, Wesley finally decided to pursue acting in 2022 and quit his office marketing job of 12 years. He enrolled in an acting course at 31 years old and has since appeared in the National Geographic series Drug Lords: The Takedown and multiple short films including CactusandHome, in addition to his stint on The Bachelor.
Now, his goal is to appear on one of the two biggest shows in Australia to increase Brazilian representation on screen. Around 200,000 Latin Americans were living Down Under in 2019, according to ABS, and Wesley thinks it’s time for them to have a bigger TV presence.
“There’s a running joke about renaming a few suburbs in Sydney like Bondi to ‘Bondi de Janeiro’. That, for me, shows that Australia has welcomed and embraced South Americans,” he shares. “You can find us playing volleyball or futebol in Tamarama, surfing on the Gold Coast, serving coffee (or our Amazon-born, incredibly popular açaí bowls) in Melbourne, cleaning houses in Perth, as your Uber drivers, and bringing our warmth to offices and places around the country.
“Now I think it would be awesome to see us on screens, too. I believe we are already a part of the fabric of Australia and seeing one of us at Summer Bay or Ramsay Street would display that and enrich the universal stories of the show.”
How Brazilian representation would add ‘millions of viewers’
Wesley adds that while the industry has “come a long way” in terms of representation and he feels inspired by people like Maria Thattil who have carved their own path, there’s still “a lot of work to be done”.
“Writing in characters from underrepresented groups can also bring in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of viewers,” he says. “Speaking from my background, Brazilian culture is so rich and yet quite isolated from the rest of the world, mostly because of the language barrier, so the whole country celebrates when we see one of our own on an international stage, movie or series.
“When Channel 10 announced me as the first-ever Brazilian Bachelor last year, CNN Brazil and other major newspapers wrote about it. I never thought that being on a reality show on the other side of the world would have been ‘newsworthy’ back home, and I was certainly not expecting to receive that kind of encouragement, but it highlighted to me how incredibly supportive my people are.
He continues: “Just to be clear, it doesn’t need to be me, but I’m confident that writing in Brazilian characters in Australian projects can certainly be an export strategy and also potentially bring in millions of viewers.”
Wesley’s upcoming project with Hollywood star
Earlier this year, Wesley wrapped filming an Amazon MGM film which he describes as his “most exciting project”.
“I got to act opposite a Hollywood actor that I look up to, and it was awesome to be able to see his work up close and have a few chats – a legend of a guy,” he teases about the film, which is currently in post-production.
Not only does Wesley hope to “give life to characters in stories that move people” throughout his career, but he also aspires to become a full-time actor.
“I know it’s not easy, and I’ve got a lot yet to learn, but if there’s one thing Brazilians are known for, it’s that we never give up,” he remarks. “I’m 34 now, and the other day, I wrote down 40 things I want to do before 40, one of them being to be in a Netflix series. That’s what I’m working towards.”
