Soap actor Dieter Brummer reveals window cleaning career - 12/04/2010

An actor on a popular television soap opera has opened up about giving up the limelight to become a window cleaner.

Dieter Brummer, who played Shane Parrish in Australian programme Home and Away, said he chose the new path because he wanted to gain some real life experience after becoming an actor at such a tender age.

The 33-year-old actor, who was cast in the soap when he was just 15 years old, defied naysayers and maintained that window cleaning is an extremely specialised skill.

Speaking to TV Tonight, he explained: " People say that I'm just a window cleaner; in reality it's substantially more involved than that - working at heights [is] a relatively specialist trade.

"I just wanted to get a bit of real life experience under my belt, but I'd always intended on coming back to the acting game at some point."

Brummer described the experience of being thrust into the public as "pretty intense" but said venturing into the cleaning industry gave him a sense of reality and kept him grounded.

"As great as it was I wanted to prove to myself I could get my hands dirty and sweat for a buck as easily as standing around on set, being primped and preened," he revealed.

Posted by Marta Boshnakova