Greg Benson

Today I'm going to learn about another Home and Away actor—Greg Benson. He played Matt. I'm not sure for how long. I'll learn that soon, hopefully.

I think he was on the show pretty much from the beginning. Matt started as someone that Carly Morris had a crush on. Then they dated for awhile. They broke up eventually.

When I was kicked out of the world of Summer Bay, Matt was involved with the Fisher-accidentally-shot-someone storyline, because it was Matt's brother that had been killed—a brother whose existence was never mentioned until the storyline abruptly began.

In the beginning, Matt seemed very wholesome. Like Mary on Little House on the Prairie or Leo on Charmed.  But later, Matt had more...bite, as did Leo, and maybe Mary as well (I can't remember).

I'm very curious to know more about Greg Benson. Actually, I'm eager to know anything, because I know nothing besides his name.  Is he still acting? Does he have a presence on the Internet?  Did he drop off the face of the Earth?

I was just thinking about how in the past, actors didn't have a choice about whether or not they disappeared from the public view. If no one wanted to hire you and no one was interested in you, you vanished. You weren't heard from until some random magazine did a where-are-they-now feature. But it's different these days. Actors have the choice whether or not they want to disappear. Even if all the casting directors aren't interested, you can still be out there. You can have a blog. You can have Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can have your own YouTube channel.

Now that's not saying a lot of people are necessarily going to watch, but...well, if you want to be found, you can make it possible.

So I guess that's something I'm wondering. If Greg Benson isn't a successful actor anymore, is he still putting himself out there? Or is living a more quiet life?

Lord Wiki doesn't have an entry on Greg Benson, but he does have one on Matt. Matt's last name is Wilson, by the way. I didn't know that.

Benson was on the pilot episode and was a recurring character at first. Then eventually he became a series regular.

He left the show in 1991 but returned for a guest appearance in 2002.

Benson was kind of an extra in the pilot. He had no name—was just "surfer". But the show bosses decided to do more with him. That's cool.

Lord Wiki says that Benson went to the UK with Craig Thomson. They were going to try to do a record deal. But then Benson decided he wanted to remain on the show for awhile. I'm not sure I fully understand. Maybe he thought about quitting the show to do music but then changed his mind.

There's something here about a watch. The producers wanted Benson to wear a broken watch for the show—one that always read 9:30. Benson didn't like that and wanted to wear his own watch that actually worked. I'm guessing it's supposed to be a surfer thing. Matt was a surfer, and isn't it the stereotype that they're laid back about the time?

I think I'm with the producers on this one. How hard is it to change your watch? I mean think about what the actors have to go through on something like The Walking Dead.  There's so much make-up that has to go on, and dirty clothes. Is it really that difficult to wear a broken watch?

Although...I guess I could see the other side. What if you have a strong emotional attachment to your real watch, and you don't like taking it off?  But that's kind of something you have to get over if you're going to be an actor.

Lord Wiki talks about Mat Stevenson who played Adam on the show. Adam was Matt's best mate, and the two actors were friends as well. That's sweet.

This is funny. Apparently there's an urban legend about Matt. He walked into a cupboard and was never seen from again. Lord Wiki says that's not quite true. He says the last time Matt was seen, he was examining his car for damage.

In 2002, Matt returned for some sort of celebration. Carly returned as well, and they were each other's date for something, even though they were both married to someone else. Was it like a friendly date? Or something more?

Here's some fun romantic gossip type stuff. Benson was in a relationship with the actress who played Narelle Smart. I wonder how long that went on.

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There's not much on Greg Benson's IMDb page. Besides Home and Away, he appeared on one TV show. It was a UK thing called After Henry.  This was in 1992, so maybe Benson went to the UK after he was done with Home and Away. Did he go with Craig Thomson again? Alone? How long did he stay?

IMDb does provide a birthday for Benson. It's July 31, 1967. Harry Potter's birthday!

Benson is 15 days younger than Tim.

IMDb also provides the following information.  Benson has two kids, and Benson was born in Macksville, New South Wales.

I'm looking at Google Maps. Macksville is about 15 minutes south of Nambucca Heads. And a bit west...away from the coast.

I wonder if Benson spent his childhood there. Or was he just born there and then soon left?

I'm trying to find more Greg Benson stuff but am not really having much luck yet. Well, I'm finding Greg Bensons, but they're probably the wrong Greg Benson.

This website is a bit confused. They say their Greg Benson was on Home and Away. Yet the guy was born in Dallas.

There's a comedian named Greg Benson who does pranks with cell phones.  I think it's pretty funny. Well, it's making me laugh, at least.

Well, I'm still not having any luck finding the right Greg Benson. I Googled "Greg Benson Home and Away". That was a fail. I'm going to now try Greg Benson Australia.

Here's a Linkedin profile of an Aussie Greg Benson.  I'm trying to determine whether or not his smile reminds me of Matt's.  It does...a little. But I could be imagining it.

It says he went to Umina High for his education.  I'm looking at it on Google Maps. It's an hour and a half drive away from Palm Beach where Home and Away was filmed.  Now Lord Wiki said something before I didn't pay much attention to, but now I'm thinking it's an important clue. Or it's more like I didn't understand it, so I didn't talk about it. But now I think I understand.

Lord Wiki talked about how Benson lived about an hour away by car and chose this method of transportation rather than the easier method, because he didn't want to be bombarded by fans. I didn't get that.  What would be easier than a car in that area?

Now I see. There's a ferry that goes from the area of the high school to Palm Beach.

But no...wait. It's not that easy.  Google Maps says it's close to a 2 hour trip. And you still have to take buses along with the fairy.

UNLESS....Well, Benson wouldn't have actually lived at the high school. Maybe he lived close to the ferry, and could have simply walked there but didn't because he wanted to avoid the fans.

Anyway....if this is the right Benson, he's been a wine selector for the last three years. He's the contact centre manager. I'm not sure what any of this means. Is the company called Wine Selector?

There IS a company in Australia called Wine Selectors. Here's their website. Maybe Greg Benson works for them? Is it Greg Benson from Home and Away? I don't know.  Either way, I find myself interested in this Greg Benson. Maybe I'm interested in any Australian whether they're a celebrity or not.

Well, Wine Selector Greg Benson might very well be Home and Away Greg Benson.  The Back to the Bay site has information about the Home and Away Greg Benson, and it says he lived in Umina. HOWEVER, it doesn't say he went to Umina high. It says he went to school in Coffs Harbour.

This is such a mystery! Are there two Greg Benson's from the same area? Or is there only one Greg Benson from the area, and he did some of his education in Coffs Harbour and the other part in Umina?

I was going to quit this post, because I couldn't find anything else. But then I decided to try to find more about the episode in 2002 where Matt and Carly provide companionship for each other.  Now I'm looking at Carly's profile on Back to the Bay and it doesn't say anything about a 2002 appearance.

Did Lord Wiki lie? Was he confused?

Back to the Bay says Carly returned in 1997, 2000, and then 2008.

OR it could be that Back to the Bay is wrong. IMDb agrees with Lord Wiki. They say Carly returned  for five episodes in 2002.

At least one of the episodes is on YouTube. I'm going to try to find Matt.

Holy shit! Floss is back!!!! I saw that in the description, but I thought it was a mistake. I'm so glad it's not!

A bunch of people are going on a boat ride.

Martin and Lance are back too! Wow! This is a total reunion.

I still don't see Matt and Carly.

I see Frank...maybe.

I finally see Matt! He appears at 10:04.  Then at 10:54, he brings a drink to Carly. They talk a bit.

Anyway, I think that's it for this post.

It seems Greg Benson has chosen to live a quiet life away from the public eye. So, I hope he wouldn't mind that I've written this post. Although he probably wouldn't find it unless he googled himself. And if he googles himself, I'd assume he'd be the type who still desires some amount of attention. Although I suppose someone could google themselves for the opposite reason—to reassure themselves they're not out they're on the web somewhere.

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