Ten Things I Don't Put On My Cv David Spencer
The Age
Saturday May 19, 2007
David Spencer is a Sydney GP, a regular on 9am with David and Kim, and is now appearing in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - the Musical.
1 I sat an exam for a selective high school in grade 6 and wasn't successful. I was inconsolable. Dad said: "Why don't you work hard and prove them wrong?" I studied every day until the end of the year and was given a place. I will always be thankful for that lesson.2 I used to write letters to the Young Talent Team. They sometimes wrote back, and I still have the letters.3 I always wanted to be a doctor. I really don't know why. My family GP killed himself when I was eight.4 I am an insomniac. 5 I didn't realise until I went to medical school how often people judge one another on where they live and what their parents do for a living. 6 While I was at uni, I played Tony opposite Amelia Farrugia as Maria in West Side Story. She went on to become an Opera Australia soloist. I thought: "If she can do it, why can't I?"7 I worked night shift as an intern at Royal Prince Alfred hospital. One night, my pager was the only one that worked during an emergency. When everyone had gone, I sat in the kitchen and had a cry.8 I auditioned for the Victorian College of the Arts and the National Theatre. I decided to study at the National and worked as a GP part-time to pay my way.9 I never put musicals on my medical CV, or vice versa. Being a GP has given me a lot of privileged insights into other people's lives, and likewise, acting has helped me overcome anxieties associated with public speaking and presenting as a doctor.10 People find out pretty quickly that I'm a doctor when I'm doing an acting job. I've bandaged limbs while in a corset, I've checked a groin rash of an international star while wearing a fake moustache, and recently gave advice dressed as a paintbrush.-- LISA MITCHELL
© 2007 The Age