I think Nicholas Bishop, who plays Peter Dunlap on the ABC medical drama Body of Proof, is very handsome. I understand he is Australian. How does he like living in the U.S.?
—Rosa Coppola, Beaumont, La.
Bishop, 37, says he and his family are settling in just fine, but he does miss home from time to time and flies back to visit his parents. The biggest adjustment for the former star of Home and Away, an Australian soap opera, has been driving in America.
“People forget that our steering wheel is on the other side of the car and we drive on the opposite side of the road,” he says. “Even now, I still sometimes have to think, ‘Oh, that is right. I have to look that way first.’”
And, although both countries speak English, Bishop admits he’s had problems with what he calls “Americanisms.” For example, the footwear that Americans refer to as flip-flops are called thongs Down Under.
“Obviously, that has a very different meaning over here,” Bishop says. “When I say, ‘I am going to get my thongs from my room,’ people look at me like ‘What’s up with this crazy Australian guy?’”