What’s next for Dylan Alcott? Sporting star reveals his big career move

In addition to being a celebrated former athlete and previously being named Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott is showing no signs of slowing down after revealing that he is keen to pursue an acting career.

After an impressive tennis journey that saw him claim a Golden Slam, the 34-year-old icon seems to have caught the acting bug, thanks to his recent role in Stan’s hit series Bump.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Alcott revealed how much he enjoyed his time on set and expressed his eagerness to pursue more acting opportunities.

“I’d been on set before as an athlete but not as an actor and I bl**dy loved it,” he told the publication.

“It was a good test to me to see if I loved being on a set every day, and I really did so hopefully I’ll have more opportunities soon.”

Alcott made it clear that he didn’t want to rely on his sporting fame to secure roles, revealing that he devoted significant time and effort to training for his most recent acting endeavour.

“I didn’t want to be that famous guy that just goes ‘I can act’, I’ve done lessons and classes and I’ve got an acting coach,” he said.

“I tried to do the best that I can and everyone was really accommodating.”

Alcott shared that his interest in acting grew from noticing the lack of disability representation in the media. Growing up without seeing characters like himself, he’s eager to help change that and bring more authentic portrayals of disability to the screen.

“[Acting is] something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, I really struggled with disability representation on screen,” he said.

“Whenever it was, it was always super negative and sad and not people being themselves. So that’s why I started doing acting and when Claudia and Kelsey [Munro] called me with a role, I couldn’t believe it!

“The only representation I saw as a kid was a road safety ad where someone drink-drives, has an accident and the next thing you see is someone in tears.

“I was like ‘that’s not my life!’ but people believe that is our lives. But one of the cool things about Bump, we had a meeting and I was like ‘push the boundaries and take risks’.”

Alcott has hinted at his acting ambitions before, telling Body+Soul Magazine about his plans to turn his attention towards the entertainment industry alongside his partner Chantelle Otten.

“I want to try a bit of acting, which I’m excited about,” he told the publication at the time.

“I think it will be fun and I think I can be good at it. We have a few little leads already.”

While Alcott’s acting ambitions are taking shape, his tennis achievements remain just as remarkable.

Alcott had an impressive career on the court. At the young age of 16, Alcott showed a talent for tennis, ranking among the top five juniors in the world.

He won the New Zealand Open in 2014 and in July of the same year he defeated world number three Andy Lapthorne in the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship final in Nottingham to win his first Super Series crown.

He finished 2015 ranked number one after winning eight titles which included two grand slam titles.

Alcott made history in 2021, becoming the third professional tennis player to achieve a Golden Slam after securing wins in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the singles gold medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.