Quentin’s in Mad Max! What an inspiration

Who could forget Quentin Kenihan? Remember Quentin as a little boy in his wheelchair being interviewed by Mike Willesee? Quentin had the hardened TV journalist wrapped around his little finger.

Quentin turned 40 this year and now he has a role in the new Mad Max movie Fury Road. 

The actor and disability advocate plays Corpus Colossus brother of Rictus Erectus. Quentin landed an audition and received a call from director George Miller to tell him his contract was on its way.

“Who wasn’t a fan of Mad Max movies growing up? It’s part of our Australian vernacular now,”  Quentin told media on the red carpet at the film’s Australian premiere.

Quentin was born with the congenital bone disorder Osteogenesis, also known as brittle bone disease and he wasn’t meant to make it through childhood.

Adelaidenow.com.au caught up with Quentin when he celebrated his 40^th birthday in February.

“I was born with eight broken bones and then they quickly worked out something was wrong. The prognosis wasn’t good. They said I’d live three months. Look, I know I’m not going to live to be an old man. I know that and I’ve come to terms with that but I always say ‘I’m here for a good time not a long time’.”

Most Australians first met Kenihan in the 1980’s when he melted hearts in a documentary with Mike Willesee.

“I was going to America to get surgery on my legs and learn how to walk and they thought it would be a great documentary. My parents agreed. I wasn’t really in to it at that point — I just wanted to be a seven-year-old kid. Having a 42-year old man ask you adult questions just isn’t something you want to do but I did it and it became the highest rating Australian-made documentary in Australian television history”.

He told Adelaidenow.com.au the documentary shaped who he is today. “For all intents and purposes I’ve accomplished a lot of firsts for disabled people. I was the first disabled person to have a documentary made about them on commercial television, the first disabled person seen on Young Talent Time. I’m very proud of those firsts I’ve been able to accomplish for disabled people.”

We’re very proud of you too Quentin. You’re an inspiration to us all. How fantastic is it to see Quentin Kenihan alive and well and out there promoting his new movie role?