BENDIGO-raised actor Lincoln Younes has arrived in Summer Bay.It has been an exciting trip for the 19-year-old and it began at Flora Hill Secondary College in a couple of school musicals.From there a small dose of Global Rock Eisteddford in Japan fuelled Younes’s appetite for acting and a life pursuit began.“I did Annie and did Les Miserables when I got to Melbourne but when I went to Japan through Flora Hill, that was the defining moment,” Lincoln said.“The concept of performing interested me, to be able to evoke emotions and have the power to make people happy, make people cry or improve their day.“That idea that you change people in two hours and allow them to escape was the allure of it.”Now Younes has found the ideal launching pad for his career as he takes on the role of wrong-side-of-the-tracks Casey Braxton in Home and Away.But before arriving on the set of the TV series, Younes cut his teeth with some of Australia’s most respected actors and actresses.His break came in Showtime’s Australian drama Tangle where he acted alongside the likes of Ben Mendelsohn, Justine Clarke and Kat Stewart.“They are all brilliant, it was the best training ground I could have had and I am really appreciative of the chance to do it,” Lincoln said.“I have to kick myself, people strive their whole lives to act with the calibre of people on that show.“I got the opportunity very early and I’m very grateful.”Lincoln got his role in Tangle so early in his career that not only was it his first show, it was his first audition.To be cast from your first audition is increasingly rare in today’s television and film industry.“When I moved to Melbourne I shopped for an agent but very few would hear me out,” he said.“I hadn’t done much (acting), but one (agent) gave me a chance, sent me off to my first audition and I got Tangle and it went from there. It was an odd process. There are so many actors and only a few jobs.”It has just been announced that a third season of Tangle will be filmed and is an example of how Australia’s television is increasing in quality.Subscription television is investing in a number of local productions with the hope of competing with the experienced and popular American market.“There’s kind of been a new age of drama coming out,” Lincoln said.“I want to see Australia compete with the US and hold their own and I believe they’re doing it.“It’s great for us because it means there are more acting jobs.”The trip from Tangle to Home and Away means Lincoln is taking on two completely different characters.His character in Tangle, Romeo, was bred to a good family, went to private school and was raised in a sheltered environment.“That’s what makes him want to lash out and become bad,” Lincoln said.His Summer Bay character Casey Braxton has grown up in poorer conditions, under the influence of his older brothers.“They express these terrible tendencies because they were born into a bad environment,” Lincoln said. “Casey is struggling not to be bad and I have only recently fully understood him. He is a teenager trying to find himself and all these elements are great to add a bit of depth.”Also adding to Lincoln’s rapidly expanding profile will be the release of a feature film later in the year.The Wedding Party stars Steve Bisley, Josh Lawson and former Home and Away starlet Isabel Lucas. The film was launched at the Melbourne International Film Festival and will premiere in Sydney.“I have been quite lucky, especially with the people I have worked with,” Lincoln said.“But there are still a lot of lessons and techniques to master. Making a film is a lot slower and you know what’s happening from start to finish. TV is more progressive and has a sense of the unknown, which is a good and bad thing.”An avid fan of all things film and television, Lincoln is a regular user of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).The database lists actors, films, television shows, as well as news and rumours and Lincoln Younes is now part of its universe.“I have loved IMDB for a long time. I’m on almost every day looking at my favourite actors and films,” he said. “So to see myself on there is quite weird, amazing and exciting.”But for all Lincoln’s professionalism, in the back of his mind is the fact that when he was a kid, growing up in Bendigo, he regularly watched Home and Away.“I haven’t been back for quite a while; all my Bendigo friends are in Melbourne and we’re all busy but I do miss it,” he said.Now he is a part of Summer Bay, walking on its beach and sitting at its surf club.“When I used to watch Home and Away I had no concept it might be possible (to end up on there),” he said. “The cast and crew are so friendly and the location so beautiful, the whole situation is amazing.”