People still recognise him as “that guy off the TV”, but Shane Cortese, who kicked off a successful career on the small screen playing villain Dominic in Shortland Street, is now the auction manager for Harcourts Cooper & Co on Auckland’s North Shore and, after four years in real estate, still loves his latest role.
Going from acting to auctioneering was quite a change in direction. How did that happen?
I had just come out of doing Nothing Trivial and the Almighty Johnsons. They were both axed in the same week. You do have your little moment of misery when something like that happens, but you dust yourself off and get back up again.
I was flying to Queenstown to open the winter festival with my band, 8-Track Band, and my guitar player Chris Jones, who was the national manager of a real estate company, said to me, “Have you thought about real estate?”
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I hadn’t – my career before entertainment was as a travel agent – but we continued to talk and I became interested.
What was the appeal?
I like property and dealing with people, and the legal side of it really fascinated me. I seemed to be the go-to person to play lawyers in a lot of programmes I did so there must be some connection there.
I did my papers and to be honest, I wasn’t particularly diligent when it came to listing and selling. But when it got to the sharp end, the negotiating, I absolutely fell in love with it. It felt like such a natural thing for me to do.
Cortese in the role that made him famous: Dominic from Shortland Street. Photo / Supplied
Did you think you’d be able to sell real estate and continue acting whenever roles came up?
Right from the start I realised that with real estate, you have to be full-time. You can’t dally in something else like acting. I am that guy who gives things 100 percent and it didn’t take long for real estate to get into my blood. I knew I needed to focus on it.
Do you miss acting?
I don’t miss hanging around waiting on set for five hours. But it was my passion and a massive part of my life for a quarter of a century – firstly in England doing musical theatre and then on TV in New Zealand for about 13 years. So, yes, there are parts of it that I miss but it has been four years and I am absolutely loving what I am doing now.
Did you worry that you wouldn’t be taken seriously because of your acting background?
It was one of my biggest fears that people would think I was just filling in time in between acting jobs. But I’ve proved now that this is where I am and it’s what I do. I haven’t done any acting. I did present the TV series Dream Home Dilemma but that was related to the industry I am in now.
Cortese with fellow actor Sophia Hawthorne in a 2015 production of Guys and Dolls. Photo / Supplied
People do sometimes say, “Aren’t you that guy off the TV?” and I say, “Yeah, but I’m taller in real life.”
What led to the move to auctioneering?
After a couple of years of listing and selling, I was asked if I would go into the New Zealand auctioneering championships as a novice. I thought, why not, and then I was told they were the following week. It was a baptism of fire – I’d seen auctions of course but never done a real estate one myself. After I competed I decided I never wanted to do an auction again. But then I watched the senior guys competing and I thought, Oh my God, they are amazing. I was really drawn to it and decided it was something I wanted to work at and become good at.
A year later I was competing in the senior auction champs and I made the final.
I imagine there’s an element of performance when it comes to auctioneering. Did your previous career help?
There is a degree of being able to hold a room but it is a less of a performance, more of an engineered control of what’s happening. When you are acting, you are saying what is written down on paper and doing what the director says. With an auction you are not following a script, everything comes from you.
But being an actor does help in some respects. The skill in television acting is doing the same scene 23 times and making it feel like each time is the first. As an auctioneer, I can make each auction feel as it’s bespoke to the people there, and I’m not just repeating what has been done many times before.
Cortese: “I love soccer. It’s about a bunch of guys who are in the middle stages of life but still loving competition.” Photo / Ted Baghurst
You do also have to have charm, empathy and the ability to control your energy, which is something you get from acting. My previous career has also helped when it comes to reading and understanding people.
Do you remember your first auction?
I was so nervous. All these people were watching me! In the middle of it I had to go and negotiate which I had never done before as an auctioneer and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I just had to go for it. Somehow I got it across the line, and the house went for $3.4 million. The adrenaline hit from that was incredible.
What do you like about auctioneering?
Definitely the adrenaline hit, and the emotional connection with the sellers and the buyers. You’ve just changed their life. Closing the deal can be pretty intense and as the auctioneer you are there at the coalface, trying to do your best for everybody. We get to close 300 or so transactions a year, which is a lot. It’s great being a part of that process.
Cortese as Danny Peters in the hit show Westside. Photo / Supplied
I enjoy the challenge of having to think on my feet and having a lot going on my head. It’s like having nine apps open on your computer – at the same time you are thinking about numbers, talking about the property, answering questions, paying attention to the bidders… it is very intense.
Have you had much support when it comes to your career change?
The support has been incredible. Martin Cooper gave me the job as auction manager for Harcourts Cooper & Co (after I’d been with another company) and he has been amazing. He’s a good man, and a good friend.
The support I have had from other auctioneers has also been phenomenal. I have learned so much from people like Andrew North, Aaron Davis, Ned Allison, Mark McGoldrick, John Bowring, Mark Sumich and Rob Tulp. I am always watching and listening. And it’s not only people from the same company who are mentors – there’s a brotherhood of auctioneers and it doesn’t matter who you work for. We have regular catch-ups and I know if I have an issue and I can’t get hold of one of my colleagues to talk things through I can ring an auctioneer from another company. There are no egos.
Cortese brings the old razzle dazzle in a theatre production of Chicago. Photo / New Zealand Herald
Even though Rob now works for another company, he and I meet every Friday for breakfast and afterwards we go into the garden of the café and we practise calling auctions. We do get some weird looks, but it’s what you have to do, train for game day.
Do you get time for hobbies?
I love soccer. I’ve been with the same team for four years and we play in an over 45s league. Although it is competitive, there is still frivolity on the pitch. One of the things I look forward to at the weekends is being in the changing sheds 10 minutes after a game with one nil under your belt, your boots on and your shirt off, and a beer in your hand, having that banter with the boys. It’s about a bunch of guys who are in the middle stages of life but still loving competition and being surrounded by their mates.
Do you train much?
We’re supposed to train once a week, but if it’s a bit cold we have a beer instead.
Working in real estate, do you get tempted by the houses you see?
I have bought so many houses over the past couple of years… in my mind. I have an imaginary portfolio of hundreds of beautiful homes but in fact I live in a modest little house.
Do you feel fortunate to have found success in a very different field?
Not too many people get to have two cracks at different careers in their lives and do pretty well at both of them, so I do feel very lucky. I have loved them both, but now auctioneering is so much more fulfilling for me at this stage of my life. I’m enjoying not having to act. What people see now is Shane, not Dominic or any of the other characters I have played. This is me.
