Original Heartbreak High star Salvatore ‘Con’ Coco opens up about his secret side hustle other actors are ‘too embarrassed’ to admit

EXCLUSIVE

He was a household name in the late 1990s, playing the charismatic Costa ‘Con’ Bordino in the breakout drama Heartbreak High.

Now, decades later, Salvatore Coco spends his days between acting gigs, as a tradie and as a master of ceremonies on the weekends – usually at weddings.

The jack of all trades was hard at work on Wednesday finishing a concrete wall at a property in Sydney’s west.

The 49-year-old told Daily Mail Australia that other actors are simply too “embarrassed” to admit they need other jobs to pay the bills.

‘I have nothing to hide. “I embrace it because I have the skills and I take pride in everything I do,” he said.

“Those who try to hide it, it’s not good because we all do it, we all do it to survive.”

In recent years, Salvatore starred in the failed reboot of the late ’90s Australian hit TV show SeaChange, which attempted a lackluster revival nearly two decades after its finale.

Salvatore also landed a role in the two-part spin-off Underbelly Informer 3838 in 2020, and the following year he appeared in another miniseries titled Australian Gangster.

His most recent on-screen appearance was in 2022, when he returned to Home and Away for the third time to reprise his role as Dimitri Poulos.

When Salvatore taught students at the Sydney Theater School, he urged them to treat every job as if it were their last.

“I told them, ‘Don’t think you’re going to get a job every day,’” he recalled.

“The jobs will come, the jobs will go, maybe you work, maybe you don’t work, it could be a week, it could be a month, it could be years.

“You never know when the next one will come.”

Salvatore believes his diverse skillset has only made him a better actor, with the best performers able to bring life experience to a role.

‘I am versatile and diverse, because there is nothing I cannot do. I will do anything and everything. “I can give you knowledge on how to perform, how to entertain and how to dance because I am a triple threat,” he said.

“I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet, but there’s a reason why people say I’m a great actor. It’s because I lived.

“I’ve had the good times, I’ve had the bad times. If you’re not alive, how are you supposed to be good? That’s not possible, it’s impossible.’

Salvatore said that, besides acting, working as a chef in a commercial kitchen and as a trader had brought him the most joy in his life.

He explained that being a tradie is not much different than being in front of the camera.

“It keeps you on your toes and that’s no different than being an artist,” he said.

‘It’s exactly the same. They are exactly the same fundamentals. They are exactly the same formulas. You really have to look at it that way.

‘It keeps my mind busy. Yes, I get tired. We all get tired. No job is easy, but ultimately they are extremely mentally stimulating.’

Many have said that his character on Heartbreak High, Costa ‘Con’ Bordino, was based on him and his own entrepreneurial spirit.

‘[Costa] was an entrepreneur, he was always planning to do something, he always wanted to do something and tried something new,” he said.

‘Everyone says I was the character. I was cast because of my personality and who I was, so Costa is really just a part of me.”

He said that after all, his father did not raise him to be lazy.

‘I grew up working. aBesides being in the hospitality and acting business, I’ve basically always worked for myself,” he said.

“I like to sit and have a drink or a meal with friends, but this is something I’ve told my students: don’t get caught up in that toxic environment.

‘Don’t get caught up in just going to the pub and just talking and being depressed. Be positive about something and doing other things outside the industry helps me stay positive because when I do it again I’m so happy to be back.

“I’m doing it hard on the other side and when I go I appreciate what I did.”