Hollywood actor Dan MacPherson secures one bedroom Cronulla tenants

Despite Hollywood success, Dan MacPherson retains strong links to the Sutherland Shire, where he secured tenants this month for his longtime Cronulla investment — a one-bedroom unit which was his first purchase in Australia.

MacPherson has owned it for 17 years, having paid $295,000 in 2002, about the time he left his Melbourne-based role as swim coach Joel Samuels in Neighbours for the UK, where he landed a role on cop drama The Bill.

Then-Cronulla teen MacPherson, who had planned on studying commerce at university, got his first TV role when discovered by an entertainment manager while competing in a triathlon in 1998.

A year later, he won the Most Popular New Talent Logie.

MacPherson was seeking $500-a-week tenants for the apartment, located at the south end of the beach just 100 metres from the sand. In 2007, the rental was $270 a week.

He briefly tried to sell the ground-floor Gerrale Street unit for $420,000 in 2007, about the time he took on a role on Seven’s City Homicide.

MacPherson was fortunate a buyer didn’t emerge after two months, as the median price for a one-bedder now sits at $575,000.

Its rental listing details suggest he’s not intending on selling anytime soon, as it was offered with a 12-month lease with the option­ of extending.

These days, MacPherson rents at Bondi with his wife, fellow actor Zoe Ventoura.

He also owns at Queensland’s Sunshine Beach, where he has a two-level timber bolthole with ocean views that cost $2.15 million in 2010.

When stateside, MacPherson and Ventoura reside at coastal Santa Monica, just west of Hollywood.

Ventoura has owned a two-bedroom apartment in South Coogee since paying $605,000 in 2006. It is a $620-a-week rental.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.