It was Michael Caton's role as Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle that pulled him out of a black hole.

"I've had depression before but I always could see the end of the tunnel," he told Jane Hutcheon on One Plus One.

"At this stage [before The Castle] I couldn't see it."

Prior to filming in 1996/97, Caton was out of work for 12 months and going through a relationship breakdown.

The Castle was his light at the end of the tunnel, but it took some time to reach.

"Here I was in this fabulous and successful movie, with the backside out of my jeans, really. I was broke," he said.

"My old mate Jack Thompson said you're going to have to wait about six months before the work will start to come in, and he was dead right.

"So there was six months of all this great success but still struggling."

After The Castle, Caton got more roles, but still found it hard to sustain an acting career.

"Probably after The Castle what really sustained me was that entertainment show I did on real estate, Hot Property," he said.

"That gave me the ability to pick and choose a bit, but then of course a lot of people won't choose you because you're doing [a show like] that.

"It's a strange bind that you're in."

Sorry, this video has expired Actor Michael Caton on typecasting and finding work ( Jane Hutcheon )

Taking to acting like 'a duck to water'

Caton's love of acting started at boarding school in Gympie, Queensland.

"I loved it; I failed all my exams and majored in school concerts," he said.

"I always seemed to get that leading role, I never quite knew why. But there was something there."

Michael Caton won an AACTA Award for his role in Last Cab to Darwin. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

After school he started working for a wool broker in Brisbane, where he had a colleague in theatre.

"I said if you get a part for a mad Irishman give me a yell, and they did. I just took to it like a duck to water," he said.

"If I wasn't acting I was building sets, if I wasn't building sets I was doing electrics. [They were] wonderful years where you just did it for the love of it."

In 1969, he appeared in the iconic Skippy TV series, but it was not his first big break.

"My first break was not auspicious at all; I had a job on Rip Tide, with [American actor] Ty Hardin," he said.

"I did this first little scene on the boat, and then I had to drive in and say these lines and reverse and drive out.

"I said to the director 'how was that?' He said it was good and I went home. I didn't know there were such things as reverses, close-ups, so it wasn't a really flash start."

Seven years later he played a blond, heart-throb racketeer in The Sullivans, which he believes led to him being typecast.

"They very rarely cast me outside of that sort of knockabout character, if you think about it and think about the roles I've done, they are of a type," he said.

But he does not think it has held him back.

"I've had a hell of a career, much more than I ever expected, and I've been so privileged in terms of what I've got to do and who I've got to work with. You'll get no gripes out of me."

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Fame — the double-edged sword

On the subject of how fame has changes his life, Caton describes himself as a home-body now.

"It's a double-edged sword, is fame. I'm actually quite private; I used to be more outgoing before I was well-known. It sort of inhibits you a bit," he said.

He is also not one to jump in front of an agent and schmooze.

"I get a C-Minus for schmoozing, I'm the world's worst schmoozer, you ask me to schmooze and I'll say something just dreadful. So it's better that I don't try to do that."

But this down-to-earth Aussie is an optimist and happy with what he has achieved.

"It's been a wonderful surprise; it's like a lot of separate lives."

And as for depression, he is in the clear.

"Usually my depression comes from a broken heart, I've got a wonderful wife, I've got no complaints there."

Watch One Plus One at 10:00am on Friday on ABC TV and 5:30pm on Saturday on ABC News 24.