When North Vancouver actor Ryan Robbins was 18 he found himself stranded in northern Australia.

He had travelled there with $1,100 in his pocket thinking it would last him for a year; it was gone in three weeks. Robbins laughs as he recounts the short list of events that led him to working as a clown in an international circus in the Australian outback. The company was looking for day labourers, and Robbins was looking for a job. He helped set up and pull down tents, but it wasn't long before he ended up in the ring.

One night the show's Hungarian clown got sick and couldn't perform. Cue the young man from North Van.

Robbins admits he had some theatre and martial arts training in his background, but no clown training. However, he had no trouble stepping into the big, red clown shoes and discovered that he liked it.

Before he left the circus, Robbins had been involved in more acts and says the experience was a great lesson, and gave him confidence in his ability to perform.

Twelve years later, Robbins is still acting, appearing in TV and movie productions such as Stargate, the L Word and Catwoman. In November, Robbins wrapped filming on a new CTV and The Comedy Network series called Alice, I Think, based on the novels of author Susan Juby. The show follows 16-year-old Alice MacLeod, and her unconventional family in Smithers, B.C. Robbins plays Bob Lundgren, Alice's therapist, and says his character has more issues than his clients.

Despite his early entry into showbiz via the circus, however, Robbins didn't start pursuing a professional acting career until he was 26.

"I feel like I started late," he says.

When he returned to Vancouver from Australia, Robbins decided to break into acting by becoming a stunt person. He says he "did it for a minute" until he suffered a bad spine injury and decided he was done with that area of the acting field.

He pursued another avenue of entertainment by joining a band, named Hellenkeller, that became quite successful in the Vancouver circuit. Six years into the band, a local filmmaker (and Hellenkeller fan), cast Robbins and a singer from another band in one of her films, and Robbins was bitten by the acting bug once again. As the band dissipated, his acting career kicked up and Robbins hasn't looked back since.

"I wanted to be so many things when I grew up," he says, adding that acting allows him to explore in character some of the areas he dreamed about as a child.

He notes that his experiences travelling and working in different situations helped him develop a strong sense of who he is, which is important in a business where many people try to tell him who he should be.