“Because of the way I look sometimes I get put in a box… but there’s a lot more to me,” he says.
“To build a connection not knowing what anyone looks like, that was the clincher for me to do the show.”
His focus on the show was to just be himself, that way if he got a “bad edit” or was “made out to be a villain”, at least he knew he was true to himself.
“If you’re a fake person trying to pretend be something you’re not and you get the bad edit anyway you’re like ‘well f—k’,” he laughs.
“You’re probably living in a bit of a fake reality if you go on a show thinking that you have control of that.”
On a more personal note, Yannick recognises that his casting in Love Triangle as a mixed-race man of Sri Lankan and Portuguese descent is a big deal in itself.
“I’ve always been the token Black guy. I grew up here in Australia but Dad’s Sri Lankan and mum’s Portuguese and even in sports… I was always the only one,” he shares.
Though he’s happy to joke about being an “Aussie with a permanent tan”, Yannick has always been aware of the fact he’s the usually only Black person in the room, from sport, to business and beyond.
Stan Original series Love Triangle premieres on October 6, 2022.