Christopher Martin 'Marty' Johnstone (Dan Musgrove)
"Possibly not very bright but quite cunning."
- New Zealand Police report on Marty Johnstone, 1978.
Marty Johnstone Biography:
Born in the 1950s but very much a child of the 70s, Marty Johnstone was tall, handsome, confident and charismatic. And, the ladies loved him. Although he spent his early life in a farming community near Whangarei, Marty developed a taste for travel and the high life. A move to the 'big smoke' was in evitable. There he scored a job at 'Kings on Queens', a menswear outlet in Queen Street. Not a great earner, but Marty's moonlighting, a lucrative stint at burglary, saw him eventually graduating to full-time dealing in cannabis, and later heroin. As the money rolled in, Marty was not one to save for a rainy day. The Dom Perignon flowed and hand-tailored three-piece suits crafted by Singapore's top tailor were the order of the day. His French silk shirts were complimented by regular hair cuts and manicures at Brown's salon in Orchard Road. Marty finished his opulent style with expensive jewellery – gold chains and medallions, a small jade and white-gold pinkie ring on the left hand, a solid gold 'id' bracelet on his right wrist, and a white-gold Patek Philippe watch. Dubbed 'Mr Asia' by Auckland Star reporter Pat Booth, Marty opted for the more respectable moniker of 'Martin Johnstone, Esquire' for his life in Singapore. His expensive tastes were not just limited to Auckland either, in Singapore he fitted out his apartment with expensive furniture, drove the latest Jaguar XJS, played squash, swam lots and was careful with his diet. Like many who had gone before him, Marty's charm was also his downfall – flashing cash, sampling your own product and a lack of discretion are not the recipe for long lasting success, especially in the crime business.
Dan Musgrove Biography:
"I bought myself a cigar, put on a waistcoat, and strutted around my bedroom. I would pick key scenes from the series that seemed to represent a different stage of his journey and try different things out. Working with Mike and Ric, the directors, was brilliant because they could tell me the things I couldn't see and give me confidence in new directions. And ultimately, once I had the amazing costumes, hair and makeup on, I felt like a million bucks... just like Marty did."
Dan has spent a decade working in an impressive list of theatre productions of the likes of Henry VI, The Changling, Holding the Man, and Life is a Dream, as well as television series including Legend of the Seeker, Piece of My Heart and The Tribe. Before taking on the role of Marty Johnstone in Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud, he also had a speaking part in the recent international film, The Tracker.
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