Australian Story: Apr 16

US actress Heather Graham will introduce next week’s Australian Story, which offers a profile of Scott Neeson, who gave up a Hollywood executive career to help the children of Cambodia.

Scott Neeson becomes a king of Hollywood blockbusters and exchanges it all for the rubble of the third world.

Raised in working-class Elizabeth, South Australia Scott Neeson quit high school at sixteen and was considered chronic unemployed.

Fifteen years later, Neeson had built a career as a top Hollywood movie executive, overseeing the release of blockbusters such as Titanic, Braveheart, Independence Day, and X-Men. It was a glamorous lifestyle, walking red carpets, partying with celebrities and dating models.

But after a holiday in Cambodia, Scott made a deliberate choice to give it all up. Gone are the slick designer suits, traded instead for the cargo pants and hiking boots required to navigate the rubbish dumps of Phnom Penh.

He now owns nothing but says he couldn’t be happier as he brings hope to some of Cambodia’s poorest children.

“All the community people as well as the students view Scott as the – as I would say, as a living God to them,” Kram Sokchannoeurn, Manager, Cambodian Children’s Fund.

8pm Monday on ABC1.