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Luc is a baker who has inherited his parents' organic bakery The Labour of Loaf (something his sister is fine about, but his jealous, older brother isn't).

At 30, Luc's had several girlfriends, but none have understood his vocation or the requisite unsociable hours.

Despite this, Luc continues to quietly believe in 'one true love' and harbours strong feelings for his beautiful assistant Rachel. If only things weren't so complicated...

Gareth Reeves thoughts on playing Luc

Gareth Reeves was overseas when The Insider's Guide to Happiness was being made, but saw it when he got back.  He remembers watching the first episode, out of professional interest, but got really hooked and watched and enjoyed every episode:

"I thought it was one of best things out of New Zealand ever," he recalls. "It had a beautiful aesthetic, but wasn't too slick or full of washed-out close-ups, and the characters were beautifully flawed."

Needless to say as soon as he heard The Gibson Group were making The Insider's Guide to Love Gareth was dead keen to audition for it, particularly for the character of Luc (pronounced Luke) because he felt he was a lot like himself in some ways.

"Luc is honest, stubborn, and very loyal," explains Gareth. "And I can relate to that single-mindedness."

"His life is his bakery: 'The Labour of Loaf'. Luc inherited it from his parents and he works hard to keep the business going, but he's kind of lonely. He knows there's a hole in his life, and inside of himself, but he's even more afraid of filling it."

"Because Luc's been on his own for too long, he's very reserved and repressed, until something life-changing happens to him that acts as a catalyst and suddenly we see the fire lit within him. And, as an actor, that was really exciting to play."

Luc's love-interest on The Insider's Guide to Love is newcomer Serena Cotton who plays his feisty shop assistant, Rachel: 

"Luc's drawn to strong woman because his role models namely his mother and his sister Zoe, (played by Katrina Bayliss) are both strong women an have had a major influence on his life. And it was great working with Serena because she's so grounded and intelligent."

Working on The Insider's Guide to Love involved lots of physical challenges for Gareth such as  running across rooftops and a falling sequence (in episode 1) where he spent 12 hours in a harness, doing a decelerated fall, that made him grateful for the stunt experience he'd already gained working on Lord of the Rings.

But far and away the most interesting research Gareth had to do for this role was getting some hands-on experience as a baker:

"During rehearsals, the directors decided that that I had to bake bread for the rest of the cast," he explains. "And I had absolutely no idea how to do that. So they set me up working with a guy called Mike, who owns the Nada bakery in Johnsonville."
 
"The team atmosphere there was fantastic," Gareth recalls. "There was flour flying at 100 miles an hour and I spent most of my time trying not to get in the way! But I learnt quite a few new useful skills; five or six little tricks like making heads (dough before it's proofed), making rolls, kneading, plaiting, and so on. And it really made me appreciate a baker's life: getting up 5 am, long, hard days and doing paperwork at night..."

Since graduating from Toi Whakaari at the end of 1999, Gareth has become an acclaimed theatre actor (see awards below) and has had small roles in most of the Peter Jackson films.

Playing Luc on The Insiders Guide to Love is his first prime-time television role.

Things to know and love about Gareth Reeves:

At only 27, Gareth is already a highly regarded theatre actor. Awards to date include: Young Playwright to the Year in 1997; Two-time winner of Cast Production of the Year and the Chapman Tripp Best Newcomer Award in 200I.

He's a Gemini.

When he was younger he played representative badminton, rugby and cricket and also did martial arts for 8 years.

He's travelled widely - spent 6-months all around Europe last year and in 2001 he went to Borneo to see the orang-utans and to climb Mt Kinabalu.

The things that Gareth, personally, loves include:
Coastlines, nature and tramping (he's a bit of a hippie at heart)
Being told and telling stories (he's huge reader) 
Liquorice. He's mad for it, or anything that tastes like it; aniseed, cough syrup

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