The actor, turned realtor, turned Love It Or List It NZ host, shares his life in television.
Paul Glover fell in love with acting by accident. As a child, his parents owned a fruit shop down a lane behind Auckland’s Civic Theatre, and he remembers sneaking into the theatre, over and over again, just to watch whatever movie was showing on the big screen. “I think my dad and mum gave heaps of fruit to the ushers, because I used to go and watch movies for free,” Glover says. “I didn’t even know what acting was, but I knew I wanted to do that sort of thing.”
Since those inauspicious beginnings, Glover has become a fixture on New Zealand screens, building an extensive career that includes television shows like Educators, 800 Words, Head High and Spartacus, and films like Nude Tuesday, Out of the Blue and Snakeskin. But three years ago, Glover decided it was time for a change, and trained as a real estate agent in Auckland. Ironically, his new career led him straight back to the small screen, with Glover now the co-host of not one but two TVNZ property TV shows: Location Location Location NZ and Love It or List It NZ, which begins this Sunday night.
Love It or List It NZ is based on the British property series hosted by Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp. Glover and his interior designer co-host Alex Walls meet homeowners around the motu, with Walls renovating existing homes to convince the owners to love them, while Glover tempts the homeowners to list their house by showcasing the best local homes for sale. Glover has relished the unexpected opportunity to mix his real estate skills with his experience in front of the camera. “I’ve spent the better part of my life watching renovation shows, but I never imagined I’d be a realtor, let alone co-hosting one of the shows I loved.”
Ahead of the launch of Love It or List NZ, we sat down with the actor-turned-realtor-turned-TV-host to find out what other shows he loves, including an After School favourite, a side-splitting Educators scene and an emotional local documentary series.
My earliest TV memory is… When I went to church with my dad, I was allowed to watch Hammer House of Horror afterwards as a special treat. I watched a lot of really old Christopher Lee vampire movies, The Bionic Man, all that sort of stuff.
The TV show I used to rush home from school to watch was… After School with Olly Ohlson. I loved that show so much. Also The Dukes of Hazzard and What Now.
My first appearance on television was… A Chesdale Cheese commercial. I thought it was my big break. I was doing Northland youth theatre up in Whangārei, and I came back especially to shoot this TV commercial. I was about 15 years old, and I went to Waiuku and stayed in the army barracks. It was a lot of fun.
A career highlight for me was… Working on Educators. It’s all improvised. The story arc is there, and the wonderful thing about Jesse Griffin and Jackie Van Beek is that they say, “what are your ideas around your character?” If there’s gold, they will use it. There’s no script, so we’re literally just riffing off each other. I’m in constant awe of Kura Forrester and Cohen Holloway and Jonny Brugh and Jackie van Beek and Rick Donald. All of them are just so insanely talented. It’s so much fun working in that space.
The TV series I loved watching recently was… Choir Games. I love television that shows real people being extraordinary, and seeing them grow and step outside of themselves. That was really epic. I wish it was longer than four episodes.
The funniest moment from my own TV career is… A scene from Educators, where my character was in a men’s support group. I was sitting beside Rick Donald’s character, who was talking about his cellmate in jail, a guy called Bushy. Organically, I went, “oh, how did he get the name Bushy?” As soon as I asked it, I felt like it was a mistake, and then Rick just dug into this story. People behind the camera were laughing, and I was sitting there trying to keep a straight face until somebody laughed a little bit too much, and that set me off. It was hilarious, even though I felt terrible for ruining the take.
My favourite TV project that I’ve ever been involved with is… Love It or List It NZ. I never imagined I’d be a TV presenter. I’ve been challenged to step out and reinvent myself, and I really value that opportunity. There were also loads of funny moments. The very first day of filming, I almost crashed the electric Mustang into the house that we were about to renovate. That probably didn’t win their confidence in me. You’ll find out whether they decide to love it or list it.
A moment from my own career that has stayed with me is… Working on Out of the Blue. We felt a tremendous sense of responsibility making that film. The director Robert Sarkies did an amazing job of respecting everyone and honouring the story. It’s a harrowing story, but tremendous people were involved and those people that survived were incredibly gracious. It was amazing to make those connections.
The TV show I keep going back to is… Probably the movies we all watch together as a family, like Land of the Lost. It’s a Will Ferrell movie that tanked, but it’s actually very funny. We’ll watch that and then play a game where one of us pretends to be the lizard running around the house, trying to capture everybody else. It’s quite dangerous, because you turn off all the lights. I’m surprised nobody’s run into something and broken their bones.
Watch Love It or List It NZ on TVNZ+ or on TVNZ1 on Sundays at 7.30pm.
