YouTube star turned pop singing sensation Troye Sivan wants to add another goal to his rising career: He is keen on taking over fellow Australian Hugh Jackman in playing the iconic comic character Wolverine on the silver screen.
It is a role Sivan is familiar with. The 20-year-old, who released his debut album Blue Neighbourhood earlier this month, had a brief cameo as the child version of the X-Men superhero in the 2009 film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
When Jackman is finally done with his breakout role as Wolverine, Sivan says he is ready to take over.
"I would do it in a heartbeat, that would be such a fun chance, I would do it," he says in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he was on tour.
PHOTO: UNIVERSAL MUSIC "I can't say I'm a huge comic person, but I love the X-Men movies. Growing up, they were some of my favourite movies."
For now though, the singer, named by Time magazine last year as one of the "25 Most Influential Teens of 2014", is focused on his burgeoning music career.
"I'm concentrating on the music right now. I think with music, I get to do everything that I love all in one job. I get to act in the music videos a little bit and I get to do graphic design for the cover art. All my passions are rolled into one with the music."
He released two independent EPs, Dare To Dream (2007) and June Haverly (2012), but it was only last year with his first major label release, the TRXYE EP, that his music career started to gain traction.
The release peaked at No. 5 in the United States charts and at No. 2 in both Canada and New Zealand. The follow-up EP, Wild, a prelude to Blue Neighbourhood, did just as well, and went to No.1 in Australia. Blue Neighbourhood continued his chart success, hitting the Top 10 in the US, Australia and New Zealand.
Critics were also impressed with the electronica-pop offerings found in his debut full-length album. Rolling Stone Australia described it as "filled with the kind of heady and unchecked emotions that can only be mustered up by someone at age 20" while The Guardian wrote that the release "marks the arrival of a precocious and bold new talent".
Born in South Africa, he moved to Australia when he was two years old with his family. He now lives in Perth with his father, a real estate agent, and his housewife mother, as well as three siblings.
His first major singing gig was on Perth television when he was 11 years old. He had his first acting role in a theatre production of Oliver! the following year.
Sivan came out as being gay in one of his most watched YouTube videos in 2013 and says that he intends to use his growing online popularity to good use, and wants to be a positive role model to the 3.7 million fans who subscribe to his YouTube channel.
"I turned to the Internet when I needed it and now that I have the platform, I definitely feel the responsibility to give back and try to be there for someone else."
• Blue Neighbourhood is out in stores and digital music platforms.
