From the Central Coast to the wild west: How Daniel Webber became an outlaw

But that's the incredible trajectory Central Coast actor Daniel Webber's career has taken on his journey to play Jesse Evans in US western drama series Billy The Kid.

It's followed a series of major roles as Lee Harvey Oswald in the J.J. Abrams-produced 11.22.63 (2016), Motley Crue vocalist Vince Neil in The Dirt (2019), and opposite Harry Potter star Daniel Ratcliffe in Escape From Pretoria (2020).

A decade ago Webber, then aged 26, took the rite of passage journey to Los Angeles hoping to secure his big break.

He did many soul-crushing auditions, various fruitless networking meetings and slept on couches.

"[I was] going through that process and committing to the career, in that sense, or committing to working overseas," Webber says. "It was a pretty formative thing to go through. You're just saying, 'f--k it, let's do this thing'."

Two months later Webber returned to Australia "just about broke" and worked in rope access, "hanging off the side of buildings", while continuing to save up for auditions.

Then one day the phone call came. It's a call Webber describes as a "godsend moment."

J.J Abrams wanted him to play arguably world history's most famous gunman, US president John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

"I couldn't have asked for a better show," he says. "It was Hulu's flagship show at the time, so they put a lot of time, money and effort into it. That was a huge win."

Billy The Kid, filmed in the Canadian state of Alberta, has been another major win for the 35-year-old.

Season one premiered in 2022 and retold the true story of mythologised outlaw Billy The Kid, real name Henry McCarty, who was arguably America's version of Ned Kelly.

Billy The Kid was a primary figure in the Lincoln County War fought between rivals gangs from 1878 to 1881 in New Mexico.

In season one Webber's Jesse Evans was a friend of Billy's (played by Tom Blyth), but in the second series the pair of former brothers have fallen out and become bitter enemies on opposing sides of the war.

Evans is far less famous than Billy, and the date and place of his death is unknown after he mysteriously disappeared from Lincoln County in 1882.

But Webber says he's an important figure at the forefront of the era's history.

"When you do a bit of digging and research he's in every story, but he's in the background of everything," he says.

"He was sort of like a meteor that flew into Lincoln County. He's the reason we have a Billy The Kid. He's the gang leader, he's the one who brought Billy into this world and then ultimately they end up on opposing sides."

Webber dug deep into his preparations to play Jesse Evans. That included visiting current-day Lincoln County and historical sites relevant to the Billy The Kid story.

"It's exactly as it was and I had this cool experience where I was down in Rudioso and came across this herd of wild mustang in the exact area that Billy and Jesse were rustling horses," he says.

Webber says he enjoys the challenge of playing real-life characters, and you couldn't get a more diverse bunch than Lee Harvey Oswald, Vince Neil and Jesse Evans.

"You're definitely walking bit of tight rope because you know people know who they are," he says.

"Especially with someone like Vince Neil, there is so much footage of their history and how they are and the challenge of their mannerisms, behaviours and way of being, and also filtering that through a creative process.

"It has to be a representation. You're trying your hardest. It's not mimicry. You have to learn all you can about them and interpret it and come to your own creative conclusion of who they are and how best to present them."

Webber has been back living in Sydney since the COVID pandemic, and despite the success of Billy The Kid, he won't be returning to the US permanently.

"As you get older you want to spend time with your friends and family," he says. "I've got my niece and nephew growing up, so I'm trying to touch back on my roots.

"You really do miss that when you move overseas and work so much abroad. I'm trying to do both, work overseas, but live here."

Season two of Billy The Kid is screening on Stan.