Charlie Clausen (born 31 July 1977) is an Australian actor, known for his roles as Jake Harrison in McLeod's Daughters, Alex Kirby in the police drama series Blue Heelers, and Zac MacGuire in the soap opera Home and Away. In 2024, Clausen joined the presenting team of travel series Getaway. Clausen has also hosted podcasts TOFOP, That's Aweson, 2 Guys 1 Cup, and DadPod.

Career Acting After completing a Media Arts degree at Deakin University, Clausen went on to secure the role of Aaron Symonds in the ABC series Head Start in 2001. The following year, he began appearing in McLeod's Daughters as Jake Harrison, a love interest for Becky Howard (Jessica Napier). In 2024, Clausen revealed that he still received fan mail from fans overseas. He said "There are very few jobs that people still talk about 20 years later. I was only a very small part of that – I'm sure there are a large portion of McLeod's Daughters fans who are like, 'Who?'"

Clausen played Alex Kirby in the final two seasons of police drama series Blue Heelers from 2005 until 2006. It was his first lead role. In 2008, Clausen and his partner Gemma Lee, a director, co-founded Blackberry Films, which has produced commercials, short films and music videos. That same year, he appeared in Canal Road, followed by the recurring role of Jay Duncan in the soap opera Neighbours. The character was introduced as a love interest for Stephanie Scully (Carla Bonner) and was responsible for causing the death of Marco Silvani (Jesse Rosenfeld) in a Bush fire.

In 2012, Clausen joined the main cast of the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away following a successful audition. He was cast as prison education officer Zac MacGuire. He was contracted for three years and began filming almost immediately. Clausen chose to leave Home and Away after four years and Zac's departure aired in May 2017. Clausen was pleased with his character's exit storyline, which saw Zac leave for a fresh start after a divorce. That same year, Clausen appeared in the second season of Wolf Creek.

In 2024, Clausen joined Channel 9's travel series Getaway. On 28 August 2025, it was announced that Clausen had joined the cast of miniseries Imposter.

Podcasts From July 2010 to September 2012, Clausen collaborated on a free weekly podcast, TOFOP (aka 30 Odd Foot of Pod), with comedian Wil Anderson. TOFOP was placed on indefinite hiatus when Clausen began filming on Home and Away as the Seven Network deemed it a conflict of interest. Anderson then started another similar podcast called FOFOP (as in "faux TOFOP"), with various comedians and personalities featured as "Guest Charlies". Anderson and Clausen reunited for a live show as part of the 2014 Melbourne Comedy Festival, co-starring several Guest Charlies. On 1 June 2014, Clausen returned to the podcast.

In February 2015, Clausen launched his own solo podcast That's Aweson, The title referring to an episode of TOFOP in which Clausen tried to convince Anderson that his surname rhymed with "awesome."

In 2015, Clausen and Anderson launched an AFL themed podcast 2 Guys 1 Cup. The name referring to the fact that Clausen's St Kilda Football Club and Anderson's Western Bulldogs had one AFL/VFL premiership each.

In 2019, he began co-hosting DadPod with Osher Gunsberg after they both became fathers around the same time.

Personal life Clausen married his partner of 12 years Gemma Lee in Los Angeles on 23 September 2015. Their first child, a daughter, was born in September 2019.

Clausen is a known supporter of the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL.

Filmography + Television performances Year Title Role Notes 2001 Head Start Aaron Symonds 11 episodes 2002–2003 McLeod's Daughters Jake Harrison 28 episodes 2005–2006 Blue Heelers Alex Kirby Series regular 2008 Canal Road Tom Squires 13 episodes 2008 Neighbours Jay Duncan Recurring 2010 Satisfaction Paul Episodes: "Lifesavers" and "Bug Crush" 2012 Tricky Business Ben Napier Episode: "Skyrockets in Flight" 2013–2017 Home and Away Zac MacGuire Series regular 2017 Wolf Creek Danny Michaels 3 episodes 2022 Allegedly Geoff 1 episode (podcast series) 2022 Darby and Joan Dam 1 episode 2023 Surviving Summers Dice 2 episodes 2024 Prosper Paul 2 episodes 2024–present Getaway Host 2025 Imposter Todd TV series

+ Film performances Year Title Role Notes2000 On the Beach Seaman Byers2006Dead and BuriedCliveAlso writer and producer2006Love No. 9DeanShort film2007Pig LatinPeterShort film2009The WakeJamieShort2011EverymanShort2011The BrideMaxShort2014SubmergedCharlieShort2022The Curious Case of Dolphin BayDavid

References

External links TOFOP Podcast