Kiwi actor James Rolleston wants to prevent young people from making the same mistake he did, by opening up about his devastating car accident.
Rolleston was on TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning after the release of the Sunday Special documentary, Wait For Me Hollywood, which followed him after his life-threatening car crash.
Rolleston was driving when he over corrected going around a corner and crashed into a bridge in July, last year in Opotiki.
Both him and Kaleb Maxwell, who described Rolleston as his 'brother', were left with extensive injuries.
"I thought I was the man, like a lot of young teenagers do," Rolleston said.
James and his family went through restorative justice with his 'brother' Caleb, who was injured in the 2016 car crash. (Source: Other)
"I made a bad decision," he said, but he wanted to make good of a terrible situation.
"I want to go around to more school .. talk to the students and tell them this is what happened, I thought I was the man, but that didn't last, I was being a man in the hospital bed.
"You're not the man when you're in hospital."
The star of Boy pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing injury and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
He said he wasn't special, and didn't want to be treated different to any other person.
Attitude Pictures Producer Emma Calveley said when she first met Rolleston he couldn't walk.
She said the biggest different she saw was the return of his emotions.
When he began auditioning for parts he had difficult tapping into emotive states, but then it "came back in a flood".
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