Neighbours and House star Jesse Spencer reveals how Australia has changed as he returns for first Down Under project in 20 years - and explains how he kept Aussie accent

Jesse Spencer has returned to Australia for his first homeland gig in 20 years.

The Melbourne-born actor, who rose to fame on Neighbours and American medical drama House, is in town shooting Last Days of the Space Age on Disney +.

Appearing on The Project on Tuesday night, Jesse, 45, shocked the show's hosts with how broad his Aussie accent still is after decades living in the United States.

'Are you saying I'm putting it on? Is it working?' Jesse joked, but then admitted it does come and go.

'It comes back pretty quickly as soon as you're off the plane. Obviously when you're doing the dialect and you're on set surrounded by Americans, I mean it really helps (to keep an American accent)' Jesse explained.

'Whatever you're surrounded by, it's like a form of osmosis I guess, and you just sort of take it in and get it back.'

Jesse also said that while he gets back home to Melbourne annually, the country has changed a lot since he lived there full time.

'I've been out of the country for so long, it is kind of strange, and every time you come back it's just changed.

'I was driving in down near Southbank, I was trying to find the Rialto. Where is it? The tallest building in Melbourne. I couldn't find it' he said with a laugh.

It was explained to him that taller buildings have sprung up since.

'I know, it's all over the shop!' Jesse said, adding, 'I try to come home once a year. It's important to come home.'

It comes after the actor debuted a surprising new look.

In the trailer for the Disney + show Last Days of the Space Age, Jesse, who once stunned with his boyish good looks and luscious blond hair, looks very different in several scenes from the new show.

He has moved on from heartthrob look and now seems to be much more distinguished, playing a father in the drama series, sporting a beard and grey locks.

The series follows three families in Perth in 1979 as the American space station crash lands near the Western Australian city.

Jesse plays dad Tony Bissett, who is juggling family life while also leading a strike at the local power plant.

The new show is a welcome departure for Spencer, who says he has been searching for a production in Australia after working in the US for so long.

'I was looking for an Australian production, probably since 2004,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald .

'We have this hiatus, but network TV, the schedule of it – sometimes I had six weeks off, sometimes a little more – but to make a production work is really difficult.

'Once you're in [network TV], it's very hard to get out of,' he explained.

The Melbourne-born actor also spoke to TV Week about his reasons for joining the Disney + production.

'I left Chicago Fire, and then I started a family, and I was doing that for a while, then Last Days of the Space Age came up.

'It was nice to be able to just work for a few months on my first Aussie project in over 20 years. I was so excited to do it,' he gushed.

Jesse's acting career took off on the long-running soap opera Neighbours from 1994 to 2000 as Billy Kennedy, the youngest son of Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy.

He relocated to the US and got his big break on the medical drama House as Dr. Robert Chase, starring alongside Hugh Laurie, from 2004 to 2012.

Jesse starred as a main cast member in the action drama Chicago Fire until 2020, and has since made guest appearances on the show.

Also in 2020, he married his long-time girlfriend, research scientist Kali Woodruff, in a private ceremony in Florida.

The Australian actor revealed the happy news to The Daily Telegraph and called the couple's special day their 'silver lining to 2020.'

'Despite a spike in COVID, a venue change, a Saharan dust plume, not to mention a torrential thunderstorm, we made it across the line on our wedding day, and I'm a very lucky man,' Jesse told the publication.

'What a silver lining to 2020. She's smart, pretty and way ahead of her years,' he proudly added of his new wife.

'We're very happy. She is my port in every storm, and we're already excited to be moving on to the next phase of our lives.'

Melbourne-born Jesse began dating Kali after meeting her a Chicago music festival in 2014.

He popped the question last year during a week-long hike in the Peruvian Andes, according to the publication.

Jesse previously dated Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira from 2010 to 2013.