 At age twenty one, Taylor went to work on an oil rig in the Indian Ocean.His ship collided with another and sank off the west coast of Australia, but he and two crew mates escaped on a lifeboat.Taylor suffered a broken arm and ribs and, while recovering in the hospital, saw an ad for auditions for drama school in Perth, at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), which he joined after a successful audition at the age of 24.