An actor who appeared alongside Brad Pitt and Hugh Grant but ended up living on the streets now has an annual turnover of £250,000 with his shoe-shining business.
During his twenties Drew Goodall — who is a multiple British shoe-shine champion — took minor roles in movies Snatch and About A Boy after finishing his degree in acting.
But months later he found himself homeless. After a newspaper review for the play Marat/Sade criticised his acting “it just destroyed my confidence. I was so stressed about doing the show, I just gave up, I wasn’t having fun any more.”
Sleeping in parks in Walham Green and Turnham Green, Mr Goodall was verbally abused and assaulted. “I was attacked in the night in my sleep.
“Drunks would walk across the green and pounce on random homeless people. I slept in the props cupboard at The London Academy of Performing Arts. It was weird waking up to a Henry VIII costume next to you. If I slept late a class would come in and I’d have to hide and sneak out later.”
Now 43, Mr Goodall started his business, charging £2 a shine, after saving money to buy a tin of polish. He launched Sunshine Shoeshine in 2012 and today counts City banks as customers and donates thousands of pounds a year to charities. The Twickenham-based firm employs eight people working across more than 50 businesses a week.
It hires homeless people, including some with special needs, to help them back into work. He said: “People fall through the cracks — becoming homeless can happen to anyone.”
