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Character Profiles > Zac Willis Jay Callahan, Alex Kaan

Shannon Zachary 'Zac' Willis 1994, 2025
Lived: 22, 28 Ramsay Street
Born: 1994
Parents: Jack Flynn and Gaby Willis
Family Tree: Willis and Flynn
Occupation: Assistant Manager of Lassiters Hotel

The first Willis grandchild was born out of a rocky, and rather brief relationship between businesswoman Gaby Willis and her smooth-talking flying instructor, Jack Flynn. Jack had admitted to Gaby that he was a virgin and Gaby offered to be his first sexual partner, resulting in a grateful Jack whisking her off to Tasmania for the occasion. When they returned, Gaby was blissfully happy after helping Jack lose his virginity and had fallen helplessly in love with him. But she was devastated when an old student of Jack's contacted her to inform her that Jack had used the same line on her in an attempt to get her into bed years before. Gaby confronted Jack about the accusations but he managed to assure her it was just sour grapes because he had refused to sleep with the student. However, after Jack hit on Lauren Carpenter and Gaby's younger sister, Cody, Gaby dumped him, despite Jack's protestations that he was making up for lost time.

A short time later, Gaby was working in Milan when she discovered she was pregnant and she decided to return to her family in Erinsborough. Gaby insisted she didn't want Jack to know but her father Doug felt it was Jack's responsibility to support Gaby and stormed over to the airfield to tell him so. Gaby was furious with Doug for going to see Jack and refused to entertain the idea of having Jack involved in the child's upbringing. But an agreement was reached when Jack told Gaby that he understood why she didn't want him to be part of the baby's life since he knew he would be a lousy father but he insisted that she let him support her financially and Gaby agreed.

Gaby was rushed to hospital when she started bleeding while on a weekend retreat in the country with Doug and mum Pam. Convinced she was losing the baby, she was relieved when the doctors confirmed that she hadn't miscarried. The bleeding had come from the placenta and Gaby was told to rest in order for the placenta to heal. But Pam and Doug were less than impressed when Gaby began sending faxes and phoning business associates from her sick bed.

Thinking she would never give birth, Gaby was relieved when she finally started having contractions while at home one afternoon. However, Doug was delayed getting home and Pam and Cody had to rush to the birthing centre on Pam's new motorbike, with Gaby in the sidecar. A difficult labour followed for Gaby at the centre, but Pam and Cody gave her support throughout and shortly after Doug arrived, Gaby gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who she named Shannon. But after neighbour Cheryl Stark gave birth to her daughter on the same day and also called her Shannon, Doug took matters into his own hands when registering the birth and used Zachary, his grandfather's name. Gaby was not impressed but quickly came around when she realised how fond of the shortened version, Zac, she was.

Gaby's happiness was short-lived when Jack showed up at the Willis house days later announcing he now wanted to be part of his son's life. At first Gaby would not even let Jack see Zac, but after he took Zac off with him one afternoon when Doug left the child unattended for a moment, Gaby realised how much Jack wanted to be a father to his son and agreed to let him see him whenever he liked. The stress, meanwhile, of juggling motherhood and running Lassiter's was beginning to take its toll on Gaby, so when Rosemary Daniels offered her the less stressful job of managing the new Lassiter's branch in Darwin and its affiliated Outback Artists Tours business, Gaby accepted and made plans for her and Zac to leave. When Jack learnt of Gaby's decision, he decided to make the move up north too, and Gaby - who had started to become closer to Jack again - was secretly quite pleased by Jack's decision and even organised a job for him as pilot for the Outback Artists Tours. After a naming ceremony in the Willis garden where Gaby planted a tree in Zac's honour, Gaby, Jack and Zac left for Darwin. Doug and Pam sold up and followed them soon after and Cody made a point of ensuring the new owner of the Willis house, Dr Karl Kennedy, didn't dare dig up the tree that had been planted for Zac.

Over thirty years later, Zac was back in Erinsborough to apply for the job of Assistant Manager at Lassiters. Having grown up following his mum around Lassiters hotel in Darwin, he'd followed Gaby into the industry and had worked across many different departments but everyone was surprised when he suddenly quit to try out for the new job in Melbourne. Upon arriving in the city, he found time for a quick date before heading to Erinsborough, having met a guy named Colton on a dating app. The pair met up for coffee and quickly hit it off, with Zac kissing him before he had to leave for his interview, and making it clear that he'd like to see him again.

Once in Erinsborough, Zac met up with his aunt, Terese Willis, who'd previously been married to Gaby's brother, Brad, and had remained close to all of her nieces, nephews and stepchildren from that marriage, giving many of them a home on Ramsay Street when they needed it. Terese immediately offered Zac somewhere to stay too, suggesting that he call over after his interview. Having impressed Lassiters new CEO Krista Tanaka and secured the job, he was surprised when he walked into the nearby Waterhole pub shortly afterwards to find her and her husband Leo having a drink with Colton. Zac was a little less friendly than he'd been with Colton earlier, and explained that he couldn't stay as he was meeting some family in the area. Having then agreed to move in with Terese, her partner Paul Robinson and Paul's daughter, Elle, at 22 Ramsay Street, Zac was surprised when he walked out of the house and came face to face with Colton again. It seemed that, not only was Colton about to start a new job with Terese at retirement home Eirini Rising, but he'd also just moved in across the street at no. 32. Though Colton was very happy to see him, Zac turned down an offer to go for a swim, explaining that he didn't think that things were going to work out between them, as he hadn't felt a spark.

Zac's strange behaviour continued when it seemed that he had two phones - he told Terese that one of them was his old work phone from Darwin that he'd forgotten to return, but he became annoyed when he kept receiving messages on it. After receiving a message from someone called Anton, asking him why he'd left Darwin, Zac decided to throw the phone into Lassiters Lake. As he began work at the hotel and immediately hit it off with new boss, Krista, it seemed that Zac was definitely running from something when she told him that his photo had gone up on the hotel website and he immediately asked her to take it down. Krista was surprised when he then gave her a replacement, claiming that it looked nothing like him, but he said that although it was a few years old, it had much better lighting than the last one.

Whilst things were going well for Zac in his new job, there was still tension between him and Colton in his personal life. As he spent his morning off at the beach taking photographs, Zac spotted a man doing yoga and took a picture, only to realise, when he turned around, that it was Colton. Colton then accused Zac of perving, but Zac insisted that it was an innocent mistake, before setting up his beach chair nearby. When Colton then took off his shirt, Zac couldn't resist checking him out, though he said that he was just concerned about his skin, offering him some sunscreen. Colton made it clear that he could manage, but when Zac went to no. 32 later that day to try and clear the air, he noticed that Colton's back was badly burned, taking a photo to prove it. Finally finding the humour in the situation, Colton and Zac agreed to be friends, as Zac made it clear that he simply wasn't in the market for a relationship right now, and they then attended a party for Max Ramsay, to mark him qualifying as a mechanic.

With his personal life now improving, Zac found that his past was catching up with him at work - a guest named Joel approached him at the reception desk, making strange comments about how he was looking for a hotel with a tennis court, before referring to Zac as 'Coach'. In an attempt to keep Joel quiet, Zac offered him a 75% discount on a spa treatment, which appeared to do the trick. When spa employee Sadie Rodwell then asked him about it, he lied that Joel had tripped on a loose paving slab and he'd been trying to keep him happy to avoid a lawsuit.

A few days later, Colton turned up at the hotel, tracking Zac down in his office to ask him for a drink. As Zac watered the plants on a high shelf, it revealed a tattoo on his back, and he quickly covered up and denied having a tattoo when Colton asked him about it. As a flustered Zac explained that he had to work and couldn't go out, he later regretted it and went to Eirini Rising to find Colton and see if he was still available. Colton told him that he already had plans - his weekly card game with Gino Esposito - and, although disappointed, Zac couldn't help but he attracted to the way Colton was so devoted to his job and the Eirini residents.

Tenure
2201-2230, 2261, 9317-

Trivia Notes
• Jay Callahan played Zac in 1994 as a baby, with Alex Kaan taking over the role when he returned to Erinsborough in 2025

Biography by Moe

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