WHEN a bleary-eyed Michael Weatherly posed for a picture with the Herald Sun on Monday, he admitted he had grabbed only an hour’s sleep after enjoying the Logies festivities.

The Hollywood star left the Channel 10 afterparty at Crown’s Tonic Bar about 2.45am. So what kept him from catching some shut-eye between then and his wake-up call?

The answer is Heidi of the mountains look-alike Nicky Whelan.

The ambitious soap actor struck up an intense conversation with Weatherly at the afterparty.

They chatted while she sucked on cigarettes and he admired her fashion fright of a frock that featured a red glitter mesh panel over her left hip and buttock.

Later, Weatherly asked if Whelan would pose with him for some happy snaps taken by his niece, Alexandra Breckenridge.

Whelan eagerly obliged. The pair engaged in a long conversation on one of the banquettes, with Whelan leaning in and speaking into his ear.

Former Neighbours star Stephanie McIntosh joined the pair, before the trio headed to Chapel St for a drink.

Weatherly is the latest visiting international male celebrity befriended by Whelan — following in the handsome footsteps of model Marcus Schenkenberg and actor Michael Vartan.

No doubt they are all handy contacts to have in her Blackberry when she is on one of her regular jaunts to Los Angeles.

Whelan has designs on cracking the US market. She recently had her so-called ‘big break” playing a bimbo in a skit on David Spade’s The Showbiz Show.

Spade was so enamoured by her obvious talents that he has agreed to film a cameo on Neighbours while in Melbourne next month.

Source: Herald Sun