After starring in the children's television series Lockie Leonard before shooting to notoriety in the hit Network Ten drama Puberty Blues, Keenan has set him up as one of Australia's most bankable stars.

But his visits to the Sunshine State were very limited until this year.

"I had actually only been to Brisbane once before, and that was when I was 13," he said.

"And my only memory of that was coming and going in a couple of days."

Ten years later and he should be contributing to council rates.

Keenan was in Brisbane earlier in the year to play a young Paul Hogan in the Seven biopic about the iconic Aussie actor and he grew a warm affection for the city.

"I hadn't been back for 10 years so I had no expectations when I arrived," he said.

"I was silently blown away, Brisbane is so beautiful, I think it's an awesome city."

Now he is back starring in the new Foxtel-commissioned film from local producers Hoodlum, Australia Day.

The film, which covers a 12-hour period on Australia Day in which three individual stories collide, deals with issues of racism in contemporary Australia.

And Keenan said he was thrilled the film, being shot entirely in Brisbane, has brought him back to Queensland.

"I feel like a local," he said.

"The weather's always nice, I love it. I think it is a beautiful city."

Australia Day has been filming in Brisbane's inner south suburbs and on the William Jolly Bridge.