Meta value Array

I am hoping someone can help me out.

I have created a custom meta box and trying to store an array, but when using update_post_meta, it doesn't seem to be storing it as an array.

I am getting the info via an api and it seems to be breaking down when going from the textarea to the update_post_meta.

I have tried serialize, unserialize, maybe_serialize, maybe_unserialize etc. Anyway here is my code.

$movieCast(array)

  array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Anthony Hopkins',
    'actor_char' => 'Alfred Hitchcock',
    'actor_link' => 'anthony-hopkins',
    'img_path' => '/oDMLEhFmXLkTlUnErs0RxRua7kN.jpg',
  ),
  1 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Helen Mirren',
    'actor_char' => 'Alma Reville',
    'actor_link' => 'helen-mirren',
    'img_path' => '/dRYchPNm8WCXxWHcGtUwq9VLra1.jpg',
  ),
  2 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Scarlett Johansson',
    'actor_char' => 'Janet Leigh',
    'actor_link' => 'scarlett-johansson',
    'img_path' => '/dZ4uNJtLQkGlJ76eePrXYqUDWgn.jpg',
  ),...

echo "<textarea id='actors_array' name='actors_array' rows='5' cols='120'>" ?><?php var_export($movieCast); echo "</textarea>";

I have tested that the textarea is an array using echo is_array($cast) ? 'Array' : 'not an Array'; and it's returning Array.

So I figure the problem is further down at save function

    $actors_array = $_POST['actors_array'];
update_post_meta( $post_id, 'actors_array', $actors_array );

Once stored and I use $cast = get_post_meta it seems it has not been stored correctly.

When testing echo is_array($cast) ? 'Array' : 'not an Array'; it returns not an array.

echo"<pre>";print_r($cast);echo"</pre>";

returns

    array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Anthony Hopkins',
    'actor_char' => 'Alfred Hitchcock',
    'actor_link' => 'anthony-hopkins',
    'img_path' => '/oDMLEhFmXLkTlUnErs0RxRua7kN.jpg',
  ),
  1 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Helen Mirren',
    'actor_char' => 'Alma Reville',
    'actor_link' => 'helen-mirren',
    'img_path' => '/dRYchPNm8WCXxWHcGtUwq9VLra1.jpg',
  ),
  2 => 
  array (
    'actor' => 'Scarlett Johansson',
    'actor_char' => 'Janet Leigh',
    'actor_link' => 'scarlett-johansson',
    'img_path' => '/dZ4uNJtLQkGlJ76eePrXYqUDWgn.jpg',
  ),...

So I am really hoping someone can help me out please.

Thanks :)