Stefan Dennis
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| Stefan Dennis | |
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| Born | 30 October 1958 Tawonga, Victoria, Australia |
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Stefan Dennis (born 30 October 1958 in Tawonga, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian actor most famous for playing the role of Paul Robinson in the Australian soap opera Neighbours from 1985-1993. He returned to Neighbours at the end of 2004, and was a regular character once again as of 2005, signing a three-year contract which will run to the end of 2008. He is the only current cast member who appeared on the first episode, although he is not the longest serving due to his long break.
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[edit] Biography
Stefan Dennis was born in Tawonga, Victoria, Australia on October 30th. His family moved to Queensland for 12 years where Stefan did most of his schooling. Stefan started showing his genuine interest in music and acting at the age of 7 and was 11 years old when he started in Amateur Theatre in Queensland. His debut with this first theatre company was in Oliver!. Also, this time Stefan and his brother formed a vocal duo and performed on many occasions. They played at weddings, charity events, and some large concerts.
By the age of 14 Stefan was convinced he wanted to go into the entertainment business. Stefan, being the responsible and reliable person he is, understood the pitfalls associated with choosing the career of an entertainer, so he decided, quite wisely, to get a trade behind him to support him through the times when he may be out of work.
He left school at 15 and took an apprenticeship as a chef. On completion of his chef's certificate, Stefan moved from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Melbourne, Australia's thriving financial and entertainment capital. In the following five years, Stefan worked hard gaining knowledge, experience and a respected name within the industry, filling all the empty gaps with slave labour in the kitchens of Melbourne's abounding restaurants.
He started working in TV doing bit parts in programmes such as The Sullivans, Cop Shop and Bob Brothers. This extra work eventually developed into guest roles on shows like Cop Shop, Skyways, Carson's Law, Young Ramsay, Prisoner, Home, The Henderson Kids, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors and many others. Stefan has an endless list of credits to his name. He had a major role in The Henderson Kids, a co-lead in an ABC production called Infinity Limited, and he co-starred in The Flying Doctors mini-series. Eventually he came to what can probably be considered his big break in the acting world - In 1985 Stefan landed a role in Neighbours. He originally auditioned for the role of Shane Ramsay before ending up as the character Paul Robinson.
Through the role in Neighbours came opportunities like appearing at the Royal Variety Performance along with other cast members. Neighbours has become popular worldwide, being shown in 57 countries. In the UK alone during the 1980s there were more people watching the show than total population of Australia.
After finishing Neighbours in 1992 Stefan moved to the UK and worked on a variety of TV shows and theatre productions. Stefan is no stranger to the stage in the UK, having appeared in many pantomimes, plays, and musicals. In 1994 Stefan played Mickey in Blood Brothers. Starting with tours in New Zealand and Australia, before returning to the UK to appear in the show in both the West End, and in a national tour of the UK.
Even with living in the UK and appearing in TV shows such as Dream Team, River City, The Bill, and Casualty; Stefan also found time to return to Australia from time to time for guest roles. In shows such as Blue Heelers, Good Guys Bad Guys, and Stingers.
Whilst in the UK Stefan has also become a partner in Lex Filmed Entertainment, and was associate producer on the movie 'The Truth About Love'. He also found love of his own, and married his wife, Gail. The couple have two sons, Cameron and Declan, and the family are now back living in Australia.
It was more recently that Stefan was invited back to Neighbours. Initially it was for a short stint as a returning cast member as part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations for the show. It wasn't long before Stefan's contract was extended, due to his character's popular return, and Stefan is now back as a regular cast member. [1]
[edit] Neighbours
- 1985-1992, 1993, 2004-Present - as "Paul Robinson"
After his 2004 return to Neighbours, Dennis's character Paul has been involved in many of the show's major storylines. Paul had a leg amputated in a particularly strong stretch of episodes which enabled Dennis to show off the full depth and sensitivity of his acting skills. He was later a key figure in the Bass Strait plane crash storyline. In the final episode of 2005, Paul was attacked by a grieving Harold Bishop (Ian Smith).
[edit] Other TV work
- Prisoner (1979) - as "Shayne Berkley"
- Prisoner (1980) - as "Spike"
- Young Ramsay (1 March 1980) - as "Sid Atkinson" in episode: "Gift Horse"
- Prisoner (1981) - as "Peter Richards"
- Five Mile Creek (3 April 1985) - as "Boy #2" in episode: "The Best of Mates"
- The Flying Doctors (1985) (mini series) - as "Doug Hennassy"
- The Henderson Kids (1985) as "Terry"
- The Office (1996) - as "Nigel"
- Blue Heelers (1 July 1997) - as "Colin Docker" in episode: "Poetic Justice"
- Good Guys Bad Guys (14 April 1998) - as "Andy Caesar" in episode: "Don't Cry for Me Arch 'n' Tina"
- Stingers (22 February 1999) - as "Snr. Com. Karl Hiller" in episode: "Nothing Personal"
- The Big Breakfast (14 December 2001) - as himself
- Dream Team (2001-2002) - as "Samuel Irving"
- River City (2002) - as "Dr. Marcus McKenzie"
- Casualty (19 November 2002) - as "Mark Christie"
- The Bill (17 May 2003) - as "Gene Bishop"
- Rove Live (19 July 2005) - as himself
[edit] Movies
- Channel Chaos (1984) - Actor as "Cameraman"
- In 1995 Stefan organised a charity showing of the movie Baraka for the EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency)
- The Truth About Love (2004) - Production as associate producer - Actor as "Dougie"
[edit] Theatre work
- 1990/91 - Robin Hood - Liverpool, UK
- 1991/92 - Aladdin - Southampton, UK
- 1992/93 - Cinderella - Bournemouth, UK
- 1993 - Whose life is it anyway? - UK Tour
- 1993/94 - Jack and the Beanstalk - Wimbledon, London, UK
- 1994 - Blood Brothers - Australia
- 1994 - Blood Brothers - New Zealand
- 1994/95 - Peter Pan - Blackpool, UK
- 1995 - Blood Brothers - UK (inc.West End)
- 1995 - Point of Death - UK Tour
- 1997 - Murder by Misadventure - UK Tour
- 1998/99 - Aladdin - Weston-Super-Mare, UK
- 2000 - Fool For Love - Edinburgh
- 2007 - Aladdin - Aberdeen
[edit] Other Work
- Stefan has worked as a voiceover artist for many years both in Australia and the UK.
[edit] Music
In 1989, he started a side-line music career, and released the single "Don't It Make You Feel Good", which reached #16 in the UK, in May of that year; its B-side was "Solo Dancing". He later released a second single, "This Love Affair", which failed to make the Top 40.
[edit] World Records
- Stefan was part of the team that set a new world record in 1995 for 24 hour endurance outdoor karting. The team - Stefan Dennis, David Brabham, Russ Malkin, Steve Malkin set the record of 1664.7km on a 1.3km track at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, UK on Feb 24-25 1995.
