| Phoenix Raynor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Geordie Holibar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Steven Zanoski | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2010— | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 2 August 2010 episode 4550 |
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| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 2 September 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Phoenix Raynor is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. He has been portrayed by Geordie Holibar since his debut in the show's first ever 90 minute episode in August 2010. The character was introduced as the unknown son of long standing character Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) and ex wife Alison Raynor (Danielle Cormack).
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Geordie Holibar, the grandson of former Shortland Street actor Liddy Holloway was cast[1] and the character made his debut in the shows first ever feature length episode on 2 August 2010.[2] Holibar's uncle Joel Tobeck helped him prepare for the role as he had previously appeared in the mid nineties.[3] Initially Holibar shared a lot of scenes with on screen father, Michael Galvin, but as his storylines developed, he ended up spending a lot more scenes with the fellow teenage characters.[4] Holibar enjoyed acting alongside people his age, saying; ""I have lots of fun with Frankie, Tyler and Pearl. It's been cool working with people your own age because you know that you're all going through the same kind of thing."[4]
Phoenix was born to Alison Raynor (Danielle Cormack) and her divorced husband, Chris Warner (Michael Galvin). Alison decided to keep Phoenix a secret from Chris and the two lived in America. After Alison grew sick of the American schooling system, she and Phoenix travelled to New Zealand and lived on a farm. In November 2009 Alison died on a yacht and Phoenix was taken in by her uncle Brian (Ian Mune).
Chris learnt in August 2010 that Phoenix was his son and after a DNA test, he adopted him. Phoenix struggled to get on with half brother Harry (Reid Walker) but befriended Evan Cooper (Tyler Read). New girl Ula Levi (Frankie Adams) spread a rumour that he was gay after he rebuffed a kiss from her but the two later dated briefly in 2011. He dumped her for Evan's sister Jasmine (Pearl McGlashan) but cheated on Jasmine when he had a one night stand with Suzy (Maisey McSwiney). Phoenix was shocked when Jasmine died for several minutes on his lap due to her Long QT syndrome and later struggled to cope with her newfound morbid personality causing the two to break up numerous times.
As Phoenix is depicted as a 14 year old upon his debut in 2010, this means that the writers of Shortland Street have utilized the SORAS technique to make the character a few years older than in real time. This is proven as Chris did not leave Shortland Street until mid 1996, making a 1996 birth impossible. Other factors that contradict Phoenix's birthdate are the facts that Tiffany Pratt saw Chris and Alison together as late as 1997 and Chris indicates he and Alison split as late as 2000 in his return to the show. Phoenix again underwent SORAS in 2011 when he celebrated his 16th birthday in September, only a year after he arrived as a 14 year old, pushing his birthdate back to 1995 when Chris was living in Ferndale and Alison in America.
However Phoenix has not been the only character to undergo SORAS, the Warner family has been famous for its usage. Phoenix's half brother Harry was born in 2002 and already aged 9 by 2009. His cousin, Tuesday Warner was born in 1995 and was 14, only 12 years later. Even Phoenix's girlfriend, Jasmine underwent the procedure, debuting at 13 years old and being 15, just a year later.
Upon Phoenix's arrival, Shortland Street commentator Throng was surprised such an interesting storyline twist had not already occurred.[2] Hugh Sundae from The New Zealand Herald praised Holibar's acting and compared him positively to Lee Donoghue, the actor of Hunter McKay.[5] He also stated that Holibar was already a greater actor that Ido Drent the actor of Daniel Potts despite only appearing in a small amount of scenes.[5] Holibar's on screen father, Michael Galvin, praised Holibar - stating: He's very relaxed and very natural for someone of his age and very keen to learn, which is a very important thing on this show because it's very demanding."[3] Holibar won the "Up and Coming Actor" award in the Girlfriend Faves Forever competition 2011 for his role as Phoenix.[6]
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