Blair McDonough

Last updated

Blair McDonough
Born
Blair McDonough

(1981-04-30) 30 April 1981 (age 43)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation(s)Stage and television actor
Years active2000–present

Blair McDonough (born 30 April 1981[ citation needed ]), is an Australian actor who is best known for playing the role of Stuart Parker in the Australian TV soap opera Neighbours . He first shot to fame the age of 19 in 2001, when he finished runner-up in the inaugural season of the reality TV series Big Brother . He has since appeared on a number of other reality TV shows.

Contents

Early life

McDonough is the youngest son of four boys, born to Kathy, an Irish mother. McDonough spent much of his childhood living in Singapore, where his parents were working, where he was educated at Tanglin Trust School and the United World College of South East Asia. In his mid-teens, he left Singapore and moved back to Australia with his family. They settled in the Melbourne suburb of Plenty. McDonough finished his schooling at Eltham College in Research. Blair and his brothers Wade, Gavin and Ryan were members of the band Snubrocket (later renamed Fifth Avenue), which was one of 30 that appeared in the music video clip for TISM's song "Thunderbirds Are Coming Out" in 1998. In 1999, Blair attended the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra.

Career

In 2001, McDonough was a university student and semi-professional footballer, before he became a contestant in the first season of Big Brother Australia. He finished runner-up in the show, [1] which generated a cult following.

A few months after Big Brother concluded, McDonough was cast in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours , in the role of Stuart Parker.

In 2002, McDonough was named one of the "25 Most Beautiful People" in the Australian publication Who .

In late 2005, McDonough announced he would be leaving Neighbours to seek work in London. [1] He made his final appearance on Neighbours on 5 April 2006, in episode 4938, titled "Stu for the Road".

McDonough played the role of Dan in a West End play called The Vegemite Tales from July–October 2006, and again in July–October 2007. He has also appeared in a number of reality TV shows in the UK. He competed in soccer trials to represent a celebrity football team in Sky 1's The Match in October 2006. In January 2007, he appeared in BBC Two's Safari School , in which eight celebrities took part in a four-week ranger training course in the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa. He was the fourth celebrity to be eliminated. In April 2007, he appeared in ITV2's Deadline , in which various celebrities worked to create a celebrity-based magazine. He was the third celebrity to be sacked from the magazine. In 2008, he made an appearance as an Australian rules football player and murder victim in the television show City Homicide .

McDonough was cast as the new Steel in the Sapphire & Steel audio adventures produced by Big Finish Productions, beginning with Second Sight .

In 2008–9, McDonough appeared in the UK police drama Heartbeat as the character Mick MacDonald. [1]

In 2009, McDonough appeared in the Australian Nine Network drama Sea Patrol in the semi-regular cast as the character Matt Robsenn.

McDonough signed on as a celebrity dancer in the 2010 season of Australia's Dancing with the Stars , but was the second person to be eliminated from the competition after receiving the fewest public votes on 11 July 2010. In preparation of the show, he appeared as a celebrity contestant on Deal or No Deal : Dancing with the Deals Double Shot edition and won $75,000 for his home viewer.

In April 2011, McDonough was cast in a starring role as Matt O'Connor in Seven Network's drama Winners & Losers . His character was killed off in a gas explosion in the season two final.

In April 2017, McDonough joined the cast of Home and Away in the guest role of Alan Ellis. [2] [3] The following year, he reprised his role of Stuart Parker in Neighbours for three episodes. [4]

Personal life

McDonough is married to Kristi Townley. The couple have two children. [5]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2001Man DownThe ChadShort film (credited as Blair)
2001–2006,
2018, 2022
Neighbours Stuart Parker Season 17 (guest), Seasons 18–22 (regular),
Seasons 34, 38 (guest)
2007–2008 Heartbeat Mick MacDonaldSeasons 17–18 (recurring, 4 episodes)
2008 City Homicide Cameron GunningSeason 2, Episode 7 – "Golden"
2009Strangers on a Sushi TrainHankShort film
2009 Sea Patrol Matt RobsenSeason 3 (recurring, 5 episodes)
2010 Sleuth 101 Dan KinsmanSeason 1, Episode 7 – "Performance Enhancing Death"
2011–2012 Winners & Losers Matt O'ConnorSeason 1–2 (regular, 22 episodes)
2017 Home and Away Alan EllisSeason 30 (recurring, 6 episodes)
2020 Mystery Road PatSeason 2 (recurring, 3 episodes)
2021 Young Rock Assistant Coach #1Season 1, Episode 8 – "My Baby Only Drinks the Good Stuff"
2022 Seriously Red TomFeature film
TBABlood SistersEddieTV series (completed)

Related Research Articles

Stephanie McIntosh is an Australian actress and singer. She played the role of Sky Mangel in the Australian soap opera Neighbours from 2003 to 2007. She made a brief appearance for one episode in 2015 as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations, and returned again in 2020 as part of the shows 35th anniversary episodes, and a cameo appearance in 2022. As a singer, she released her debut album, Tightrope, in September 2006. It peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carson Kressley</span> American TV personality, actor and designer

Carson Kressley is an American television personality, actor, and designer. Beginning in 2003, he appeared in the Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He was also the motivational host of the TV show How to Look Good Naked and OWN's Carson Nation and a contestant on season 13 of Dancing with the Stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtney Act</span> Australian drag performer and recording artist (born 1982)

Shane Gilberto Jenek, better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of Australian Idol in 2003. After the show, she signed to BMG Australia, and she released her debut single, "Rub Me Wrong", which peaked at No. 29 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified Gold. While auditioning for Australian Idol, she became the first LGBTQ contestant to openly appear on a reality TV talent show. In 2014, Courtney was one of the runners-up in season six of RuPaul's Drag Race. Courtney is a member of the drag girl-group, The AAA Girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Mills</span> Australian singer (born 1982)

Robert Mills is an Australian actor, television host and singer-songwriter. He was one of the finalists from the first season of Australian Idol in 2003. He co-hosted the late-night quiz show The Mint with his childhood idol, J-Dawg, the two would go on to star in the hit show Young Talent Time, and was a regular singer on the game show The Singing Bee both on the Nine Network. Mills took part in the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars, and appeared on Celebrity Apprentice. In 2008, Mills won the lead male role of Fiyero in a production of Wicked, and continued the role when it moved around Australia. He has since starred in a number of popular large scale musical theatre productions. In 2012, Mills was announced as the host of Network Ten's revamped Young Talent Time. He played teacher Finn Kelly on Neighbours from 2017 until 2022. He is engaged to Georgie Tunny from The Project.

Alison Hammond is a British television presenter and actress. She competed in the third series of the reality show Big Brother in 2002, in which she was the second housemate to be evicted. She has since become a presenter and reporter on ITV's This Morning (2002–present) and a co-presenter on the Channel 4 reality baking competition The Great British Bake Off (2023–present). In January 2024, it was announced that Hammond would take over For the Love of Dogs from Paul O'Grady, following his death in March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neal McDonough</span> American actor (born 1966)

Neal McDonough is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on Boomtown (2002–2003), Tin Man in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, and as Dave Williams in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives (2008–2009), and President Dwight D. Eisenhower in American Horror Story: Double Feature (2021) for which he was critically acclaimed. He has also appeared in films such as Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report, Walking Tall, and as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films and TV series. In the DC Arrowverse, he has appeared as Damien Darhk in the TV series Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and The Flash. He had a major role playing Sean Cahill in Suits for several seasons (2014–2019) and played Malcolm Beck on Yellowstone (2019). More recently he has appeared in the second season of Tulsa King (2024). He also appeared in the series Van Helsing a netflix original series.

<i>Australias Brainiest</i> 2004 Australian TV series or program

Australia's Brainiest is a television game show series produced in Australia by Crackerjack Productions, a FremantleMedia company. It originally aired on the Seven Network before moving to Network Ten. The format was taken from the British series Britain's Brainiest Kid.

<i>The Challenge</i> (TV series) Reality competition show

The Challenge is a reality competition show on MTV that is a spin-off of two of the network's reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules. Premiering in 1998, it originally featured alumni from these two shows. Casting for The Challenge has slowly expanded to include contestants who debuted on The Challenge itself, alumni from other MTV franchises including Are You the One?, Ex on the Beach, Geordie Shore, and from other non-MTV shows and competitions. Starting in 2018, new contestants were chosen outside of MTV network alumni from different networks like CBS and Bravo. The contestants compete against one another in various extreme challenges to avoid elimination. The winners of the final challenge win the competition and typically share a large cash prize. The Challenge is currently hosted by T. J. Lavin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marissa Jaret Winokur</span> American actress

Marissa Jaret Winokur, sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress and singer known for her Tony-winning performance as Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway musical Hairspray, an adaptation of John Waters's film, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked. Some of her other TV credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm,Moesha,The Steve Harvey Show,Just Shoot Me!,Felicity and Dharma & Greg.

Debra Lawrance is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role on Home and Away, as Pippa Ross, which she played from 1990 to 1998 and in a number of subsequent return appearances, the most recent being in 2009.

Jayne Claire King is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Kim Tate in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale since 1989, and as Karen Betts in Bad Girls from 2000 until 2004. She has appeared in the fourth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, Safari School in 2007, and Celebrity Big Brother 14 in 2014. She also played Erica Holroyd in Coronation Street from 2014 until 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindi Watts</span> Soap opera character

Sindi Watts is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Marisa Warrington. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 19 July 2002. Sindi was initially a recurring character, before she was promoted to the regular cast. Her storylines often focused on her romantic relationships, including her affair with Rocco Cammeniti and marriage to Stuart Parker. She also attempted to break up Toadfish Rebecchi and Dee Bliss, and briefly became a lapdancer to raise much needed money.

Stuart Parker (<i>Neighbours</i>) Soap opera character

Stuart Parker is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Blair McDonough. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 13 December 2001. Stuart lived with Toadfish Rebecchi and Connor O'Neill at number 30, during which time the house became known as "The House of Trouser". Stuart's storylines included becoming a policeman, temporarily losing his eyesight, joining a cult, which almost cost him his friendships, and marrying Sindi Watts. Stuart departed on 5 April 2006 after McDonough quit to pursue other projects. The actor reprised the role for three episodes from 13 February until 15 February 2018. Stu made an unannounced cameo appearance in the final episode on 28 July 2022.

Jonathan David Bennett is an American actor and television host. He is known for his roles as Aaron Samuels in the 2004 comedy film Mean Girls, Bud McNulty in 2005's Cheaper by the Dozen 2, the title character in the 2009 direct-to-DVD comedy Van Wilder: Freshman Year, and his recurring role as Casey Gant in the mystery drama Veronica Mars. He was the host of the Food Network series Halloween Wars, and he previously hosted Cake Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Jacobz</span> Australian actor

Luke Jacobz is an Australian actor and television presenter. He is best known for his roles as Zac Croft in Heartbreak High, Patrick Brewer in McLeod's Daughters, Angelo Rosetta in Home and Away, and as presenter of the Australian version of The X Factor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Lewis</span> Australian actor

Lincoln Clay Lewis is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles in the movie Tomorrow, When the War Began and in the television series Home and Away and Slide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Maslow</span> American actor and singer (born 1990)

James David Maslow is an American actor, singer, dancer and model. He played the role of James Diamond on Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush, had roles in The Frozen Ground and Seeds of Yesterday, and is a member of the boyband Big Time Rush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Essex</span> English television personality (born 1990)

Joey Donald Essex is an English television personality. He came to prominence for his appearances on the ITV reality series The Only Way Is Essex (2011–2013). He went on to appear on various reality television shows, including Splash! (2013), I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2013), The Jump (2015), Celebs Go Dating, Celebrity Ex on the Beach (2020), Dancing on Ice (2023), and Love Island (2024).

<i>Celebrity Big Brother</i> (American TV series) American reality television series

Celebrity Big Brother, also known as Big Brother: Celebrity Edition, is a reality television spin-off series of the American adaptation of Big Brother created by John de Mol Jr.. The series began on February 7, 2018 on CBS in the United States and is simulcast in Canada on Global. The series is filmed at CBS Studio Center in sound stage eighteen located in Studio City, Los Angeles. Julie Chen Moonves reprises her role as host from Big Brother with Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan also returning as executive producers. The series is produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment in association with Endemol Shine North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Robards</span> Australian actor and model

Timothy Robards is an Australian actor, chiropractor, model, and television personality. Robards worked as a chiropractor for seven years, before he was cast in the first season of The Bachelor Australia. He chose Anna Heinrich in the finale. The couple later appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2015. Robards took part in the fifteenth season of Dancing with the Stars and appeared on Australian Ninja Warrior. In 2018, Robards had a guest role in soap opera Neighbours as Pierce Greyson, which led to him joining the regular cast in 2019. Outside of television, Robards has worked as a model, and has developed a fitness program called The Robards Method.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Duck, Siobhan (13 August 2008). "Neighbours' Blair McDonough on why Big Brother got bad". Herald Sun . Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  2. Lee, Ben (10 April 2017). "Former Neighbours star Blair McDonough is heading to Home and Away set". Digital Spy . Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  3. McCarthy, Alex (28 September 2017). "Blair McDonough is joining Home And Away!". Now To Love. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  4. Dainty, Sophie (4 January 2018). "Neighbours is bringing back Stuart Parker as Blair McDonough reprises role for guest stint". Digital Spy . Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  5. "Blair McDonough's baby joy". New Idea . 20 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.