Shane Cortese Biography

Shane Cortese was born on 13 August 1968, he is a New Zealand actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role of Mac on Nothing Trivial, Loki on the Almighty Johnsons and Hayden Peters on hit show Outrageous Fortune. He was also a runner-up on Season 1 of NZ Dancing with the Stars in 2005.

Shane Cortese Age

Cortese was born on 13 August 1968, he is 49 years as of 2018.

Shane Cortese Wife

In January 2006 Cortese and his Dancing with the Stars partner Nerida Lister announced they were dating. Shane and Nerida became engaged on 26 February 2008 and later married in early 2009.

Shane Cortese Children

In 2006 New Idea magazine announced that they were expecting their first baby. In April 2007 Kees Armas Cortese was born by water birth at North Shore Hospital. The first exclusive photos of Kees were shown in New Zealand magazine New Idea a month after his birth. Shane and Nerida welcomed a second son in July 2011 named Jett Patrick Cortese.

Shane Cortese Career

Cortese started his professional career as a travel agent in Palmerston North. He got involved in the amateur drama society and soon found a passion in acting. He participated in numerous plays before moving to London in 1993 to further his newfound career. Cortese trained at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. After graduating from the Musical Theatre Course in 1993, he spent 10 years touring the UK in musicals, performing several times on London’s prestigious West End. His performances won critical acclaim from UK reviewers.

Whilst visiting New Zealand in 2000, Cortese auditioned for the popular soap opera Shortland Street for the role of Geoff Greenlaw. He did not receive the part and returned to England to star in the West End. He scored a major part in a production but was contacted by Shortland Street producers who announced their intention to write Cortese a character specifically for him who was to play a major part in the serial.

Cortese relished the opportunity and returned to New Zealand to take the part, despite being threatened by those involved in the West End play that he would never work again. Cortese made his Shortland Street debut in early 2003 as the character of Dominic Thompson. The character stayed on screen for just under 2 years, before dying in one of the shows most iconic and well received storylines.

On 29 April 2005 he starred on the New Zealand version of Dancing with the Stars. Partnered with dancer Nerida Lister he was named runner-up on 20 June 2005. He scored a guest starring role in fantasy series Maddigan’s Quest and played the lead character, “John” opposite British actress Zöe Lucker on stage in Then Comes Love.

In late 2005 after appearing on Dancing with the Stars he hosted TV3’s So You Think You Can Dance. In 2006 he returned to his bad boy ways, playing Hayden Peters on Rachel Lang and James Griffin’s Outrageous Fortune. Cortese was pleased to have scored the title role in Burying Brian, only to discover his character was to be killed off in the first episode.

Cortese is also the patron for ACTA (Auckland City Theatre Academy), a youth theatre company training students aged 5–18 in musical theatre. He appeared with the students in The North Shore Times in an article describing his involvement with the school and its students.

In 2011 Cortese joined the cast of comedy-drama Nothing Trivial as the character of Mac. He was nominated in the prestigious Monte-Carlo Television Festival for “Best Actor” for his role. Cortese also landed the role of Loki in another of Griffin’s creations, The Almighty Johnsons, a role he maintained for the show’s three season run.

Shane Cortese Photo

Shane Cortese Movies

Shane Cortese News

Outrageous Fortune stars back as timelines merge on Westside

Spy News –  23 June 2018

It’s back to the future for hit drama series Westside when it returns to Three in July. A host of well-known NZ actors will return to the infamous West Auckland setting to play the parents of their original Outrageous Fortune characters.

Shane Cortese will appear as Danny Peters, the father of his OF character, Hayden. Nicole Whippy makes an appearance as the mother of Kasey, the sassy Westie character she played in the original hit series and Dave Fane will appear as Ofisa, the father of his Outrageous Fortune character Falani. This series is set in 1983 — meaning the timeline is starting to blend with Outrageous Fortune. Several significant historical moments in this series will go on to have a massive impact on the storylines of Outrageous Fortune.

Antonia Prebble was thrilled to see the familiar faces come back in time to the mid-80s. Her character Rita’s granddaughter, Loretta, hooked up with Cortese’s character Hayden in the future, but lips are sealed on whether their 1980s characters hook up at an upmarket fancy party they attend this season. “It is so lovely having the OF cast back on Westside. It was particularly fun working with Shane again because this season (without wanting to give too much away) the script required that we go to a particular kind of class together, and that was hilarious.” Cortese has had slightly longer to get used to the deja vu of playing his own character’s father, having reprised the role in previous seasons. What he is having a hard time getting used to is how many years he has now been working with Prebble.

“I’ve been working with Antonia for almost 15 years now and it’s always a pleasure to work with her and the cast of Westside. Lucky we are friends, because we’ve had to film some pretty unusual scenes over the course of all those years.”

Whippy was pleasantly surprised to be approached to re-join the West gang.

“At first I was flattered and thought they wanted me to play the young Kasey and then the producers were like ‘LOL look at you, that’s hardly possible’ and I was like ‘Geez thanks guys’, but as it turns out, it was actually impossible for me to play a child and much more realistic for me to play a cranky old mother of several children who drive me up the wall,” she says.

“It was weird when I first went to the read-through. Like going to a family reunion with all our photos on the wall but all the family I remember had gotten significantly younger. Twilight Zone much? It made me a bit emotional.”

Westside will also feature other high-profile actors in guest roles this season, including Rima Te Wiata as a feisty bookie Iris, Ilona Rodgers as Cheryl’s racist grandmother, sports presenter Laura McGoldrick is back in her comic role as nosey neighbour Wendy and radio personality Grant Kereama who turns up as carpet layer Cliff.

The Westie wedding we have been waiting decades for will also be unveiled this season when the show’s most iconic characters Wolf (Reef Ireland) and Cheryl (Ashleigh Cummings) walk up the aisle to an outrageous 80s shindig.