Shane Cortese | |
Birth: | 1968 |
Role: | Colin Gunderson |
Gender: | Male |
Shane Cortese is a New Zealand actor and singer known for his roles in on Shortland Street and on hit show Outrageous Fortune. He was also a runner-up on Season 1 of NZ Dancing With The Stars in 2005.
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. Cortese has played the role of "Prince Charming" on stage twice; at the Norwich Theatre Royal (UK) in Cinderella (1999) and he briefly returned to New Zealand in 2000 to play Prince Charming in Raymond Hawthorne's production of Into The Woods.
In 2003 he returned again to New Zealand to play the role of Domini Thompson on Shortland Street, being listed as a main character until leaving the show in late 2004. In late 2005 after appearing on Dancing With The Stars he hosted TV3's So You Think You Can Dance. In 2006 until 2007 he returned to his bad boy ways, playing Hayden Peters on New Zealand's Outrageous Fortune.
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.