We were very honoured and excited that Shane Cortese accepted our invitation to be our Patron in November 2011. We are very grateful for his support.
Shane Cortese is one of New Zealand’s most recognisable performers with a multitude of television, film, theatre and Music credits to his name. Best known for his role as Mac in TVNZ Hit Drama ‘Nothing Trivial’, Hayden Peters in five series of Outrageous Fortune, and 3 years as Loki/Colin in TV3’s Comedy Drama “The Almighty Johnsons”, His Roles on Nothing Trivial and The Almighty Johnsons earning him 2013 TV Guide Best on The Box ‘Best Actor” Award.
Shane also played the title role of Brian in the Television New Zealand drama series, Burying Brian, Victor Benton in the TV3 Sitcom ‘Brown Bruthaz” and had a 2 year stint on drama serial Shortland Street as evil Dominic Thompson-a character killed off in spectacular fashion.
In 2006 Shane presented the entertainment series, So You Think You Can Dance? and won the hearts of the nation as runner up on Dancing With The Stars in 2005. He met his partner, Nerida on this series; they married in early 2009 and have 2 sons together, Kees and Jett.
Shane also had a role on the children’s series Maddigan’s Quest in 2005 and on the film Inside that same year. He back packed around Sri Lanka for TVNZ’s award winning Intrepid Journeys and In the same year had roles on Legend of the Seeker and narrates Serious Crash Unit and SPCA Rescue.
Shane also fronts his own rock ‘n’ roll band, The Class of 58, which has played all over New Zealand. The band plays a selection of Rock ‘n’ Roll. They have recently completed a tour of New Zealand’s biggest theatres culminating in a highly successful concert in Twin Towns/ Australia. They released their debut album in the same year, a portion of the sales goes to the Starship Foundation. Earlier that year Shane supported music legend’s Gerry and the Pacemakers on their tour of New Zealand. He has also appeared alongside Johnny Devlin on a special NZ tour.
Before returning to New Zealand for Shortland Street, Shane starred in musicals all over London’West End and the United Kingdom including The Rocky Horror Show, Joseph, and Elvis The Musical. In June 2009, he starred in the New Zealand stage production of Cats as Rum Tum Tugger.
A strong supporter of charities in New Zealand Shane is an official ambassador for Variety New Zealand, The Breast Cancer Research Trust MOTAT and The Children’s Autism Foundation as well as being an avid supporter of the Starship Foundation.
