Blair McDonough
Blair McDonough (born 30 April 1981, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an 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. 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 of Education 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, 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. 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. 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. The following year, he reprised his role of Stuart Parker in "Neighbours" for one episode. Personal life. McDonough is married to Kristi Townley. The couple have two children.