Dan Paris

Daniel Paris (born 15 June 1973) is an Australian actor and photographer. He is best known for playing the role of Drew Kirk in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

Early life Paris was born in Perth, Western Australia. In 1980, when he was 7, his family moved from the Perth suburb of Greenwood, to the coastal town of Esperance.

Over the years, Paris competed in various triathlons. From 1990 to 1994, he was a surf lifesaver and won the under-21 state medal in surfboat competition. In 1991 he competed with the WA swim team, and in 1998 Paris was Sports Person of the Year (swimming) in State Country Region WA.

Paris also modelled in commercials, catwalks and stills.

In 1993, Paris received his degree in accounting from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia and briefly worked for a major Australian finance company.

Career

Actor and presenter

Paris never aspired to be an actor. After travelling around Australia, he settled in Melbourne and while working in a bar, he attended a general audition at Grundy's without any acting experience. He secured his first role in 1998 as Drew Kirk in the soap opera Neighbours. Drew was known for his long-running romance story arc with Libby Kennedy (Kym Valentine). In 2002, Paris decided to leave the serial to pursue new challenges and travel around Australia with his partner. He asked for his character to be killed off and Drew dies after a horse-riding accident.

Paris became an advertising host for Aqua Technics and Ashley Martin. He then became a regular presenter on the travel program Postcards WA in 2007 and 2009. This was followed by presenting roles on DestinationWA, ZoomTV, Home in WA, The West Real Estate Program, and WA Weekender in 2014. He has also hosted various natural history documentaries.

Paris reprised his role as Drew Kirk for the web spin-off Neighbours vs Zombies in 2014. He played Mark Davies in the ABC/Matchbox television series The Heights from 2019 to 2020.

Photographer & videographer Paris is also a freelance landscape photographer and cinematographer, operating both Dan Paris Photography and Bauhaus Films video production.

He has produced several photography books: "Images of a Southern Coastline" (2006), "Images of a Northern Peninsula" (2007), "Leaving Footprints in Esperance" (2009) and "Esperance - A Place Less Travelled" (2014).

When work dried up at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he turned to market gardening, using a concept known as community-supported agriculture (CSA). He operates off two hectares of land in Esperance, named 'Mystwood Harvest'.

Personal life

Paris and his horticulturalist partner, Tanya Jenkin have two children and live in Esperance, Western Australia.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Type 2020 I Met a Girl TV host Feature film 2022 How to Please a Woman Mike Feature film

Television Year Title Role Type 1998-2002 Neighbours Drew Kirk TV series, 353 episodes 1999 Live and Kicking Self TV series, 1 episode 2003 MDA Nathan TV series, 1 episode 2005 McLeod's Daughters Renegade TV series, 1 episode 2005 Neighbours Drew Kirk’s ghost TV series 2007; 2009 Postcards WA Presenter TV series 2011–12 The West Real Estate Program Presenter TV series 2012 ZoomTV Presenter TV series 2014 DestinationWA Presenter TV series, episode 2: "Albany", episode 9: "Galati Brothers" 2014 Home in WA Presenter TV series 2014 WA Weekender Presenter TV series, 1 episode 2014 Neighbours vs Zombies Drew Kirk TV miniseries, 2 episodes 2019–20 The Heights Mark Davies TV series, 60 episodes 2021 Isolation Interviews Self TV series 2022 Studio 10 Self TV series 2022 Mystery Road: Origin Psychologist TV series, 2 episodes

Theatre Year Title Role Type 2001–05 Jack and the Beanstalk Jack Trott Hawth Theatre, Grand Opera House, Belfast 2002–03 Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs The Prince Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton 2003–04 Cinderella The Prince Swansea Grand Theatre