Bruce Samazan
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Bruce Samazan (born 13 November 1970) is an Australian actor. He perhaps best known for being the only male actor to have played regular roles in Australia's "Big Three" soap operas of the 1990s: '' E Street'', ''
Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
'', and ''
Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...
.'' He won a Logie Award in 1992 and released a rap single in 1993. After he gave up acting in 2000, Samazan worked as a real estate agent.


Early and personal life

Samazan was born in Malagasy in 1970 to a French father and English mother. He and his parents moved to Australia in 1973 due to a coup in the country. He holds dual French and Australian citizenship. Samazan grew up in Stanwell Park with his mother and three sisters. He attended Bulli High School. Samazan had a few modelling jobs when he was younger. In 1987, he competed in the Wollongong Model of the Year contest, but came second to Ashley Paske, who went onto become an actor in '' Richmond Hill'' and ''Neighbours''. Samazan later became a brickie's labourer. In 1990, just as Samazan's acting career was beginning, the French Government ordered him to go to France for compulsory military national service. However, Samazan was able to prove his Australian citizenship and stay in the country. Samazan lives in Noosa with his wife and two daughters.


Career

In 1989, Samazan accompanied his girlfriend to an audition for a part in the Network Ten soap '' E Street''. He was asked to try out too, but neither he or his girlfriend landed a role. However, the casting director liked Samazan enough to invite him to attend a six-week acting course. Samazan auditioned again and was offered the role of new character Max Simmons, a new recruit at the community police station. Introduced early in Season 2, his role was primarily comic relief, but with the addition of ruthless killer Sonny Bennett to proceedings, ''E Streets storylines grew darker and the character of Max became more central and balanced. In 1992, Samazan won the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor. By the beginning of 1993, ''E Streets popularity had dwindled and the producers became more and more desperate to lure viewers. This resulted in one of the soap's more outrageous plots which involved Samazan's character Max turning into a
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
. Although this scene was part of a dream sequence, it was at this point that the tabloid media began to speculate that ''E Street'' had " jumped the shark", and the series was cancelled in May 1993. Samazan stayed with the show until the final episode. His character fell in love with Bonnie Tate ( Melissa Bell) who awoke from a coma just in time to see the final credits sequence. In mid-1993, Samazan released the rap music single "One of a Kind" under the pseudonym B-Man Samazan on the Westside Records label. He filmed a music video for the song with Kellie Crawford from Teen Queens (and later of Hi-5 fame). The song peaked at No. 80 on the
ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
in June 1993. Samazan's ''Neighbours'' co-star Scott Michaelson went on record during a 2003 court case saying Samazan had been lucky his song did not get too much airplay because it was "particularly bad". After the demise of ''E Street'', Samazan was immediately cast in Network Ten's other major soap series, ''
Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
''. He played Mark Gottlieb, brother of established character Stephen Gottlieb ( Lochie Daddo). Samazan also hosted ABC's country music television show '' Stampede'', which began airing in February 1994. Samazan regularly flew from Melbourne, where he was filming ''Neighbours'', to Brisbane to host the show. From ''Neighbours'', he went straight into the
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
's ''
Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...
'' for a six-month guest stint as the psychotic Brad Cooper who raped
Chloe Richards Chloe Richards (also Fraser) is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Kristy Wright. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 28 June 1995. Chloe left in 1999, making a short ret ...
(
Kristy Wright Kristy Wright (born 14 July 1978; name also erroneously given as Kirsty Wright) is an Australian television and film actress. Early life Wright was born in Sydney, Australia, the oldest child in her family, with three stepbrothers and two hal ...
). He had previously guested on the serial as Mick in 1989 for four episodes. Samazan appeared in guest roles in '' Big Sky'' and '' Head Start''. He also appeared in the 1998 thriller film ''Game Room''. Samazan returned to ''Neighbours'' in 2020, reprising his role as Mark Gottlieb for the show's 35th anniversary.


Post-acting career

After giving up acting in 2000, Samazan worked as a real estate agent in Wollongong and
Helensburgh Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996. Histo ...
. He then spent 11 years working in digital marketing for Realestate.com.au, before moving on to work for downsizing.com, which focuses on retirement villages. Samazan Pty Ltd, a company registered in 1991 which was directed by Samazan, was deregistered in late 2008.


Discography


Singles


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samazan, Bruce 1970 births Australian male television actors Living people Logie Award winners