Ethan Panizza
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Ethan Panizza is an Australian television actor from
Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; ) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King G ...
. Panizza was interested in acting from an early age but initially chose to pursue a career in
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
. He began by appearing in short film and television commercials. In 2018, Panizza took the role of Rusty O'Reilly in the
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
drama series '' Playing for Keeps''.


Early life

Ethan Panizza was born in
Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; ) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King G ...
and is the son of the
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er
Darrell Panizza Darrell Peter Panizza (born 11 March 1959 in Bunbury, Western Australia) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and the now-defunct Woodville Football Club in the South Australian N ...
. He attended Albany Senior High School and took part in amateur drama productions. When his parents split-up, he moved to the Gold Coast with his mother Diane. He had a passion for acting as a child and felt that it gave him an outlet to express himself. Despite advice from his mother to pursue acting, Panizza decided to begin a football career in an attempt to reconnect with his father back in Western Australia. Panizza began playing for the
Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are na ...
at reserves level. He later sustained a hamstring injury leaving him unable to play for eight weeks. While he recovered, Panizza used the time to take an acting course. Actor
John Orcsik John Orcsik (born 3 May 1946), credited also variously as Jon Orcsik, John Orschik, John Orscik and John Crosik, is an Australian television and film actor, screenwriter, director and producer of Hungarian descent, known for his television rol ...
singled out Panizza performance on the course and resulted in him changing his career aspirations. In 2014, he signed up to a twenty-week course at The Australian Film & Television Academy (TAFTA) in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. Panizza believed that football taught him the skills to work hard to become successful. While studying in Sydney he took a full-time job as an electrician. Panizza soon signed with the American management company Silver Lining Entertainment. He was also selected for further acting training in Los Angeles.


Acting career

He resumed his acting career by appearing in a number of television commercials and music videos. In 2013, he appeared in two short films titled ''Turkish Delight'' and ''Blue Boys''. In 2014, the actor appeared in the Australian television documentary series ''
The War That Changed Us ''The War That Changed Us'' is a 4-episode Australian television documentary series presenting the true stories of six Australians in World War I. The series, produced by Electric Pictures, based on an original concept by historian Clare Wri ...
'', playing Harold Burk. Panizza played the guest role of Ray Davis in an episode of the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
drama ''
The Doctor Blake Mysteries ''The Doctor Blake Mysteries'' (also ''The Blake Mysteries'') is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm. The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Dr. Lucien Blake, who returns home to ...
''. In May 2018, it was announced that he had secured the role of Rusty O'Reilly in the
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
drama series '' Playing for Keeps''. The show is about a group of AFL players and their wives' personal lives. Panizza's background in football benefited him during filming as he was able to accurately portray an AFL player. Rusty is a gay character who is forced to
come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
in the Australian media. To prepare for the role Panizza researched coming out stories on the internet. The actor hoped the story would inspire football players to be more open about their sexual orientation. In July 2024, it was announced that Panizza had joined the cast of the Australian soap opera ''
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 ...
'' as
Heath Royce ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on 18 March 1985 and airs on Amazon Prime Video (formerly on Amazon Freevee) in the U.K. and U.S.A., RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland and Network 10 in Australia. The fol ...
, with Heath set to debut later that month.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

*
Ethan Panizza
at the
West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panizza, Ethan 1991 births Living people 21st-century Australian male actors Australian male television actors People from Albany, Western Australia