My life now, is not defined by fame or success or by the number of times I'm mentioned in newspapers; if, in fact, it ever was. What I have discovered is that neither fame nor success is the key to happiness, it's the other way round entirely.
-Donovan

Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He is well known for having played Scott Robinson in the Australian soap opera Neighbours and has acted and sung alongside Kylie Minogue. He has sold more than 30 million records and obtained three hit albums.

Young Idol

Jason Sean Donovan was born on 1 June, 1968 in Malvern, Melbourne, Australia, to Terence Donovan an Australian actor¹ and Sue Mackintosh, a newsreader. Donovan also has a step-sister called Stephanie McIntosh; she too has appeared in Neighbours. His parents divorced when Donovan was five years old. From then on he lived with his father who encouraged him to sing for the Australian choir and learn to play the piano. Due to his father's job it was also easy for Donovan to receive roles in programmes such as Skyways, I Can Jump Puddles and Golden Pennies, while still finding time to attend school. Donovan attended Malvern Central School and on graduating got a place at a Catholic High School called De La Salle. He did well at school and obtained sufficient grades to start work.

I think there was a lot of luck but I managed to convert that luck into some form of currency.
- Donovan

Originally Donovan auditioned for a part in the Australian soap operaNeighbours during 1985 but this was met with disapproval from his father who wanted Donovan to keep up his schooling. This proved to be good advice as Neighbours was axed soon after. Then in 1986, Channel 10 took on the soap and Donovan landed the role of Scott Robinson² who was in love with Charlene; played by Kylie Minogue. Donovan went on to win a Logie³ and a Silver Logie for his appearances in the soap and a picture from the wedding of Scott and Charlene was used on the front cover of TIME Australia. Their characters' wedding has since gone on to be voted the best TV wedding ever!

Pop Prince

During the latter part of his time on Neighbours Donovan started to forge a career within the music industry and on leaving the soap became a full-time pop star. Donovan signed with Mushroom Records in 1988 and released his first single 'Nothing Can Divide Us' with Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) that reached number five in the UK charts. He then went on to appear as 'Happy Houston' in a mini-series called Heroes. He dueted with Minogue on 'Especially For You', which became a Number One hit. On leaving Neighbours in 1989, he released his debut album Ten Good Reasons that featured the songs 'Too Many Broken Hearts' and his version of Brian Hyland's 'Sealed With A Kiss'. Ten Good Reasons became a Number One best-selling album. He also embarked on The PWL Roadshow and later that year accepted producer Pete Waterman's offer of helping put together Band Aid, which aimed to create awareness of famine in Ethiopia. He continued gaining popularity throughout the 1990s when he also released his second album Between the Lines.

Mad About Musicals

Joseph was amazing - they had to block off the streets outside the Palladium, there were so many people wanting autographs. For a year there wasn't an unsold seat in the house. I'll tell you what though, in the end, I was sick to death of it.
- Donovan

Having proved he could sing, Donovan went on to land the role of Joseph in Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat in 1991. He trod the boards for 18 months playing the lead role and later revived the character for the final performances. The show led Donovan to gain a further Number One with the show's song 'Any Dream Will Do' and the soundtrack to the show also gave him a Number One hit. He continued his success with a song called 'Happy Together' which made it to the top ten and was his last song with Stock, Aitken and Waterman before joining Polydor.

Disaster Strikes

In 1992, Donovan launched a libel campaign against a London Magazine called The Face, which suggested that he was gay and thus lying to his fans. In an interview with The Guardian's journalist, Hannah Pool he said:

I was young, but the reason for taking The Face to court was 100% right: the insinuation that I was lying about myself was incorrect. It didn't give me great pleasure seeing people's work and lives threatened, but you've got to stand up for yourself.
- Donovan

Donovan won £200,000 in compensation, but lost a huge proportion of his fan base who perceived him as homophobic. In order to make amends Donovan made an agreement with the publishers at the magazine not to take all the money, but for many of his fans the apology was too late. As a result he received less media attention and turned to drugs as a way of coping.

Cocaine just seemed to make life easier, it became my way of dealing with every problem. Phone calls, things are stacking up? Have a line of coke.
- Donovan

Despite his drug addiction, Donovan carried on working and appeared in the film The Last Bullet in 1994 and The Sun, the Moon and Stars in 1996. That same year, he took on the role of Frank-n-Furter in the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was met with rave reviews both in Australia and the UK. During the show he met the show's stage manager Angela Malloch and the couple started dating. Later, the couple had two children together: Jemma was born on 28 March, 2000; and Zac was born a year later on 23 March, 2001. Having a family to support helped put things in perspective and Donovan decided to come off the drugs, telling The Sydney Morning Herald:

If I couldn't come off drugs for Ange, Jemma and Zac, then God only knew what could save me.

Meanwhile, he made time to appear in the British film Sorted as well as Ned, Loot and the Australian medical-legal drama MDA. He returned to the London Palladium to take on the role of Caratacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang during 2004 and embarked upon tours within the UK. In contradiction to the earlier roles on stage, he then took up roles which contained darker characters such as Sweeney Todd in 2006 and later playing the part of Christian in Festen in Australia.

Life Goes on

He has also given his voice to a PlayStation 2 game named Buzz! and in 2006 appeared in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and through doing so raised money for The Children's Hospital in Oxford. His comeback tour entitled 'All The Hits And More', started in 2007, also featured his new single 'Share My World'. He told The Independent:

I am touring at the moment to put it bluntly, because I can. The jungle show has put me back into people's hearts, lives and minds. I have a catalogue of fans but I haven't had the profile to tour on this level in the past.
- Donovan

He released his autobiography Between the Lines: My Story Uncut in October 2007 and in early 2008 could be seen in the ITV series Echo Beach.

But, you know, that's one of the things that I love about the whole idea, it feels hugely fresh and innovative and I couldn't care less if jokes are made at my expense. You have to have a sense of humour about yourself – if my experiences have taught me anything, it's that.
- Donovan

At the time of writing, Donovan is set to embark on another tour towards the end of 2008.