Peter Phelps

Peter Phelps was born on September 20, 1960, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He commenced his acting career in the early 1980s, gaining early recognition for his role in the Network Ten soap opera, The Restless Years. Following this, he transitioned to another Reg Grundy Organisation production, Sons and Daughters, where he played John Palmer across 421 episodes from 1982 to 1984. During this period, Phelps also featured in the miniseries The Cowra Breakout in 1984 and The Challenge in 1986–1987. His early career included roles in A Country Practice and The Flying Doctors, establishing his presence in Australian television.

Phelps expanded his career internationally with a role as Trevor Cole in the first season of Baywatch from 1989 to 1990. Concurrently, he appeared in the film Point Break in 1991 as an Australian Surfer. A significant milestone in his acting career was receiving an Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award in 1993 for his portrayal of a rape victim in the G.P. episode “Exposed.” He subsequently starred in the television series Fire in 1995 and gained further critical acclaim for his role as Peter Church in Stingers from 1998 to 2004, which earned him the 2002 Logie Award for Most Popular Actor.

Beyond acting, Phelps has also pursued directing, notably for 20 episodes of Home and Away from 2007 to 2008 and 3 episodes of All Saints in 2007. His work in film includes roles in Ned Kelly (2003) and The Square (2008). In recent years, he has continued to appear in television series such as Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (2009), Wonderland (2013–2015), and Home and Away (2012, 2022-present), demonstrating sustained engagement in the industry. Additionally, Phelps is an author, having published an autobiography, “Sex without Madonna: The True Confessions of a Hired Gun in Tinseltown” in 1994, and “The Bulldog Track: A grandson’s story of an ordinary man’s war and survival on the other Kokoda trail” in 2018.