Daniel O'Connor is an Australian television actor and singer. He was one of the top 12 finalists in the 2004 series of

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

's reality talent contest programme ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

'', aired on

nationwide in Australia, finishing eleventh. He then launched an acting career, appearing as

Ned Parker Ned Parker is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours'', played by Daniel O'Connor. He made his first appearance on screen on 9 August 2005, arriving to see his brother, Stuart. He departed on 31 July 2008. Casting Fo ...

on the soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which 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 an ...

''.

''Australian Idol''

O'Connor auditioned for ''Australian Idol'' in Sydney. He auditioned with the church classic, "

I Surrender All "I Surrender All" is a Christian hymn, with words written by American art teacher and musician Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855–1939), who subsequently became a music minister and evangelist. It was put to music by Winfield S. Weeden (1847–1908), ...

" written by Judson W. Van DeVenter. All 3 judges were thrilled by an impressive performance. Despite Dicko's dislike of religious songs, he gave O'Connor a 'yes' along with Mark and Marcia sending him into the top 100. Later, Dicko advised O'Connor to change to songs that would influence the "world" to vote for him. During O'Connor's Top 30 performance, he performed "Amazing" by

Josh Kelley Joshua Bishop Kelley Sr. (born January 30, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter. Kelley has recorded for Hollywood Records, Threshold Records and DNK Records as a pop rock artist. His songs "Amazing" and "Only You" reached the top ten on the ...

. The judges were impressed by a fine performance and so were the voting public as he was voted into the Final 12. Also put through to the Final 12 from his group of ten, were Casey Donovan and

Ricki-Lee Coulter Ricki-Lee Dawn Coulter (born 10 November 1985), also known mononymously as Ricki-Lee, is a New Zealand-born Australian singer, songwriter, television, and radio presenter. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, grew up on the Gold Coast, Que ...

. During his ''Australian Idol'' journey, O'Connor showed an ability to work the crowd and to dress for the occasion. However, he was told on numerous occasions by Dicko that he did not have a superstar voice. O'Connor was eliminated from ''Australian Idol'' on 13 September 2004, placing him in 11th position.

Acting

O'Connor has appeared in the mobile soap opera, ''Random Place'' where he played the character of Bo Edwards. The series was viewed via mobile phones and provided a fly-on-the-wall view of the lives of five twenty-somethings sharing a house near

Bondi Beach Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Easter ...

. This was Australia's first mobile soap opera, a format which originated in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. O'Connor then took on a regular role as

in the soap opera ''

''. In his three years in the show, his character had several relationships, was mistakenly believed to be homosexual, discovered he had a son, and survived a fire. In one particular scene, he was pictured half-naked with a towel around his waist. "I actually thought I had to be completely naked," he explained when he was told he had to drop the towel. "Ever since that scene, I've had a lot of people who want me to take my shirt off!"'. He did a cameo in

Can't Touch It "Can't Touch It" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Ricki-Lee Coulter. It was written by Coulter with Brian Kierulf and Joshua M. Schwartz of KNS Productions, who also produced the song. "Can't Touch It" was released as the ...

music video in 2007, as a bartender and her love interest. He has also appeared on ''Ready Steady Cook'', ''

Thank God You're Here ''Thank God You're Here'' is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on Network Ten on 5 April 2006, and aired for the first three seasons and on Seven for the fourth season. Each ...

'' and ''

Australia's Brainiest ''Australia's Brainiest'' is a television game show series produced in Australia by Crackerjack Productions, a FremantleMedia company. It originally aired on the Seven Network before moving to Network Ten. The format was taken from the Briti ...

'' quiz show among other things. Having left Neighbours, he appeared in

CelebAir ''CelebAir'' is a reality TV series in which 11 celebrities perform the duties of cabin crew and check-in attendants. The series was presented by Angellica Bell and aired on ITV2 from 2 September 2008 until 23 October 2008, when Lisa Maffia ...

, but was evicted in the 7th week. In Autumn 2011 he appeared in BBC One'
Death in Paradise Episode 2
In December 2011 it was announced that O'Connor had joined the cast of British soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' as

Ally Gorman Ally Gorman (also Edward James) is a fictional character from the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Dan O'Connor. The actor's casting was announced in December 2011. O'Connor originally auditioned for a different role, before being a ...

. He left the show in late 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Daniel Australian Idol participants Australian male television actors Australian people of Irish descent Living people 21st-century Australian singers Year of birth missing (living people)