Dean Sullivan (born 7 June 1955) is an English actor and director, best known for playing

Jimmy Corkhill Jimmy Corkhill is a fictional character from ''Brookside'', played by Dean Sullivan, who joined the series in 1986. Jimmy originally appeared on a recurring basis appearing alongside his brother, Billy (John McArdle), before becoming a regular ...

in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

'' (19862003).

Early life

Sullivan was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 7 June 1955. He graduated from

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

with a

B.Ed. A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

(Hons) and was a primary school teacher for six years before becoming an actor. He continued to work as a substitute teacher between roles before ''Brookside'' became his full-time job.

Career

Sullivan was a member of Liverpool's

Epstein Theatre The Epstein Theatre, built in 1913, is one of many theatres in Liverpool, England. It has been threatened with closure several times, but reopened in May 2011 after a £1.2m refurbishment. It has now been renamed the Epstein Theatre, in honour ...

(then called the Neptune Theatre) and appeared in the

Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are ''Educating Rita'', ''Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and ''Our Day Out''. Early life Russell was born in Whiston, Lancash ...

play '' Breezeblock Park'' and the

Phil Redmond Sir Philip Redmond (born 10 June 1949) is an English television producer and screenwriter from Huyton, England. He is known for creating the television series ''Grange Hill'', '' Brookside'' and ''Hollyoaks''. Early life Redmond took the 11- ...

play ''Soaplights'' at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actress ...

. He joined ''

'' in February 1986 and remained with the programme until it ended in November 2003, featuring in many of its most popular storylines during that time. In 1994, he offered to resign from the series when reading in his scripts that his character was to take ecstasy; he reportedly urged producers to kill his character off in an attempt to warn youngsters about the dangers of taking drugs, but his offer was rejected. Sullivan has organised " murder weekends" with his company, The Murder Game. In 2001, he appeared on ''

Lily Savage's Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 un ...

''. In 2008, he appeared in the sitcom ''Terry Across the Mersey'', and presented a daily show on City Talk 105.9 from the

Radio City Tower Radio City Tower (also known as St. John's Beacon) is a Radio masts and towers, radio and observation tower in Liverpool, England, built in 1969 and opened by Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II. It was designed by James A. Roberts Associates in B ...

until May 2009. However, after

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

ruled that City Talk would also be allowed to play music, he was dropped from the schedule. Recently, he took part in a protest against violence in Liverpool as part of a march organised by charity Term Time. Sullivan was keen to buy Brookside Close, the purpose-built street which was created for the series and was later sold in December 2008, as he wanted to revive the show. However, the houses were sold to a different buyer. In August 2011, he expressed interest in reprising his role as Jimmy Corkhill in other soap operas.

References

External links

* English male soap opera actors 1955 births Living people Male actors from Liverpool English gay actors 21st-century LGBT people {{UK-tv-actor-1950s-stub