Emmanuel Castis (born 1 February 1976), is a South African actor, singer, and dancer of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

descent. He is best known for his role as Steve Stethakis in the popular serials ''

Isidingo ''Isidingo'' is a South African soap opera, with dialogue mostly in English and isiXhosa. The series premiered on SABC 3 in July 1998 and was broadcast evenings on SABC 3 from Monday to Friday at 19:00. Until 2001 it was titled ''Isidingo: The ...

'', and as Cole Harris on the Soapie ''Scandal!''.

Personal life

He was born on 1 February 1976 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa to Greek parents, Mike Castis and Maro Castis. He graduated with a degree in dramatic arts at the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

. He is married to his longtime partner Sharlene Economou. They got engaged at Komati Gorge Lodge in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

Career

He started acting in 1997 with theatre plays, along with PJ Sabbagha and the Forgotten Angle Dance Theatre Company, where he played the role 'Lennox' in the popular play ''Macbeth''. Later, he became involved in musical theater. Meanwhile, he made his television debut with the popular television soapie ''

'' in 1999. In the serial, he played the role 'Steve Stethakis', which became highly popular. In 2004, he won the

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

for Best Actor in a television soapie. Afterwards, he also appeared in the serial ''Erfsondes'' as the lead male protagonist. Additionally, he has been nominated twice for South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) for Best Actor in a television series. In 2008, he won the celebrity reality competition of the South African version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. In addition to his acting career, he has pursued singing and released his debut music album titled "South of Nowhere" in 2008. He achieved success in the reality show ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'', winning Season 4 in the same year. Furthermore, he released the single "Stop Running" in 2011, followed by "Alive" towards the end of 2015. In 2014 he was a judge for the SAFTAs. He also appeared in two popular international serials, ''Wild at Heart'' and '' Black Sails''. In the meantime, he starred in several blockbuster films: ''Cryptid'', ''Eternity'' and '' Tremors 5: Bloodlines''. Then he toured around the world with the Broadway hit musical ''Jersey Boys'', as one of the leads 'Nick Massi'. He later received positive critical acclaim and received a nomination for Best Actor in a musical at the

Naledi Theatre Awards The Naledi Theatre Awards are annual South African national theatre awards held in Gauteng launched in 2004 by Dawn Lindberg Dawn Lindberg (14 April 1945 – 7 December 2020) was a South African folk singer, actress, theatre producer, dire ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castis, Emmanuel 1976 births Living people Singers from Johannesburg Actors from Johannesburg South African male film actors South African male television actors South African people of Greek descent South African male stage actors