Colette Mann (born 17 February 1950) is an Australian actress, singer, TV and radio presenter, choreographer and author/writer and media personality, she has been in the entertainment industry for over 50 years. Mann appeared in two

Grundy Organisation Reg Grundy Organisation (founded as Reg Grundy Enterprises, later known as both Reg Grundy Productions and Grundy Television and known informally as Grundy's) was an Australian-based multinational mass media company, primarily involved in tele ...

TV series, the prison drama, ''

Prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

'', as Doreen May Anderson Burns, between 1979 and 1984, and later, in ''

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 ...

'', appearing from 2012 to February 2022, as Sheila Canning. She had previously had appeared in the latter series in 1995 in an 8-week role. She has appeared also in ''

The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...

'' and ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

'' television series and the 2000 film ''

The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It was the top-grossing ...

''. She has written two books and had a column in ''

New Idea ''New Idea'' is a long-running Australian weekly magazine aimed at women that is published by Are Media. History The magazine was first published in 1902 by Fitchett Bros. The founder was Thomas Shaw Fitchett. It was subtitled A Women's Home Jou ...

'' magazine.

Biography

Early life

Mann, born in Melbourne and trained at a local Melbourne dancing school as a child until about 19 or 20, and then went to a professional dance school and trained under Betty Pounder, a choreographer for J.C. Williamson Theatre ltd. and obtained an arts degree in Law at University and taught at a secondary school

Television acting career

In her first high-profile role, Mann appeared in the

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 ...

soap opera, ''

'' s Doreen Burns, for which she was an original cast member during the first four seasons (1979–1982). Mann resigned from the role in March 1982 to pursue other projects and her final episode (episode 304) was broadcast in August 1982. She did however make guest appearances in 1983 and 1984. She has appeared in ''

'', ''

MDA MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...

'' and ''

''. In 1988, Mann portrayed the role of "Edith Fraser" in the American television movie '' Outback Bound'', which also starred American actors

Donna Mills Donna Mills (born Donna Jean Miller on December 11, 1940) is an American actress. She began her television career in 1966 with a recurring role on ''The Secret Storm'', and in the same year appeared on Broadway in the Woody Allen comedy '' Don ...

and John Schneider. From late 1995, Mann briefly took over the role of

Cheryl Stark Cheryl Stark is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera '' Neighbours'', played by Caroline Gillmer. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 July 1993. Colette Mann took over the role for eight we ...

in the soap opera ''

'' for eight weeks when

Caroline Gillmer Caroline Gillmer (born 1955) is an Australian actress, best known for her roles in various television series, such as ''Prisoner'' as Helen Smart and ''Neighbours'' as Cheryl Stark. During her time off sick from ''Neighbours'', Gillmer was t ...

was taken ill. From February 2012, Mann joined the cast of ''Neighbours'' again as regular character

Sheila Canning Sheila Canning is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours'', played by Colette Mann. The character was teased by the show's executive producer Richard Jasek in January 2012. The following month Mann's casting was ann ...

Presenter

Mann has also appeared as a presenter on the TV shows ''

The Don Lane Show ''The Don Lane Show'' was an Australian television talk show which aired twice a week on the Nine Network from 1975 to 1983. The show was created by Don Lane who co-hosted it with Bert Newton. Channel Nine was reluctant to cast Bert Newton, ...

'', ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

'', ''

What's Cooking What's Cooking? may refer to: * ''What's Cooking?'' (film), a 2000 British/American comedy-drama film * ''What's Cooking?'' (British TV series), a British lifestyle show * ''What's Cooking?'' (Australian TV series), an Australian cooking televisi ...

'', '' Good Morning Australia'' and '' The Circle''. She has been a fill-in presenter for

Glenn Ridge Glenn Daryl Ridge (born 21 November 1955 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian television and radio presenter, and the owner and managing director of the Q Media Group, a production company making television specials and documentaries. ...

on talk back radio

MTR 1377 Melbourne Talk Radio (callsign 3MP) was a radio station in Melbourne that commenced broadcasting on 19 April 2010 until its closure on 2 March 2012. It replaced, and was later succeeded by, 3MP, which used the 1377 kHz frequency. The stat ...

. She has also appeared on Jeremy Vine Channel 5 in July 2019. Mann was part of a three-woman troupe in the 1980s called ''The Mini Busettes'' with fellow ''Prisoner'' actresses

Jane Clifton Jane Clifton (born 10 April 1949) is a Gibraltar-born Australian actress, singer, writer and voice artist. She is best known for her role in TV serial ''Prisoner'' as tough prison bookie Margo Gaffney. As a singer, she had a stint with Jo Jo ...

and

Betty Bobbitt Betty Ann Bobbitt (February 7, 1939 – November 30, 2020) was an American actress, director, singer, and playwright based in Australia, with a career that spanned over 60 years, encompassing theatre, television, and film. Bobbitt was best ...

. They performed for three seasons at Melbourne's Le Joke comedy venue and at many Sydney league clubs.

Theatre

Mann played the role of Buttercup in Opera Australia's production of ''

HMS Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

'' by

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

in 2005. Mann also appeared on stage as Shirley, the battleaxe owner of Broken Hill pub, in ''

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical ''Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' is a jukebox musical with book by Australian film director-writer Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, using well-known pop songs as its score. Adapted from Elliott's 1994 film ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Quee ...

'' in 2010.

Author

She has also written two books, ''It's A Mann's World'' (1990) and ''Give Me A Break'' (2002) and also writes for magazine ''

'' as a feature, talking about her family and sons.

Filmography

FILM TELEVISION

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Colette Australian film actresses Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses Australian television presenters Living people Actresses from Melbourne 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses Australian women television presenters 1950 births