Peter Cousens

AM
Cousens in 2018
Born (1955-11-02) 2 November 1955
Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActor
Years active1978–present
Websitepetercousens.com

Peter Cousens AM (born 2 November 1955) is an Australian actor and singer born in Tamworth, New South Wales. He is the artistic director of the Talent Development Project.[1] He attended The Armidale School in Armidale from 1969 to 1973[2] and then Gordonstoun School, Scotland. He then spent a year reading Arts at St Paul's College, University of Sydney, before studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 1978. Cousens was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queens Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to the performing arts and the community.

Career

Cousens is currently the artistic director of the Talent Development Project. He has worked in television, both as an actor and presenter. In the 1980s he guest starred in a number of major Australian television productions, including The Timeless Land, Earth Watch, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors, Sons and Daughters and The Restless Years. He then went on to take leading roles in Under Capricorn and Return to Eden.

Cousens is also known for his work in musical theatre. Major roles include The Phantom in London's West End production of The Phantom of the Opera; he also portrayed Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Tony in West Side Story, Bobby in Company, Nanki Poo in The Mikado, Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Chris in Miss Saigon in the Australian productions. Cousens appeared in the 2015 television opera The Divorce. He has received a number of Variety Club of Australia awards for his work.

Cousens has been featured on a number of cast albums, including as Chris on the International Symphonic Recording of Miss Saigon, and as Charles Makin on the original cast album for Australian musical The Hatpin.

In September 2006 he launched Kookaburra: The National Musical Theatre Company, a non-profit theatre company based in Australia, dedicated to musical theatre. The company closed in 2009.

In 2012–13, Cousens produced and directed Freedom, starring Cuba Gooding Jr, William Sadler and Sharon Leal.

Discography

Charting albums

List of albums, with Australian chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart
positions
AUS
[3]
Corner of the Sky
  • Released: April 1994
  • Format: CD, Cassette
  • Label: Akaba Records (AKABA-2)
 32
From a Distance
  • Released: April 1996
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Polydor (531 622-2)
 39
Are We Nearly There Yet?
(with Noni Hazlehurst)
  • Released: 1997
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Medical Benefits Fund of Australia Limited (MBF001)
 –
Are We There Already?
(with Noni Hazlehurst)
  • Released: 1997
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Medical Benefits Fund of Australia Limited (MBF002)
 –
A Life on Earth
  • Released: 2014
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Peter Cousens
 –
Love Changes Everything
  • Released: October 2014
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Peter Cousens
 –
Evening Star
(with Jane Rutter)
  • Released: December 2019
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Jane Rutter
 –

References

  1. ↑ Management Team, Talent Development Project
  2. ↑ "Old Boys' Jottings – Here and There" (PDF). Binghi. No. 138. The Armidale School. April–June 2007. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 67.
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