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90s soap heartthrob unrecognisable in new Disney+ series 30 years after breakout role
The Aussie hunk also previously fronted hit NBC drama Chicago Fire
90s SOAP heartthrob Jesse Spencer is worlds away from his Neighbours character Billy Kennedy as he stars in a new Aussie series 30 years after his breakout role.
Jesse, 45, is unrecognisable in the new Hulu period drama Last Days of the Space Age which is now available to stream on Disney+.
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This exciting new role and return to Australia comes exactly 30 years after Jesse first appeared on the Melbourne based soap as Billy Kennedy.
He appeared as Billy, the son of Neighbours legends Susan (Jackie Woodburne) and Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher), from 1994 to 2000 and also made a one-off return in 2005.
But in the trailer for Last Days of the Space Age Jessie, who is playing a parent and sporting a heft beard, looks worlds away from his teen heartthrob persona.
The Melbourne-born actor previously spoke to about his reasons for joining the Disney series.
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“It was nice to be able to just work for a few months on my first Aussie project in over 20 years. I was so excited to do it,” he gushed.
As the youngest member of the Kennedy family, Billy was involved in many coming of age and relationship storylines, including his notable relationship with Melissa Drenth (Aimee Robertson) before eventually growing up and moving away from the street.
After five years on the soap, Jesse decided to call it quits, citing repetitive and “boring” storylines as being his main reason for leaving, although he did later acknowledge that Neighbours had been a great launch pad for his career.
After leaving Ramsay Street, Jess relocated to the States and landed a huge international role on the medical drama House as Dr Robert Chase, starring alongside Hugh Laurie, from 2004 to 2012.
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Jesse then led the action drama Chicago Fire as Captain Matthew Casey until 2020, and has since made guest appearances on the show.
Off screen in 2020, he married his long-time girlfriend, research scientist Kali Woodruff, in a private ceremony in Florida.
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Jesse is now starring in Last Days of the Space Age, his biggest role since Chicago Fire and his first back in Australia in over 20 years.
Explaining his journey to the series, Jesse said: “I left Chicago Fire, and then I started a family, and I was doing that for a while, then Last Days of the Space Age came up,.”
He admitted that returning to Australia for work did come with its challenges.
He said: “I had to work on my dialect a bit, because being in front of the camera for 10 years doing American [accents], it was hard to switch that off.”
Neighbours stars who made it big
The long-running Aussie soap has launched the careers of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Here are some of the Neighbours alums who went on to make it big after starring on the soap...
Kylie Minogue
- Before she hit the big time with her music career, Kylie shot to fame playing Charlene Mitchell on Neighbours. Shortly after her arrival, Kylie began an on and off-screen romance with co-star Jason Donovan, who played Scott Robinson, which gained the couple an army of adoring fans.
Jason Donovan
- After his stint as Scott, singer and actor Jason became an international popstar and had his pick acting of roles. He moved to the U.K., married, had children and has since starred in over a dozen West End show, most notably Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.
Alan Dale
- New Zealand born actor Alan was one of Neighbours 12 original cast members having made his debut as Jim Robinson on the soap's first episode on 18 March 1985. As the head of the Robinson clan, widower Jim lived at Number 26 Ramsay Street with his children Paul, Julie, Scott and Lucy, and was a real anchor in the community. He stayed with the show for eight years, before his character was killed off in dramatic scenes aired in 1993 but which still reverberate through the soap to this day.
Margot Robbie
- Way before she was Barbie or Harley Quinn, Margot was best known as Ramsay Street resident Donna Freedman. Her notable storylines included her marriage to Ringo Brown and becoming a young widow following his tragic death. After three years she bid farewell to the soap and Australia with a plan to make a name for herself in Hollywood which she did when she bagged the role of Naomi Lapaglia opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Jesse Spencer
- Jesse rocked up on Ramsay street in 1994 with the rest of the Kennedy clan. He stayed for five years, literally growing up in front of the camera, but in 2000 felt it was time to spread his wings and head for Hollywood. It was certainly a smart move as he went on to bag leading roles in popular shows like House and Chicago Fire.
Russell Crowe
- New Zealand-native Russell had a brief arc on Neighbours, appearing in four episodes of the soap 1987 as Kenny Larkin, the former cellmate of Street resident Henry Ramsay. The role obviously got him noticed though because he quickly went on to become a fully-fledged Hollywood A-lister, winning the Best Actor Oscar for his standout performance as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator.
“I was so used to going [to that accent]. It’s weird how hard it is to let it go.”
What is the Last Days of the Space Age about?
The eight-part drama Last Days of the Space Age focuses on three families in Perth, Western Australia in 1979 as the American space station Skylab crash-lands on earth just outside the city, as the city is gearing up to host the Miss Universe 1979 pageant.
All 8 episodes of the Hulu drama premiered in Disney+ in the U.K. on October 1.
Created and written by David Chidlow, Last Days of Space Age marks “the end of an era, and everything is about to change,” according to the official synopsis.
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“History is at a turning point, with a global beauty pageant creating a media frenzy. But that’s nothing compared to the drama three seemingly ordinary families are enduring — in a town which will never be the same,” it reads.
While also gearing up to host the Miss Universe pageant, the city starts to fall apart, beginning with a blackout brought about by the striking union workers of the power industry. Matters get even worse when the American space station Skylab crash-lands just outside a close-knit coastal community.
The trailer quickly introduces us to these central families, including Jesse’s character Tony Bissett and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), whose family is going through a rough patch as Tony faces mounting financial pressures.
Olympus has Fallen star Radha previously played Catherine O’Brien on Neighbours before also setting off for a career in the U.S.
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The duo are joined by a powerhouse ensemble of local and international talent, including Deborah Mailman (Total Control), Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), Linh-Dan Pham (Blue Bayou), Thomas Weatherall (Heartbreak High), George Mason (The Power of the Dog), Vico Thai (Total Control), Ines English (Dead Lucky), Jacek Koman (Jack Irish) and more.
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All episodes of Last Days of the Space Age are available to stream on Disney+.
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