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Actor, Cameo & Crew Profiles > Actor Profiles > Jay Bunyan

Jay Bunyan was born in Auckland, New Zealand on 29th August 1981. Having been inspired at kindergarten and starred in a spaghetti advert, Jay eventually began acting seriously at the age of eight, starring in school performances before eventually working his way into musical theatre, first as part of the ensemble in The Playhouse Theatre’s production of Oliver and then as Prince Chululongkorn in The King and I.

At the age of 16, Jay started working professionally in theatre, playing Augustus Gloop in a stage production of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory before becoming the male lead in ARTCO’s production of Anthony and Cleopatra, as well as entertaining children at a local supermarket on the weekends by being a clown. From there, Jay won his first television role, playing a cadet in an episode of Young Hercules, before making appearances in well-known shows, Xena: Warrior Princess and The Tribe.

It was in 2002 though that Jay would win the Neighbours role for which he is most well-known having impressed casting director, Jan Russ in an open audition held in New Zealand. Turning down a role in Power Rangers: Ninja Storm and a role in a Canadian action film, Jay made his debut as Jack, at the time the only son of Joe & Lyn Scully that November, taking over from Paul Pantano who had originally played the character during a guest stint. Jay had always made it clear that he intended to stay only the length of his contract and so, following the success of his one man show, The Packer during its tour of Australia & New Zealand in 2003 and at the Edinburgh Festival the following year, January 2005 saw Jay make his last appearance as Jack, reuniting with on/off love interest, Nina Tucker in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles was also where Jay was headed, auditioning for roles under his new surname of Ryan, a name from his mother’s family. Having had little luck, Jay returned back to Australia where in 2006 he joined fellow ex-Neighbour, Kristian Schmid in the Nine Network’s new series, Sea Patrol in which he plays Billy ‘Spider’ Webb. A further two seasons are currently planned, with the second airing sometime in 2008.

Profile by Callum

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