Paul Joseph MercurioAM (born 31 March 1963) is an Australian actor, choreographer, dancer, TV presenter and politician. Mercurio is best known for his lead role in the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom and his role as a judge on TV series Dancing with the Stars.
Mercurio was born in Swan Hill, Victoria in March 1963, his father was American character actor and boxer Gus Mercurio. Paul began ballet at nine. When his parents separated in 1969, he moved to Perth, Western Australia with his mother, where he grew up in housing commissions and attended John Curtin Senior High School, now known as John Curtin College of the Arts[2] where there is a theatre named after him.[3] He credits his theatre arts teacher for inspiring him to follow his dream.[4] Mercurio focused on acting during his high school years but after he graduated, he caught the Indian Pacific train from Perth back to Melbourne[5] where he studied at the Australian Ballet School.[6]
By the age of 19 in 1982, he was Principal Dancer with the Sydney Dance Company—a position he held for ten years.[7] During this time, he was commissioned to choreograph six works performed by the company.
Stage and screen career
Feature films
Mercurio made his film debut in Baz Luhrmann's breakout film Strictly Ballroom, receiving an Australian Film Institute Award nomination in 1993.[8] Mercurio was a choreographer on the film. Flamenco dancer Antonio Vargas, the actor who played Fran's father, also choreographed scenes in the film.[9]
In 2019, Mercurio appeared in a supporting role as Sal in Promised (2019), a film directed and co-produced by Nick Conidi, and starring Tina Arena, Antoniette Iesue and Daniel Berini.[10] The film was released in Australia on 24 October 2019.[11]
Baz Luhrmann expressed some interest in using Mercurio in Moulin Rouge to Mercurio's agent, but after a series of failed attempts to speak to Luhrmann personally, Mercurio found out that there was no role for him in the movie via the production company.[12] He has not appeared in any other Luhrmann films and only appears briefly in Disc 4 of Red Curtain Trilogy as a pixelated image.
Mercurio was a judge on the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars until August 2008, when he was dropped from the judging panel because he was deemed "too nice" for television.[14] He was also a judge on the New Zealand version.[15] From 2008 to 2010 he hosted a series called Mercurio's Menu where he travelled Australia, cooking in different locations.
Dance and choreography
From 1982 until 1992 Mercurio toured with Sydney Dance Company both nationally and internationally, performing as a principal dancer and choreographing. After leaving the Sydney Dance Company, Mercurio founded the Australian Choreographic Ensemble in 1992, where he was the Director, Principal Dancer and Principal Choreographer until 1998.[16]
Mercurio began brewing his own beer in 1988. He then hosted three cooking television series – Tasmania's Food Trail (from 2006, for two seasons), Mercurio's Menu (from 2008 to 2010. for three seasons) and New Zealand on a Plate (2011). Following this, he appeared on the cooking segments of numerous live daytime TV shows, including a featured chef spot on Channel Nine's The Morning Show in 2013.[19]
In 2009 Mercurio released a cook book called Mercurio's Menu, based on his tv series, as well as “Cooking with Beer”, which were both best-sellers. In 2015, he released a third cook book “Kitchen Mojo”.[20]
In 2005 Mercurio released his own beer in Victoria, and since then has held beer dinners and beer cooking demos and been a judge for international beer competitions. In 2016 he brewed Australia's first Aphrodisiac Beer "Ye Ole Horney Ale", together with BentSpoke Brewery. He then opened his own beer café in 2014, produced a range of meat rubs and condiments and formed his own company "Beerlicious". He has since cooked in restaurants and at markets and festivals.[21]
Mercurio has been married to his wife Andrea (who was a ballerina with The Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company) since 1987, and together they have three children: Emily, Elise and Erin. The oldest is a stage manager, the middle is a musical theatre actor and writer, and the youngest is a vet nurse and performs as a pop singer.[23]
He appeared on the Australian version of the television show Who Do You Think You Are? in 2012 in which he discovered that his grandfather was a member of the Milwaukee division of Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian mafia) in the 1950s.[24] Mercurio has reflected on this legacy in subsequent interviews and spoken about the effect it has had on his father, and his relationship with his father.[25]
In 2000, Mercurio's brother Michael took his own life in his early 30s.[26]
In December 2022, Mercurio was hospitalised with complications from atrial fibrillation following his election win.[27]
