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I gave Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Jason Donovan and more their big breaks on Neighbours - this is what I saw in each of them
Legendary casting director Jan Russ talks to Radio Times's Michael Adams.
Fremantle Media
- Michael Adams
Published: Thursday, 30 July 2026 at 7:00 am
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It's the summer of 1985, and a warm breeze is drifting in through the window of Neighbours casting director Jan Russ's office in Richmond, Melbourne.
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She's studying a wall of headshots – each a potential new face to join a rebooted continuation of the Australian soap, which had ended on original broadcaster Seven Network after just eight months on air. This version would be bolder, brighter – and within months, sold to the UK, where it would garner millions of new viewers.
It continues to air on British screens to this day, with thanks to a new deal signed by UKTV.
This worldwide projection would allow countless unknowns to become household names. But first, they had to showcase their talents to Russ in the hope of becoming Ramsay Street's newest neighbour.
Part of her brief included finding an actress that could play Charlene Mitchell, the feisty, runaway daughter of matriarch Madge.
She'd initially be contracted for just one week's worth of episodes.
Jan Russ worked on Neighbours between 1984 and 2009. Jan Russ
In walked 17-year-old Kylie Minogue, pinning her hopes on securing the role. If unsuccessful, she was prepared to give up the acting game for good.
"She was such a shy little thing. I thought she was like a little mouse – only tiny," Russ recalls to Radio Times.
"I looked at the monitor and I went, 'Oh my God, she's come alive. She's coming through that screen. That's quite phenomenal.'
"I thought she really had something and was going to be ideal. She was like a little rosebud, that has now blossomed into this most magnificent rose."
Kylie Minogue was brought in for one week's worth of episodes. She'd appear in a further 358. Brendan Monks/Daily Mirror/Getty Images
In this moment, Russ unwittingly set the precedent for what producers Grundy Television wanted from their cast moving forward.
"They came to me at one stage and said, 'We want you to find another Kylie.' I replied, 'No, sorry, it's not going to happen. I can find someone else, but you'll never find another Kylie.'"
With thanks to Russ seeing this early potential, Charlene long outlasted her initial contract and would depart 362 episodes later. Songstress Minogue has now sold over 80 million records across the globe, achieved 9 UK No. 1 singles, and won 2 Grammy Awards.
Jason Donovan (left) originally auditioned in 1984, but joined the cast over a year later. rendan Monks/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
At the same time, she cast amateur bodybuilder and Junior Mr Victoria title-holder Guy Pearce in his first televisual role as Charlene's schoolmate Mike Young, and Jason Donovan as her love interest Scott Robinson. The pair would go on to achieve stardom in Hollywood, musical theatre and pop music.
But Donovan wasn't the first actor to play Scott. During the initial run, the part was fulfilled by Darius Perkins, though Donovan had actually auditioned for Russ over a year earlier – on that occasion to play Danny Ramsay.
"He came after school in his uniform. You know, smelly boys after school, all that sort of thing," she laughs.
Russ gave Guy Pearce his first big break. He'd later break into Hollywood. Tim Roney/Getty Images
"He did a great job, and of course he has the family background [dad Terence, who passed away this month aged 90, was also in the profession]. He was relaxed in front of the camera, and so I offered him the the job and he was thrilled about it.
"But Terry said, 'Look, I think you've got to finish your HSC [Higher School Certificate]. That's important.' Jason rang me and I agreed.
"I promised him that something else would come up at a later date. And of course, it did. He was the first one I rang. That was the beginning for Jason."
Russ requested Alan Dale be released from a contract on another soap opera. Brendan Monks/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Alan Dale, long before his appearances in The OC and Lost, was brought in to play Robinson patriarch Jim. He'd already been cast in now long-forgotten Grundy soap opera Possession, though was allowed to exit his contract early upon Russ's request.
"We thought we'd have a drinks night to see them all [the original company] get together and how they work. The producer John Holmes and I were sitting there watching, and at one stage, we both turned to each other and realised we'd made a mistake with the person we cast as Jim. We felt he didn't seem to have a connection with everybody.
"We thought about Alan, and rang creator Reg Watson. There was a bit of to and fro, and eventually he said we could have him."
Stefan Dennis would appear in all four decades of the serial. Quentin Jones/Fairfax Media/Getty Images
Stefan Dennis was brought in as Jim's eldest son Paul. He'd appear in Neighbours for best part of 40 years, until the final episode aired in December last year. To use a phrase populated by another Aussie superstar, the late Olivia Newton-John, a strange twist of fate meant that Dennis and Russ had actually, unknowingly, been in the same room together some 17 years earlier.
Dennis's mother had taken him to see a touring production of Oliver! at Her Majesty's Theatre in Brisbane, of which Russ was part of the cast. One of the estimated 250,000 Australians impacted by forced adoption between the 1950s and '70s, Russ had turned to acting as an escape from her inner turmoil.
From there she worked extensively in theatre, travelled, worked in television in New Zealand, before returning to home turf to work on Prisoner: Cell Block H and later Neighbours.
(L-R) Russ, alongside Radio Times soaps editor Michael Adams and Neighbours star Anne Charleston. Michael Adams
This coincidence was only realised last week, after Dennis flicked through the pages of Russ's new autobiography, What Will The Neighbours Think?.
The book has been penned alongside close friend Robyn Bishop, and documents everything from her terrifying solo journey to Sydney to give birth to her illegitimate daughter – and the heartbreaking search that followed, her son Sam Hammington's surprising fame in South Korea, and her brutal dismissal from Neighbours in 2009 after a change in leadership.
One of the last people she cast for the serial drama was Margot Robbie, who played Erinsborough High student Donna Freedman for three years.
Russ notes that Margot Robbie had an "extraordinary presence". Fremantle Media
"Well, that was interesting," Russ reflects. "Her agent rang me a few times, and I said, 'Oh, she's down to do something called Elephant Princess. She’s unavailable.'
"She started ringing me herself, and one particular day she was finally put through. I said, 'Well, how old are you? I'm looking for a 17-year-old at the moment. Come in.' I can remember sitting in my office and looking up, seeing this young girl walking towards me, and saying, 'Oh my God.'"
Russ continues: "Her presence even then just was extraordinary. Not a lot of people have presence. She was another intelligent young woman who was focused and knew exactly what she wanted.
"Now she's gone on to phenomenal success."
Russ described a maternal feelings towards those she cast. Kristian Dowling/Getty Images
From her lead roles in The Wolf of Wall Street and Barbie, very few people are unaware of Robbie's accomplishments. And, like Minogue, Donovan, Pearce, Dale, Dennis, singers Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem, the Hemsworth brothers and Russell Crowe, she has Jan Russ to thank.
"I'm just blown away by it all," she laughs.
"I just think it's fantastic that I gave them a little opportunity, they've grasped it with both hands and run with it – that's what I would have done myself.
"I was a bit like a mother hen with them, and I know a few of them sort of thought of me as their other mum."
What Will The Neighbours Think? by Jan Russ and Robyn Bishop is available now. Classic episodes of Neighbours air weekdays at 2pm on U&Drama, or can be streamed anytime on U and Channel 4 streaming.
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Authors
Michael AdamsSoaps Editor
Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
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