Dean grew up in the Yarra Valley in Victoria. During his final year of high school he resuscitated a woman at his local swimming pool. This event would later become the subject of Dean’s first dramatic work. After performing in numerous productions in Melbourne’s independent theatre scene Dean auditioned for NIDA. He was accepted with a scholarship.
Career 2002 - 2006
After graduation, Dean and NIDA classmate Toby Schmitz worked together on Howard Korder’s Boys Life. The production was selected to open the Sydney Fringe Festival. The pair appeared together soon after in Schmitz’s first play, Dream a Little Dream at Belvoir St Theatre. In 2002, Dean played Patch in the TV series Always Greener, which was nominated for an International Emmy Award. That same year, he received an AFI Awards award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tony Ayres’ film Walking on Water. In 2004, Dean was nominated for the same award for his role in Cate Shortland’s Somersault. He also played Jothee in Brian Henson’s science fiction film . Dean played alongside Heath Ledger in Candy - Neil Armfield’s adaptation of Luke Davies’ novel by. Armfield would later direct Dean in the plays Peribanez and Tommy Murphy’s Gwen in Purgatory at Belvoir St Theatre and later The Secret River at the Sydney Theatre Company.
Career 2007 - Present
In 2008 Dean played a Rugby League star in Matt Nable’s Australian film, The Final Winter, which told the story of how big business entered the NRL during the 1980s. That same year, Dean played Fred Klein in Rain Shadow - a desperate and suicidal farmer whose livelihood is threatened by drought. Dean then played a psychotic serial killer addicted to Crystal Methamphetamine on East West 101. In 2008, he was cast as a psychotic criminal in TV drama ‘Rush’, and bikie and drug land murderer Sidney Martin in the first of the Underbelly. Dean went on to play Sergeant Mick Scanlon in Channel Seven’s period drama Wild Boys and Kraut in Channel Ten’s "Bikie Wars". He also appeared in the AFI winning series Puberty Blues. More recently, Dean has spent more time on stage, starring in Belvoir St Theatre’s production of "Gwen in Purgatory", written by Tommy Murphy, and directed by Neil Armfield. In 2013, he starred as William Thornhill in the Sydney Theatre Company’s landmark adaptation of Kate Grenville’s book, The Secret River. Dean plays Tyson Black in the crime-thriller film Locusts.
