Kevin Copeland(I)

Kevin Copeland was born in Columbus,Ohio. He is the youngest of two raised by his mother who worked for a government defense agency liaising with the NSA, CIA, and FBI. Due to the secrecy involved Kevin still doesn't know fully what her career with the agency entailed. Growing up he didn't have a father figure in his life to help steer him in a direction conducive to finding what his calling in life would be. At a young age Copeland had a vivid imagination and often created imaginary friends and worlds mentally and physically to help fill the void of not having a male figure in the house to confide in. After bouts of truancy from school and periods restlessness his passion for film at a young age came after auditioning for a dance musical adaptation of 'Grease' one summer at a make-shift recreational center where he won the part of 'Danny'. The dance musical was such a success they were asked to recreate the musical at a local television station in Columbus which ignited his passion for acting. After working a variety of jobs to come up with the money to pursue his dream in Hollywood with $250 in his pocket he spent 2 and half days traveling by Greyhound bus across the United States having a misguided inclination of what LA was like through watching the television series 'Baywatch'. As he's stated "God was definitely looking over me!" Shortly after arriving in LA his money quickly ran out and he found himself homeless, stayed in a halfway house for one night where he met a pimp who was in transit. Slept on the floor of the house with some 40 odd other people. The next day after traveling some distance during an uncharacteristically hot LA summer somewhere on Melrose Ave to look for a pay phone (mobiles were not in fashion around time) with 25 cents left to his name (literally) he ventured into a bowling alley looking to ask the attendant at the service desk if he could use their phone with the idea of calling back to his hometown hoping one his best friends he grew up with could send him some money just to get by until he could figure out what to do next. He states "Fate or divine intervention came into it" as the exact response from the attendant was "We don't have a pay phone!" Til this day he truly believes it was divine intervention. By this time the situation was quite unsettling so he went to find a Western Union urgently but not knowing LA, and no money reality was far from what 'Baywatch' was offering back home. Venturing out to the parking lot Copeland was unaware that what was about to happen next would alter the course of his life forever. Copeland saw a man just sitting in the car fumbling through a newspaper looking at real estate in one hand and flipping through a UBD (street directory) with the other. He asked the man if he could help him find a Western Union. Little did either of them know they would end up being roommates for the next 4 years! Copeland's roommate happened to be a Clinical Psychologist working for the state of California at the time teaching some of the most violent juveniles in the state, English. So with some persuasion Copeland returned to the academic environment by attending 3 different community colleges sometimes simultaneously. He studied acting at LA City College and applied for a summer scholarship at the prestigious UCLA to attend a summer course related to acting. In surprised disbelief Copeland won his scholarship to UCLA and between attending both colleges completely immersed himself into his craft. He stated that 90 percent of his dreams at night consisted of other actors. The thespian was consumed by his craft and the business side of the Industry but the spell was somewhat broken if not temporarily upon meeting his first wife who worked for the Australian Airlines Qantas as a flight attendant. They were married soon after and decided it would be more feasible to get into the back door of Hollywood at the time so they resided in Sydney, Australia where she originated. This would also be where Copeland was able to apply his talents in some of the most memorable films to come out of Australia.

The first involved a full frontal nude scene as a 'Butch the sailor' in the Paul Hogan directed 'Muriels Wedding'(1994) where he acted alongside Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths whom he collaborated with again in Stephen Elliott's 'Welcome to Woop Woop'(1997) playing the baddie 'Pluto'. The film flopped miserably at the box office but Copeland pushed forward doing varied television movie roles including in 2000 with what he calls 'being blessed with opportunity' in such a small industry in Australia he won the role of 'Sonaraman Bobby Swain' in director Russell Mulcahy's Golden Globe Nominated 1959 remake of 'On The Beach'(2000) with Bryan Brown, Rachel Ward and Armand Assante. It wasn't until several years later that Copeland won the part to play the arc angel 'Ahriman' in extremely talented Shane Abbess's debut film 'Gabriel'(2007) with the late Andy Whitfield who died in Sept 2011 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who is greatly missed. The film which had a budget of $250,000 and has gone on to make an undisclosed amount over 20-30 times its original budget. 'Gabriel' has ended up being a cult classic among fans all over the world. In 2014 Copeland was gracious in accepting the role of 'Seet Johanson' collaborating once again with who's become one of his closest friend director Shane Abbess in the soon to be theatrical release in 2015 of 'INFINI'(2014). Its Copeland's most challenging role to date. He admits to having more tension with several of the actors off screen than on but says "what family doesn't argue as that's what came out of 'INFINI' " "Actors fighting for what they believe in and to me that's not a bad thing!" Copeland currently lives (2017) in Sydney, Australia.