Dean O'Gorman began acting as a boy after he was discovered in a school production, and he appeared in the made-for-TV movies Raider of the South Seas and The Rogue Stallion. Commercials and acting roles continued to come his way while he was in high school, and he eventually gave up the idea of entering art school to pursue acting full time.

He played several roles for Pacific Renaissance Pictures in the late 1990s, including Iloran and Ruun in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Orion and Wiglaf in Xena: Warrior Princess. He gained a world-wide following as Young Iolaus, a role he played in three episodes of H:TLJ, in the made-for-TV movie Young Hercules, and in the 50-episode series Young Hercules in 1998-1999.

Dean has appeared regularly on New Zealand television, including the soap opera Shortland Street, adventure series The Legend of William Tell, and police drama Duggan. His made-for-TV movies and miniseries include The Chosen, Money for Jam, and Lawless III: Beyond Justice. The made-for-TV movies Bonjour, Timothy, Return to Treasure Island, Doomrunners, and Fearless showed in wider markets, including the US.

Dean also starred in the short films Little Samurai and Siren. He has performed live with Theatresports in Auckland and appeared in Summer Shakespeare's production of The Winter's Tale.

Dean has starred in feature films that have been popular at film festivals around the world. In 1998, he starred in the drama When Love Comes, a film selected for the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The post-modern thriller Snakeskin (2001) premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival market, and premiered in New Zealand at the New Zealand Film Festival. Toy Love, Kiwi director Harry Sinclair's sexy screwball comedy with a contemporary twist had its world premiere at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival market and screened at film festivals around the world before a successful commercial run in New Zealand cinemas.

Dean starred as Luke Morgan in seasons 4 and 5 of the hit Australian TV series McLeod's Daughters. The series is syndicated around the world on the Hallmark Channel and other local cable channels. While he was living in Australia he also starred in a production of Stephen Belber's play Tape at Sydney's Tap Gallery in March, 2003 and appeared in the Aussie TV series All Saints and MDA (Medical Defence Australia) and in the Aussie-made SciFi Network series Farscape.

Working in Los Angeles, Dean made a guest appearance in the 2007 premiere episode of the hit American TV series Moonlight and starred as the voice of Tyrannicus Tiger in the innovative animated series Animalia. Both shows are in world-wide syndication. Dean also worked in the American indie horror film The Legend of Bloody Mary.

Although he lived abroad for several years, Dean remains in demand in his native New Zealand. In 2004, he starred in the award-winning Kiwi sitcom Serial Killers. During 2009, he guest starred in two episodes of NZ TV2's hit series Go Girls and appeared in Legend of the Seeker for Pacific Renaissance Pictures.

On the New Zealand stage, he has starred in the world premiere of Michael Galvin's play The Ocean Star for the Auckland Theatre Company in late 2006 and in Nina Raine's play Rabbit at the Silo Theatre in Auckland in early 2008. Dean was part of a rotating cast of actors in a new production of Jeff Goode's play The Eight: Reindeer Monologues at The Basement in Auckland in December, 2008. He appeared as Lorenzo in Circa Theatre's production of Federico Garcia-Lorca's play Blood Wedding in Wellington earlier this year and is currently starring in Ruben Guthrie for Auckland's Silo Theatre.

Dean was nominated for two acting awards in 2005: New Zealand Screen Award Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Andrew in the hit Kiwi comedy Serial Killers and Logie Award Favorite New Male Talent on Australian TV for his performance as Luke Morgan in McLeod's Daughters.

He also was nominated for Best Actor for Mark in When Love Comes at the Nokia New Zealand 1999 Film Awards and for Timothy in Bonjour, Timothy at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy and at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards.

McLeod's Daughters was named Favorite Drama Series of 2004 at the Australian Logie Awards. The police series Duggan in which Dean guest-starred was named Best Drama Series of 1999 at the NZ Film and TV Awards. He also appeared in All Saints and MDA: Medical Defence Australia which have both won Best TV Drama Series Awards in Australia.

Toy Love won the Audience Award at the 2003 Fantasporto Film Festival. Snakeskin was named Best Film of 2001 and also received five other awards at the New Zealand Film Awards. Little Samurai was named Best Short Film of 1999 at the NZ Film and TV Awards.

When he is not acting, Dean paints and draws with oils and acrylics, and is currently showing some of his artwork on the Internet. His paintings are in private and corporate collections world wide. Dean is also a photographer and a writer and enjoys extreme sports, particularly snowboarding. He earned a black belt in karate when still a boy and took fencing lessons to prepare for his role in Young Hercules. He can also walk on his hands. On the quieter side, Dean told fans at Panathenaea 2000 how he had once created an Oriental-style garden.

He has traveled widely, both to work and for pleasure. Return to Treasure Island was partly filmed in Fiji. The Rogue Stallion, Doomrunners, and the TV series Big Sky, All Saints, and Farscape were made in Australia. Dean was a featured guest at Xena-Hercules Conventions in Santa Monica, California in 1999 and London, England in 2000. He attended the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy in 1996 to promote Bonjour, Timothy and the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 with When Love Comes. He not only attended the 2002 Cannes Film Festival premiere of Toy Love, but also film festivals in Gijon, Spain and Turin, Italy to promote the film. He's vacationed in the British Isles, Greece, Los Angeles, Paris, and Cuba.

"Well, well, well.

"It seems of late that typing even a quick note has become problematic, but I assure you it's nothing personal - just a bout of complete self indulgence on my behalf.

"One thing I will say is that I am now officially sick of small French dogs since visiting the Cannes Film Festival to promote Toy Love. They were everywhere, like small angry q-tips, being lead by their plastic-faced Gucci wearing owners, and, annoyingly enough, I couldn't even escape them in the bars. Hoping the smell of cigarettes and whisky would keep them at bay, I ventured into many darkly lit interiors hoping to enjoy canine free solitude. It was not so. In fact the little bastards would be sitting in my seat when I returned from the bathroom. I was tempted to grab them, place them in a martini glass and sell it to the local French aristocracy under the guise of a cocktail onion. The waiter didn't share my view

"Aside from the dog fiasco, Cannes rocked. Harry (director), Juliette [producer], and Kate (co-star), and I drank ourselves silly and ate far too many salami and cheese rolls - which didn't go to my waist as feared but straight to my head where it sat like foggy haze and made me babble incoherently. I got sunburnt, tried not to stare at the complete lack of clothes on the beach, got solicited for "cleaning duties" by a rich randy looking lady (with a dog!), and, finally and most triumphantly Toy Love was picked up a US distributor.

"so ...

"My apologies for such a brief reply, but as I have said things have been fairly crazy lately.

"However, I do find it hard to keep my mouth shut so I assure you there will be further stories ...

"Until next time

"Cheers

"(signed) Dean

"(and by the way I do like dogs ... most of them.)"