David Easter

{{Infobox person

| name = David Easter

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birthname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1959|11|11}}

| birth_place = Eastleigh, Hampshire, England

| occupation = Actor

| spouse = {{marriage|Denise Welch|1983|1988|reason=divorced}}

| years_active =

| website =

}}

David Easter (born 11 November 1959) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Pat Hancock in Brookside, Pete Callan in Family Affairs, Gil Keane in Emmerdale, Mac Nightingale in Hollyoaks and Frank Fisher in The Bill.

Early life

Easter was born on 11 November 1959 in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

Career

Easter made his acting debut in the 1979 disco film The Music Machine. From 1984 to 1987 he played Pat Hancock on the soap opera Brookside. He has also acted in many theatre productions.{{Cite web |url=http://www.southoffranceenglishtheatre.com/david-easter-biog-SETfrance.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-10-13 |archive-date=2012-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907033642/http://www.southoffranceenglishtheatre.com/david-easter-biog-SETfrance.pdf |url-status=dead }} In the 1991 London Palladium revival production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat he played the role of Pharaoh & Levi, alongside Jason Donovan and Linzi Hateley.

He played Pete Callan in the television soap opera Family Affairs from 1997 to 2005. He has also appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank{{cite episode|series=Lily Savage's Blankety Blank|airdate=25 March 2001|network=ITV}} and guest starred in episodes of Birds of a Feather, The Bill, Holby City and Doctors. In 2011, he appeared in the films How to Stop Being a Loser and Kill Keith.

On 21 November 2013, he made his first appearance as a recurring character in the ITV soap, Emmerdale. His character is a businessman named Gil Keane, who deals with Declan Macey's growing financial problems. He joined the cast of Channel 4 soap, Hollyoaks in May 2015, as Mac Nightingale, the mystery husband of bipolar sufferer, Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring). They married during one of her bipolar episodes and he arrived asking for a divorce, on her wedding day to Dirk Savage (David Kennedy). In 2019 Easter left Hollyoaks when Mac fell victim to serial killer Breda McQueen.

Personal life

Easter was married to Denise Welch from 1985 to 1988.{{cite book|author=Denise Welch|title=Starting Over|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2WvglXfYuMC|date=13 September 2012|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=978-0-283-07171-3}}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
1979 \| The Music Machine \| Howard \|
1984 \| Give My Regards to Broad Street \| Apache Dancer \|
1984–1987 \| Brookside \| Pat Hancock \| Series regular
1989 \| Three Up, Two Down \| Rob \| Main Cast
1990 \| Bread \| Agent \|
1994 \| Birds of a Feather \| Warren \|
1996 \| Bad Boys \| Darren Appleton \|
1997–2005 \| Family Affairs \| Pete Callan \| Series regular
1999 \| The Harpist \| Music Critic \| Guest role
2004 \| The Bill \| Frank Fisher \| Recurring role
2007 \| Holby City \| Greg Marsh \|
2008 \| Doctors \| Rick Steedman \| Guest role
2009 \| The Tudors \| Watchman \|
2010 \| Material Girl \| Nick \| Guest role
2011 \| Kill Keith \| Cliff \| Main role
2011 \| How to Stop Being a Loser \| Mr Johnson \| Main role
2013 \| Emmerdale \| Gil Keane \| Recurring role
2015–2019 \| Hollyoaks \| Mac Nightingale \| Series regular

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1979

| The Music Machine

| Howard

1984

| Give My Regards to Broad Street

| Apache Dancer

1984–1987