Jump to content

Dina Mann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dina Mann
Bornc. 1951 (age 72–73)
Other namesDiana Mann
Occupation(s)Actress, film and television casting director
Years active1970–2014
Known forDebbie Chester in Number 96

Dina Mann (born 1951),[citation needed] also credited as Diana Mann, is an Australian actress and casting director recognised for several television soap opera and film roles from 1970 until 1985, after which she worked as a casting director until 2014. She is probably best known for her role as Debbie Chester in the latter years of TV serial Number 96 in which she featured from 1975 until 1977, in 137 episodes.

Career

[edit]

In the 1970s Mann appeared in numerous character roles and specialised in playing characters much younger than herself in adult-themed dramas and comedies. Her roles in Australian television programs, including several appearances in the Crawford Productions police dramas Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police, were nearly all teenage characters. Her first television role was in an episode of Delta where she played a 15-year-old who appeared in a semi-nude swimming scene. Mann also played a schoolgirl in the hit sex-comedy feature film Alvin Purple (1973) and was a young female cricketer in its 1974 sequel Alvin Purple Rides Again.

She later played the more permanent role of schoolgirl Debbie Chester in adult soap opera Number 96. She joined the show in late 1975 as part of a new family that was introduced which included Suzanne Church (born United Kingdom, 9 October 1951)[1] as her sister Jane Chester and former radio actress Patti Crocker as her mum Eileen Chester, she continued until its final episode in August 1977. She subsequently played guest roles in prison-based soap opera Prisoner, first appearing as the rebellious Debbie, the daughter of Ken Pearce (Tom Oliver), in 1980 and again in 1981. She reappeared in the series in 1983 playing a different character, and made other guest appearances in Australian television series until the mid-1980s.

Since the mid-1980s she has worked as a casting director on various Australian films and television productions.

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Type
1971 Exit Jessica Short film
1973 Alvin Purple Shirley Feature film
1974 Petersen Robin Feature film
1974 Alvin Rides Again Woman Cricketer Feature film
1983 A Slice of Life Barbara Feature film
1984 Anna Welfare Officer TV movie

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Type
1970 Delta Daphne TV series, episode: "The Honeymoon Blows"
1973 Ryan Nikki TV series, episode: "Tribe"
1971–1974 Homicide Anne Gardner / Jenny Robinson / Kate Maxwell TV series, 3 episodes: "Death on the Vine", "The Adventurer", "You've Gotto Do Something"
1972–1974 Division 4 Pup / Nurse / Sally / Bev Compton / Josie / Nancy TV series, 6 episodes: "Rogues Gallery", "Andrew Shannon", The Oracle", "Traveling Man", "For My Next Trick", "Man of Substance",
1975 Silent Number Sharon Lane TV series, episode: "Exposed to Moral Danger"
1973–1975 Matlock Police Miss Cox / Beris / Shelli TV series, 3 episodes: "The Recurrence of Randy McBain", "The Germ Bomb", "The Son"
1975–1977 Number 96 Debbie Chester TV series, 137 episodes
1978 Chopper Squad Sis TV series, episode: "Lifeboat"
1979 Skyways Fiona Woods TV series, 6 episodes: "Arrivals", "Departures", "Levelling Out", "Overtures", "Knife Edge", "Who Killed Cock Robyn"
1978–1980 Cop Shop Laurel Drummond / Linda Perry TV series, 3 episodes
1984 Special Squad Mandy TV series, episode: "The Set-Up"
1980; 1984 Prisoner Debbie Pearce / Samantha Russell TV series
1984 Infinity Limited Lucy TV series
1985 The Flying Doctors Mrs. Watson TV series

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Giles, Nigel "NUMBER 96"Melbourne Books 2007 ISBN 978-1-925556-00-1
[edit]