20 to one famous graduates: Hornsby students that rose to fame include actors, fashion designs and screenwriters
The team at the Advocate have debated our list of the Hornsby Shire’s most famous alumni, and you may be surprised who we discovered along the way.
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THEY are some of the world’s most successful people in their fields, whether that be sport, fashion, politics or the arts. But they all got their starts at our schools.
The team at the Advocate have debated our list of the Hornsby Shire’s most famous alumni, and you may be surprised who we discovered along the way.
Over the next four days, the Advocate will count down, from 20 to one, our picks for the most famous Hornsby graduates. Some will be controversial, some obvious.
This is your opportunity to agree, disagree or suggest others who should be on the list.
20. NELL CAMPBELL — Abbotsleigh
WIDELY known as “Little Nell”, Nell Campbell, 65, is an actress, singer and entertainer, who also opened her own nightclub called Nell’s in New York in 1986. But she is best known for her role in the original West End production of The Rocky Horror Show and the subsequent movie, filmed in 1975.
Campbell, whose younger sister is famous Australian artist Cressida Campbell, attended Abbotsleigh School for Girls and supported herself as a waitress before moving to Britain with her family in the 1970s. There, Campbell sold clothes in London’s Kensington Market alongside Freddie Mercury.
19. JULIE GOODWIN — Hornsby Girls High School
Julie Goodwin, 47, launched her lucrative career in the kitchen after winning the first season of MasterChef in 2009.
These days she lives on the Central Coast where she also hosts a breakfast radio show on Star 104.5. But the mother-of-three first learnt her skills studying food technology at Hornsby Girls High.
After high school she joined a youth group in Hornsby to help out with fundraising and weekly dawn patrols.
“Vinnies has always had a very special place in my heart. It’s where I met my husband Mick,” she said.
Goodwin said Hornsby felt more like a small country town than a suburb of Sydney.
“When you went out, you ran into people you knew. There were only two or three pubs so you just went from one to the other to the other and you’d run into the same circles of people there.”
18. LISA HO — Asquith Girls High School and Pennant Hills High School
HO IS a famous Australian fashion designer whose brand, Lisa Ho, has been worn by international stars including Tyra Banks, Delta Goodrem, Jennifer Lopez, Elle Macpherson and Olivia Newton-John.
She began sewing at age four inspired by her grandmother, a tailoress. She attended Pennant Hills High School and later trained in fashion design at East Sydney Technical College, graduating in 1981.
She built up a highly-reputable and booming fashion business after starting out in a humble stall in Paddington in 1982.
Unfortunately, her fashion business went into liquidation in 2013.
#17. STUART BEATTIE — Knox Grammar
WHILE many people may not have heard of Stuart Beattie’s name — they would have seen his stories come to life on screen.
Beattie is the screenwriter behind films such as Pirates of the Caribbean series, Collateral, Australia, and 30 Days of Night to name a few.
The Hollywood writer also directed two films, I, Frankenstein with Aaron Eckhart and the Australian award-winning movie Tomorrow, When the War Began.
The screenwriter is currently working on Danger Close, a film about Australians in the Vietnam War.
Beattie attended Knox Grammar School where his mother, Sandra, was a languages teacher. He was at the all-boys school at the same time as fellow alumni Hugh Jackman, who is four years his senior.
Beattie revealed he wrote the part of Jack Sparrow, famously played by Johnny Depp, with Jackman in mind. But the Aussie hunk was a relatively unknown actor in the US at the time,
“I initially wrote that character with Hugh Jackman in mind,” Beattie said. “Hence the name Captain Jack Sparrow.”
16. Mitchell Pearce — Barker College
The son of rugby league great Wayne Pearce, Mitchell co-captains the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League.
The halfback, 29, won a premiership with the Sydney Roosters in 2013 and has 18 State of Origin caps for NSW.
Pearce played his junior football for the Asquith Magpies and North Ryde Hawks.
He attended and played rugby union for Barker College, before transferring to Marist College North Shore for his senior years, where he played league alongside his friend Kieran Foran.
CHECK IN TOMORROW TO SEE OUR COUNTDOWN CONTINUE WITH NUMBERS 15 to 10 IN OUR FAMOUS GRADUATES COUNTDOWN.
Who would you like to see make the list? Tell us below!