Parramatta’s top 20 most famous faces from number 15 to 11
PAUL Gallen may be the undoubted face of the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL but the premiership winner is a westie at heart. He is a surprising inclusion on Parramatta’s top 20 most famous list.
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PARRAMATTA is brimming with celebrities that once called the western Sydney suburb home.
Some were here a long time, others only stayed a short time but have left a lasting impression. Others still live here. Regardless, their contribution to Sydney’s west lives on and helps pave the way for future generations to achieve greatness.
Each day we will be releasing our top picks for the most famous faces that have grown up, gone to school or lived in the Parramatta area.
All 20 will be listed on our website over coming days with your opportunity to agree, disagree or suggest others who should be on the list.
15. Lucas Browne
Browne, 39, is a former world heavyweight champion. “Big Daddy” as he’s known, made history in March 2016 by beating Ruslan Chagaev in 10 rounds to becoming Australia’s first world heavyweight boxing champion.
Browne was born in Auburn but grew up in Granville.
“I grew up in Granville and the majority of my mates were Lebanese and Islander. I was the token white boy,” Browne said.
Browne’s story could have had a very different sporting twist if he had pursued a career in the front row with Parramatta.
“When I was 15 I decided to try and for the Harold Matthews side and got picked. I started off in the front row and by SG Ball I was on the wing,” Browne said.
“My first year I played with Eric Grothe and in the second year it was Hindmarsh and Cayless. I’m still a huge Parramatta fan, it’s a great club.”
Browne, who lives in Perth, told the Advertiser in 2016 that when he is visiting home he heads straight to Granville’s El Jannah.
“El Jannah is definitely the place to be. There is something about that place that makes it the best,” he said.
14. Dani Stevens (nee Samuels)
Stevens, 30, is an Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She has been to three Olympic Games and won two gold medals at consecutive Commonwealth Games — in 2018 on the Gold Coast and 2014 in Scotland.
Stevens grew up in Merrylands and started athletics at Greystanes Little Athletics. She attended Merrylands Public School and then onto Westfields Sports High School as a basketballer before switching her focus to discus.
“As a youngster she used to do weights and she used to cry, but she kept doing them until she was finished. She would never give up,’’ mum Tracy said.
“She made a lot of sacrifices and sometimes people didn’t understand.”
In 2004, Stevens father Mark Samuels was killed when hit by a truck on the M5 while training for the Australian ironman triathlon.
Stevens has the words “He lives in me’’ tattooed on her stomach.
She now lives at Tweed Heads with her former shot putter turned orthopaedic surgeon husband.
13. Paul Gallen
Gallen, 36, may be the undoubted face of the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL but the premiership winner is a westie at heart.
Gallen grew up in Greystanes and played his junior league with the Greystanes Bulldogs and Wentworthville Magpies.
“I remember Roberta Street Oval was where I used to play back in Greystanes for the Greystanes Bulldogs, where I played from when I was six to 10 years old,” he said.
“I loved footy that much that I went down and played for Wentworthville Magpies on a Sunday, so I played on both Saturday and Sunday until I was about 11 or 12 years old. They’re my best memories. I won plenty of grand finals and made plenty of friends back then so they were all good times.”
Gallen said he was forced to head to the Sharks because the Eels didn’t rate him when he was coming up through the grades.
“I played SG Ball for them, that’s it,” he said.
“I wasn’t really getting a look-in there and decided to go elsewhere. I wanted to move away from the area and I knew one of the Cronulla trainers at the time.”
12. Rob Shehadie
Here comes the Habibs co-creator Rob Shehadie is one of western Sydney’s most passionate advocates. The Lebanese Australian, who starred in Fat Pizza and Straight Outta Compo, grew up in Oatlands with his mum Marie, dad Elie and brother Nick.
“There’s so many good memories — my brother and I playing Jonah Lomu Rugby on the Sega, lying on the lounge room floor with our homework spread out around us, pretending to study,” he said.
Shehadie said he used to dance in front of the lounge room mirror, with dreams of becoming a boy band member. He and his brother also used to play indoor football.
“I would move the coffee table and play rugby inside.”
Shehadie left the family home in 2010 but remained in western Sydney, a place where “real Australia thrives”.
“Real Australia is the down-to-earth, hard-working-class Aussies who are just trying to live the dream,” the star said.
He said he was proud of his background.
“I love watching (Parramatta) grow. I love that it’s become a big city. If I won Lotto I wouldn’t do what the Habibs do, I would stay in Parramatta.”
11. Chips Rafferty
Iconic Australian actor Chips Rafferty was a long-term Parramatta resident and namesake of Riverside’s Raffertys Theatre.
Born John Goffage in Broken Hill in 1909, Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial High School where he earned the nickname “Chips”.
In the 1930s Rafferty worked at a milk bar on Macquarie St, opened by local ice cream producer Lynam.
He scored his first film role in Ants in His Pants in 1938 and adopted his schoolboy nickname.
He has been called “the living symbol of the typical Australian”. His acting career stretched from the 1940s until his death in 1971, appearing in such films as Forty Thousand Horsemen, The Rats of Tobruk, The Overlanders and Eureka Stockade.
He also starred in Mutiny on the Bounty, with Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley in Double Trouble in 1967.