Closer each day: Where is Home and Away’s 90s cast now?

WHATEVER happened to 90s Home and Away stars like Dieter Brummer and Nic Testoni? For some of them, it was all downhill after the Bay.

Shane and Angel were featured in quite a few copies of TV Hits during the 90s.

OLD episodes of Home and Away from the mid 90s — aka the glory years — are currently airing on 7two each weekday morning, which is the perfect excuse to catch up with past Summer Bay residents to see where they are in 2016.

A handful of the cast are now starring in Hollywood blockbusters, while others have left the bright lights — well, the hot lights — of television fame for other pursuits in the arts, in technology, and in life.

NIC TESTONI — TRAVIS NASH

Nic Testoni in his Home and Away days.

Nic Testoni now.

Testoni admits that while he isn’t recognised much these days, “people tell me they’re sure they know me — they just can’t quite place where from — maybe school or work.”

He has fond memories of his time on the show, including lots of shared laughter, and pinpoints his favourite memory as “Sia — early in her career — singing at Travis’s wedding.”

Not that things didn’t get weird at times due to his role as laid-back fisherman Travis. “I mentioned in an interview my cat had died recently, and not long after a fan sent a photo of a mock-up gravesite with my cat’s name on the tombstone,” he tells news.com.au.

Travis eventually mellowed further — well, as much as a whale-watching hippy can — and as he became a foster parent “and spent a lot of time in the kitchen chopping carrots” it became time to move on from the Bay.

“I wanted to try other things and move behind the camera”, he explains. “I studied filmmaking in New York and returned to make a documentary on Aboriginal art for ABC TV.”

Nowadays he has moved away from acting, but is still juggling numerous pursuits.

“I’m in sales for an events company; present a weekend radio show for WaveFM Wollongong; and married with two kids”, he tells us, “so very busy!”

DIETER BRUMMER — SHANE PARRISH

Dieter Brummer looking worse for wear in the Bay.

Dieter Brummer recently had a guest role on Winners and Losers.

In his role as reformed bad boy Shane, the character who taught a bunch of scared Aussie kids that you could literally die from scratching yourself on old rusty building supplies, Dieter Brummer was so massive with teenagers during the mid 90s that the TV Hits poster section should have charged him rent.

A marijuana bust at the height of his fame didn’t damage his reputation, but in the years since Brummer sometimes struggled to find acting work, with his mum telling 2DAYFM in 2007 that he worked as a window cleaner between gigs.

Luckily things have picked up in recent days, with Brummer scoring a principal role in Underbelly: The Golden Mile, and even crossing over to the dark side, joining the cast of Neighbours.

LAURA VASQUEZ — SARAH THOMPSON

Laura Vasquez during her first stint on Home and Away.

Laura is now a makeup artist on set.

One of the Bay’s most popular characters throughout her two-year run, Sarah ended up leaving before her HSC, but not before cycling through a series of heavy storylines, including jealous criminal boyfriends, overbearing parents, and a rather scary asthma scare!

“I have nothing but fond memories”, she tells news.com.au. “It was such a great show with a fantastic cast and crew, some of whom are dear friends of mine to this day. It was also a great learning experience. I feel very grateful to have been cast in such an iconic show.”

Vasquez has returned to the Bay throughout the years, most recently popping up for Alf’s 60th birthday. “It always feels like home, and you just slot right back in”, she says.

Although that appearance was over a decade over, she is still regularly recognised. “Every now and then someone will come up to me and say, ‘I know you from somewhere. Did we go to school together?’”

She has returned ‘home’ once again, this time in a behind-the-scenes capacity. On top of running a successful beauty blog, she has recently joined the Home and Away hair and makeup team.

“I started on the show just this year”, she explains, “and it’s wonderful to be back, just behind the scenes this time around. I’ve come full circle.”

TRISTAN BANCKS — TUG O’NEALE

Bad boy Tug.

Tristan Bancks is now an author.

Tristan Bancks has moved away from the screen since his tenure as bad boy Tug, publishing two popular series of children’s books: the Mac Slater and My Life series, being short-listed for the Australian Prime Minister’s Literacy Awards for his novel Two Wolves — and even teaming up with former co-star Tempany Deckert to co-write the young adult novel It’s Yr Life, which unfortunately has no mention of Alf Stewart at all.

These flaming’ kids ...

NICOLA QUILTER — DONNA BISHOP

Nicola Quilter on Home and Away.

Nicola Quilter still has her trademark blonde curls.

Donna had a rough time of it in the Bay, being in the middle of a tug of war for her affections, having to be parental-substitute to a young Samuel Johnson, and then suffering domestic violence at the hands of her boyfriend Andrew, in what remains a shocking and sadly realistic storyline.

“The story of my abusive partner”, Quilter remembers. “That was shot really well, and I think won an award.” Quilter speaks of the show fondly, as “a great opportunity to learn about multi-cam, rapid work … and notoriety.”

Notoriety?

“Melissa [George] and I had a stalker or two”, she tells news.com.au. “One guy said he was a child star, impersonating someone called Chris from an old TV show. He used to hang out with us all the time, spending money he didn’t have. He was quite sweet but entirely mad.

“Apparently he’d made the real Chris’s life hell ringing up huge credit card debts and taking out loans.”

These days Quilter makes films, runs a small fashion label in London, and is stalker-free.

MATT DORAN — DAMIAN ROBERTS

A young Matt Doran.

Matt Doran has done well for himself.

Doran played the nerdy Damian Roberts, son of Irene, unlucky in love — the first time he had sex ever, he got Selina pregnant — and permanent resident of the “friend zone”, bouncing around from crush to crush while his mate Shane and foster-brother Jack scored all the Bay babes.

In reality Doran has done quite amazingly for himself, landing roles in The Matrix, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and The Thin Red Line.

TEMPANY DECKERT — SELINA COOK

Tempany on Home and Away.

Tempany is now a successful author.

Despite Selina’s — ahem, shall we say “lack of deportment” — Deckert is somewhat of a polymath, teaching writing courses at UCLA, working as a motivation speaker, and working as an author — having published a massive 18 children’s books.

She is based in Los Angeles for most of the year, and in between sharpening young minds, she took time earlier this year to appear in season 4 of FOXTEL’s prison drama Wentworth.

DANIEL AMALM — JACK WILSON

Daniel Amalm had a rough time at the Bay.

Daniel Amalm today.

As he told news.com.au a few weeks ago, Amalm had a bit of a rough time during his years in the Bay, but despite this, he made a few firm friends. “I’m still in contact with Laura Vazquez who was like my big sister back then”, he tells news.com.au. “Over the years I have lost touch with most of the cast but sometimes bump into some old crew, which is cool.

“On the last show I was working on [Rescue: Special Ops] the make-up lady from our days back in Home and Away was also working, so that was real nice to catch up and have a laugh about the old times.”

Amalm is now based in Norway where he works as a professional musician.

ISLA FISHER — SHANNON REED

Isla Fisher back in the day.

She hasn’t changed a bit. Picture: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

As Summer Bay’s first feminist activist Shannon Reed, Fisher got all the great stories, and life hasn’t slowed down since. She is now happily married to Sacha Baron Cohen — Ali G, Borat, Bruno — and has starred in a string of successful Hollywood comedies — Wedding Crashers, Definitely Maybe, Bachelorette — as well as dramas like I Heart Huckabees, and the Baz Luhrmann helmed The Great Gatsby.

Most recently she starred alongside Jon Hamm and Zach Galifianakis in Keeping Up With The Joneses. She’s also on those hilarious ING Direct commercials, hamming it up like a fake-diva.