Amanda Stepto

Amanda Felicitas Stepto[1] was born on 31 July 1970 in Montreal, Quebec,[2] the child of a young local woman and an "American jazz musician just passing through".[3] Her birth mother put her up for adoption at three months old.[4][3] She spent her early years residing in Meadowvale, Mississauga.[5] In a podcast interview, Stepto recalled her first exposure to punk rock as being a concert by English new wave band The Police in Oakville, Ontario in August 1981, where she was struck by the styles of punks in the audience.[6] Stepto developed her trademark spiked hair when she was fourteen,[7] citing Colin Abrahall, vocalist of the UK82 band GBH, as her chief stylistic inspiration.[8] In 1987, she cited her favorite bands and artists as being Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sex Pistols, Platinum Blonde, and The Cult.[9] She attended the Etobicoke School of the Arts for three years, where she majored in dance and minored in drama,[10] and later a school in Mississauga while on starring on television.[11]

Stepto at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

At Etobicoke School of the Arts, Stepto learnt of an open audition for a television series named Degrassi Junior High from her drama teacher.[11][note 1] She was the only student to act on it.[11] She did not have a resume or professional headshots,[11][12] and was required to send in a photo of herself to the production company. An argument ensued between Stepto and her parents, who felt her punk hairstyle wasn't suitable for television.[13] She insisted she keep her hair for the picture, telling her parents, "If they don't like me, fuck them!".[13] She was subsequently accepted.[12]

When her character became pregnant, fans mistook her for being pregnant in real life, and would often send the actress toys.[14] She was also often asked for advice from parents and teenage mothers on sex and pregnancy as if she was a counselor.[14][15] In the United Kingdom, where Degrassi Junior High experienced its highest viewership, the BBC refused to air "It's Late" along with several other episodes,[16] shortly before Stepto was expected to promote the series in London.[17]

Stepto was critical of the BBC's decision when speaking to the British press. Speaking to the Daily Mirror on 13 May 1988, Stepto called the ban "kinda silly", and elaborated: "The issues we've been dealing with in the episodes they wouldn't show happen everywhere and people are going to find out about them sooner or later."[18] She also explained that the show intended to educate its viewers on the subject and did not encourage it at all.[19] Stepto later recalled that the press in the United Kingdom tried to make her "talk shit" about the BBC.[20]

Stepto was among the cast of Degrassi that were named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors by the Ontario branch of UNICEF Canada in 1989.[21][22] Along with cast member Pat Mastroianni, Stepto visited the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, and met with other ambassadors.[21] She served as the narrator for the UNICEF video The Degrassi Kids Rap On Rights.[23]

In 1991, shortly after Degrassi High ended its run on television, Stepto was one of six actors from the show who participated in Degrassi Talks, a documentary series in which cast members interviewed teenagers and young adults across Canada about various topics. She was the host of an episode that discussed teenage pregnancy, safe sex, and abortion. In the episode, she interviewed a woman who gave her baby up for adoption, an experience which had a profound impact on Stepto.[24]

Following the end of Degrassi, Stepto indicated to the Calgary Herald that she was interested in further pursuing her acting career, and stated that she was particularly interested in playing destructive, "psychotic" characters.[25] However, she later recalled that she experienced typecasting as a result of her previous role.[7][26][27] She claimed she would also sabotage her own auditions to avoid getting roles in series she disliked,[27] including the YTV musical drama series Catwalk, which she derided as a "cheesy low-budget show",[15] and felt this may have contributed to her difficulty in continuing her acting career.[27] During 1991 and 1992, Stepto starred in the play Flesh and Blood, written by Colin Thomas, about several young adults dealing with AIDS;[28][29] the play won a Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for playwriting in 1991.[28][30]

In 1992, she was appointed a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in Alberta.[31] Stepto visited Calgary as a representative of the organization in September 1992.[32] Starting from May 1993, Stepto undertook a 37-stop tour of schools across the province to promote a campaign by Planned Parenthood; a viewing of the Degrassi Talks episode she hosted was optional.[33] On 28 April 1993, the Calgary Herald reported that three Albertan schools had refused Stepto's presentation, though two of the schools later said that they were not aware of the program.[34] In addition, Stepto also appeared in television, radio, and print advertisements promoting the "Just Talk About It" campaign during September 1992.[35]

In 1995, she starred in a supporting role in the Su Rynard short film Big Deal So What, playing the friend and colleague of the protagonist.[36] She eventually left the acting business to concentrate on school.[15] At the 2022 Toronto Comicon, Stepto explained that she had extreme difficulty pursuing a career in acting following the show; the roles she was offered were usually similar to Spike, and she was directly rejected for being too well-known as Spike.[37] Additionally, she said that producers would constantly tell her that she was "too short", "too fat", or "cheeks are too full",[37] and eventually she was "tired of all that bullshit"[37] and left the acting business to pursue other endeavors.[37]

She returned in 2001 to reprise the role of Spike in Degrassi: The Next Generation, which begins primarily centering around Spike's daughter Emma. She appears in a recurring role for the show's first nine seasons, appearing less frequently in later seasons and departing along with the original cast following the telemovie Degrassi Takes Manhattan in 2010. She would make only a couple of minor television appearances outside of Degrassi: in 2000, she had a bit role in the pilot episode of the American medical drama Strong Medicine, where she played a lady in the waiting room. In 2007, she appeared as a guest star on the science fiction series ReGenesis, playing a scientist who dies in a car explosion caused by a dangerous biochemical. Stepto has said that she still is "drawn back into the acting world every once in a while".[27]

Stepto graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor's degree in history and political science.[53] She briefly resided in Japan to teach English during the late 1990s.[15][53] She has stated she is an advocate for animal rights,[39][25] and a vegetarian.[54] She cites Morrissey, as well as the Smiths album Meat Is Murder, as a form of validation for her vegetarianism, noting: "I reveled in finding an artist that spoke to me in that way."[55] During the 1990s, she was the manager of the clothing store Shakti, located in the Kensington Market,[15][53] and operated a jewelry booth at Lollapalooza with co-star Cathy Keenan.[15] In 2009, she began performing as a DJ in Toronto under the name "DJ Demanda" with former co-star Stacie Mistysyn, who went under the name "Mistylicious".[1][56]

As of 2017, Stepto resided in Ireland.[57]

Stepto has been nominated twice for her role as Christine "Spike" Nelson in Degrassi. In 1990, along with her co-stars, she was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast for Degrassi Junior High.[58] In 1992, she was nominated for the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for Degrassi High.[59][60][61] She appeared as a celebrity presenter at the ceremony.[62]

• Degrassi Talks: Sex. Toronto: Boardwalk Books. 1992. pp. 8–15. ISBN 1-895681-01-4. OCLC 25370148.
• Ellis, Kathryn (2005). The official 411 Degrassi generations. Fenn Pub. Co. pp. 46–47. ISBN 1-55168-278-8. OCLC 59136593.
• Women and popular culture in Canada. Laine Zisman Newman. Toronto. 2020. pp. 104–108. ISBN 978-0-88961-615-8. OCLC 1140640717.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amanda Stepto.

• Amanda Stepto at IMDb
• Amanda Stepto interview with Degrassi.ca