Julian McMahon dead at 56: How Home and Away star broke through Hollywood
The former Home and Away star died after a secret battle with cancer, his wife, Kelly Paniagua confirmed on Friday.
She gave a statement to Deadline on Friday which read: 'With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer.'
Kelly - whom he married in 2024 - continued by expressing the love Julian had for his fans and those around him and what being an actor meant to him during his life.
She continued: 'Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible.
From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.
'We ask for support during this time to allow our family to grieve in privacy. And we wish for all of those to whom Julian brought joy, to continue to find joy in life. We are grateful for the memories.'
The son of former Australian Prime Minister William McMahon, Julian rose to fame in Australia on the iconic Channel Seven soap Home and Away.
He starred as Ben Lucini on the soap from 1990 to 1991, before heading to the US to make it in Hollywood.
He then secured a role in the long running NBC soap Another World, in 1993, and his star continued to rise.
Never far from the camera, Julian amassed a formidable list of small and big screen credits, picking up a Golden Globe best actor nomination in 2004.
He played everything from a playboy plastic surgeon to nefarious superhero villain throughout his long career.
Most recently, Julian made a triumphant return to Australian screens, starring alongside Nicholas Cage in the Stan original film The Surfer.
He was busy promoting the film, most recently seen on the red carpet for the Surfer's SXSW premiere in March.
He showed off a dramatic transformation at the event after ditching his longer locks in favour for a shorn haircut and a moustache and goatee.
The appearance was far cry from his outing at the film's Cannes premiere back in May last year, when he still had his signature clean-cut aesthetic and deep tan.
In The Surfer, Julian delivered a searing performance as Scally, a charismatic and menacing guru-like figure who leads a group of surfers and acts as a local authority in Luna Bay.
He displayed serious acting chops as the antagonist of his former classmate, played by Nicholas Cage.
Julian was also busy shooting the upcoming film The Supremes At Earl's All You Can Eat, starring alongside the likes of Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black), and Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile).
Julian also starred as Special Agent Jess LaCroix on the Dick Wolf-created series FBI, as well as its spin-offs FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International.
However, the actor is perhaps best known for his bravura turn in the long-running Ryan Murphy medical drama, Nip/Tuck, alongside Dylan Walsh as Miami-based plastic surgeon Christian Troy.
Troy was certainly not shy about falling into bed with his female clients, with Walsh's Sean McNamara often having to step in to deal with Christian's mistakes.
His turn as the lothario doctor earned Julian a Golden Globe best actor nomination in 2004, losing out to Ian McShane.
Prior to Nip/Tuck, Julian starred alongside Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano on the cult Arron Spelling-created magical drama, Charmed.
He played Cole Turner, the half demon ex husband of Alyssa's character Phoebe Halliwell.
During his time on Charmed, Julian was also romantically linked to Doherty, with the pair dating briefly during the show's third season in 2000-2001.
On the relationship front, Julian was married to model and author Kelly Paniagua after the pair tied the knot in 2014.
They had been together for 11 years before marrying in a romantic ceremony in Lake Tahoe, a lakeside area on the edge of California and Nevada.
He was previously married to Baywatch actress Brooke Burns with whom he shared daughter Madison, 25.
The pair were tied the knot in 1999, before calling it quits three years later.
He then married Australian actress and singer Dannii Minogue, after the pair fell in love on the set of Home and Away in which Julian played fan favourite Ben Lucini.
They were wed in 1994, but the union proved short-lived, with the couple splitting just a year and a half later.
Dannii previously revealed a difficult relationship with Julian's mother Lady Sonia McMahon contributed to the split.
'There was no relationship, she wouldn't speak to me,' Dannii told Seven in 2019.
'I wasn't allowed to be near her in the house, she said she wasn't coming to the wedding. We just had no idea how to handle it - we were just trying to.'
Julian went on to star alongside Dannii's sister Kylie Miniogue in the 2018 film Swinging Safari.
Speaking about the film at the 2016 GQ Men Of The Year awards, he quickly dodged the question of what it was like working with his former sister-in-law.
Julian was all too happy to discuss the film, however when talk turned to his ex-wife's sister, he quickly moved things along.
He mentioned every other star featured in the film, failing to bring Kylie's name up at all.
Making things even more awkward was the fact that his current wife Kelly was standing right beside him.
Sadly evident for Australian fans in the 2016 clip, Julian has well and truly lost his Aussie accent in favour of an American lilt.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Tributes to Fantastic Four actor Julian McMahon
Australian actor Julian McMahon has died at the age of 56. His wife, Kelly Paniagua, confirmed he passed away on Wednesday, 2 July, in Clearwater, Florida, after a private battle with cancer. McMahon was widely known for his roles as Cole Turner in Charmed and Dr Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. The Sydney-born actor, son of a former Australian prime minister, also starred in the Fantastic Four films and his final role was in Netflix's The Residence. Tributes have been shared by former co-stars including Nicolas Cage, Rose McGowan, and Ioan Gruffudd.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Julian McMahon's death is a sad, dramatic end to a magnetic talent, whose star was on the rise again
The Australian-American actor Julian McMahon, who has died from cancer aged 56, had a long and accomplished career. Like many Australian actors, it began with a soap opera – McMahon played Ben Lucini in 150 episodes of Home and Away – but he soon broke free to pursue a more ambitious and challenging oeuvre. McMahon, the son of former prime minister Sir William 'Billy' McMahon, made a name for himself overseas through US television in his 30s. On supernatural drama Charmed he played Cole Turner, a half-human, half-demon assassin turned love interest for one of the witches he was hired to kill. McMahon took to the show's campy tone with aplomb, delivering lines like 'I'm going straight to hell, cause it's got to be a sin to look this good' with a twinkle in his eye. His next big role was in Ryan Murphy's drama Nip/Tuck, as the arrogant plastic surgeon Dr Christian Troy. In the early 2000s the show made headlines for its frank depiction of nudity and sex – the Guardian described McMahon's character as 'a vagina-seeking missile' – but it also showed his talent for bringing vulnerability to suave but damaged men. It was around this time McMahon became a favourite to succeed Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but missed out to Daniel Craig – instead he landed the role of Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, the supervillain of two Fantastic Four movies. Over the years McMahon left Hollywood for home to appear in various Australian features – among them Stephan Elliott's raucous 2018 comedy Swinging Safari, in which he played an attender of a 1970s key party, alongside Guy Pearce and his former sister-in-law Kylie Minogue, and the 2012 horror movie Bait, in which he played a robber in a supermarket that's been flooded by a tsunami and monstered by sharks. That film was a big hit overseas, where it became, in less than two weeks, the most successful Australian movie ever released in China. In a full circle move, he recently played the Australian prime minister in Netflix's comedy-mystery The Residence (again opposite Minogue). Despite his career being well into its third decade, there's a very sad feeling surrounding McMahon's death that his talent has been dramatically cut short; that his star was very much on the rise again. One of his last roles was opposite Nicolas Cage as the villain in Lorcan Finnegan's intensely trippy, sun-scorched thriller The Surfer, which premiered out of competition at last year's Cannes film festival. McMahon played Scally, the leader of a gang of violent hoodlums from a small coastal town who patrol the local beach and harass visitors. And what a performance it was. Not everybody can hold their own against an actor like Cage, but McMahon pulled it off perfectly, countering the star's off-the-wall style with a seething, magnetic portrait of toxic masculinity – darkly charismatic and creepy as all get-out. In one memorable scene, which you can watch on YouTube, McMahon slurps down a beer and implores Cage to 'drink deep, eat your fill, turn around from this town and never come back'. Throughout the film he projects a layered, paradoxically chummy kind of menace: calm and imperturbable, then, suddenly, explosively violent and unsettling. McMahon had amazingly bright and burning blue eyes, the colour of the sea. They were even more striking in person – I know because I was lucky enough to meet him on the set of The Surfer in Western Australia, where we chatted about this role and work ethic. On that day, McMahon was philosophical. 'You want to be open to new suggestions, new thoughts, new ideas, and new creativity, wherever that's coming from,' he told me. And he was funny, riffing on the something he may not have missed about his home country – the insects: 'Australian flies just come and sit on your face, and they'll stay there for an hour or two.' He is survived by his wife, Kelly Paniagua, and his daughter, Madison, from a previous marriage.
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Well-known Australian actor Julian McMahon dies aged 56
Kelly McMahon, Julian's wife, said the actor passed away in Clearwater, Florida, on Wednesday, July 2, after a 'private battle with cancer'. In a statement shared with Deadline, she commented: 'With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer. 'Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. "His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible.' READ NEXT: Stand-up comedian Jason Manford to perform in Paisley McMahon's acting career took off on the hit supernatural television series Charmed, the BBC reports. He then took on the role of plastic surgeon Dr Christian Troy in the medical drama Nip/Tuck, where he gained wider recognition. The show earned McMahon a Golden Globe nomination for 'best performance by an actor in a television show'. The 56-year-old was also known for his role as Ben Lucini in Home and Away between 1990 and 1991. McMahon later played Doctor Doom in two Fantastic Four films in 2005 and 2007. He also appeared in three seasons of FBI: Most Wanted. McMahon was the son of former Australian Prime Minister Billy McMahon. He married three times: the first to Australian singer-actress Dannii Minogue in 1994, Baywatch star Brooke Burns in 1999, and Kelly Paniagua in 2014.
