Biography

Blame it on Elvis. It was the lusty gyrations of The King in Jailhouse Rock that inspired nine-year-old Paul Joseph Mercurio to dance. His mother, Jean, responded with her usual supportive posture and enrolled Paul in a local ballet school. From there (with a short surfing break) it was on to John Curtin College of the Arts, a scholarship at the West Australian Ballet Company, and finally leaving his home in Perth for the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. He was the odd man out in Melbourne. Not completely lonely as he had family there, he nonetheless wasn't part of the crowd in school. "They have a particular way of being, and I think my idea was broader." He said of the experience. His greatest loneliness came with his greatest opportunity thus far: an offer from the prestigious Sydney Dance Company. With no money to visit home for the holidays, alone in a strange city, Paul formed a family of prostitutes and junkies at a café in Darlinghurst--later to serve as the inspirati

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Filmography