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Amanda Felicitas Stepto is a Canadian actress who is best known for playing the role of Christine "Spike" Nelson in the Degrassi franchise. She played the role from the first season of Degrassi Junior High in 1987 to the end of the ninth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation in 2010.

Stepto was one of the most popular actresses during the Degrassi Classic era as a result of her character's teen pregnancy and spiked hair, the latter of which was Amanda's real hair. Off the back of the show's success, Stepto had a stint as a spokesperson for the pro-choice organization Planned Parenthood during 1992 and 1993.

Biography[]

Amanda Felicitas Stepto was born in Montreal, Quebec on July 31, 1970, and was adopted at three months old. She grew up in Meadowvale, Mississauga. On August 23, 1981, at age eleven, Stepto attended the "Police Picnic" in Oakville, Ontario. The "Police Picnic" was a festival of sorts headlined by British new wave band The Police, with a bill that included several acts such as Iggy Pop, The Specials, Killing Joke, and also local Canadian acts such as Nash The Slash. Stepto recalled in a 2016 episode of the "Turned Out A Punk!' podcast that this led to her discovery of punk rock, as she observed the punk fashions of the audience members. Stepto developed her spiked hair style sometime in the mid-eighties, when she also began attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts. In 1986, Stepto noticed an audition for Degrassi Junior High in which no experience was required. Because she was not a professional actress at the time, Stepto had no resume or professional publicity photographs and thus was required to have a regular photo taken of her to send in. Stepto recalled arguing with her parents over her hair, as her parents felt that she would not pass the audition with her large spiked hair. In response, Amanda said: "This is my hair, if they don't like me, fuck them!".

Amanda Stepto in Big Deal So What, 1995

Amanda Stepto in the 1995 short film Big Deal So What directed by Su Rynard, one of her only non-Degrassi starring roles.

Trivia[]

  • Amanda is a Leo.
  • She often had to wear high shoes to appear taller on Next Generation, because her onscreen husband, Stefan Brogren, is 6'5" tall.
  • She has several large tattoos that can be seen on her in Degrassi: TNG episode "Father Figure Part 2", and in a Degrassi Mini episode.
  • During Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, fans would write to her asking for advice on sex and relationships, and some would briefly send her baby products and stuffed animals, believing Stepto to be really pregnant.
  • In the 2005 book Degrassi Generations: The Official 411 (p. 47), Stepto criticized her character on Next Generation as being "boring" and "a bit dull".
  • She disliked filming romance scenes, feeling it was her fault as an actress. She felt that kissing was really a private thing and that she couldn't detach herself from that. In Degrassi High, she was instructed to kiss her onscreen boyfriend Vincent Walsh (Patrick) at a school dance, but not wanting to humiliate herself especially with no extra pay, she argued with the director until it was written out.
  • She named Cathy Keenan, who played Spike's friend Liz O'Rourke, as her only close friend during the original series. She is also close with Stacie Mistysyn.
  • Stepto hates her voice and mutes the television when she is on screen.
  • She received a bachelor's degree in history and political science from the University of Toronto in 1998.
  • In the late 1990s, Stepto taught English in Japan for a year.
  • As of 1992, Stepto's personally most important episode was Parents' Night from season 1 of Degrassi Junior High. Stepto, who is adopted, noted in the Degrassi Talks: Sex book that Spike's indecisiveness on what to do with her baby had reminded her of what her own biological mother must have felt, and stated that she felt like she was playing her biological mother.
  • Stepto is one of three cast members to have attended Cawthra Park Secondary School. The other two are Adamo Ruggiero and Deanna Casaluce.
  • She is one of three main cast members of the franchise to be born in Quebec and then move to Ontario. The other two are Olivia Scriven and Dalia Yegavian.
  • Stepto hates the 1992 Degrassi finale movie School's Out!, feeling it wasn't a good send-off and also noting Spike's small role in the film; she felt that not everybody liked the characters that they focused on for the film. She stated on the I'm In Love With A Girl Named Spike podcast that she "fucking begged" to be in the film's party scenes but was ultimately not, and said of character Tessa Campanelli: "Why did she get so many fuckin' scenes?". She also hinted at only agreeing to appear at screenings of School's Out as long as that movie wasn't the only thing being shown.
  • Stepto once claimed that her agent intimidated her, so instead of directly refusing roles that she disliked, she would sabotage her auditions instead. One of these shows was the 90s Canadian musical drama Catwalk, which Stepto derided as a "cheesy, low-budget show". She also felt that besides the typecasting she experienced and that she felt she wasn't the best actress, this was a factor in her being unable to properly establish an acting career.
  • In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Stepto performed as a DJ under the name "DJ Demanda" with co-star Stacie Mistysyn, who went under the name "Mistylicious". They frequently performed at the Toronto club Annex WreckRoom.
  • She was heavily referenced in an episode of Tosh.0, in which a creepy math teacher is shown to be obsessed with her to the point of singing songs about her and commemorating her birthday. He then answers the door to a singing man reading out a restraining order.

Gallery[]

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