Born on 11 March 1976. Paul Keating began acting when he was aged 12, appearing as Gavroche in the London West End production of ‘Les Miserables’. He then went on to play the lead part of Toby Jenks in the Children’s BBC drama series ‘Troublemakers’. Then, after finishing school and working as a shelf shifter at Tesco’s, Paul auditioned for the musical Tommy, eventually getting the title role. He got to play Tommy for almost a year at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, sharing his dressing room with Kim.
Paul then went on to play Henrik in the musical ‘Assassins’, which opened at London’s New End Theatre on 10 July 1997.
In 2000, Paul Keating surfaced as one of the supporting actors in ‘La Cava’ at the Victoria Palace Theatre. He then starred in the Pet Shop Boy’s debut musical ‘Closer to heaven’ at the Arts Theatre in 2001 as Straight Dave, an Irish barman who sleeps with both boys and girls. This musical only ran for six months.
In 2002 Paul starred in the musical production of ‘The Full Monty’, which ran at Prince of Wales Theatre from March to November 2002. 2004/5 saw Paul playing Prince of Palma in ‘Don Carlos’ by Frederick Schiller in a new version by Mike Poulton at The Crucible Theatre Sheffield and Gielgud Theatre, London. In February 2006 he played Maurice Travis / Jamie Barnes in Gladiator Games by Tanika Gupta at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Paul played the lead Seymour in the 2006/7 production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The show was a sell out success and transferred to the West End to the Duke of York’s Theatre and Ambassadors Theatre. The show was nominated for best Musical at the 2008 Olivier awards. In December 2007 Paul played Buttons in Stephen Fry’s Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre. From 23 October to 29 November 2008, Paul played Jamie in the Leicester Square Theatre’s production of Matthew Todd’s ‘Blowing Whistles’, alongside Stuart Laing and newcomer Daniel Finn. In May 2009, Paul returned to the West End stage in the role of John in the ‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’ revival, part of the Notes From New York season at the Duchess Theatre. He is currently originating the role of the Scarecrow in the new West End production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.
Other credits include: Deadalus in ‘Escape from Pterodactyl Island’ (Pleasance Theatre); Buttons in ‘Cinderella’ (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) and as understudy Jay and Arty in ‘Lost In Yonkers’ (Strand Theatre and UK tour).
Paul has appeared on some television programs such as: Dean Gittar in ‘Metrosexuality’; Ashley Potter in ‘The Ambassador’ (BBC); Frosty in ‘Penpics’ (Channel 4); Adam Mars in ‘The Bill’ (Carlton); Robert in ‘Secret Britain; Prostitutes’ (Channel 4).
His film credits are: Vincenzo Marterana in ‘The Brothers Marterana’; Dean in ‘Heterosexuality’; Apostle in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (Really Useful Films); Strip in ‘Strip’; Paul Rathbone in ‘Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis’.