Bio
Denise Scott is an Australian stand-up comedian, actress and radio personality best known to international audiences for her starring role as Trish Gross in the television drama series Winners & Losers, since 2011.
Scott has often drawn comic inspiration from her real-life family. Now playing the Gross family matriarch Trish, she's able to look back at her own experiences raising her children, Jordie and Bonnie.
Unlike her on-screen daughter Jenny, life at school was fun for the budding performer. "I went to a Catholic girls' school - Our Ladies in Heidelberg - and we were always putting on concerts. I remember the first time I was in the school play. I was the bald-headed butler. I was disappointed I'd been given that role as there were all these other fabulous roles in this Noel Coward play.
"All I got to do was come on and give people drinks and go off. But every time I came on, the audience roared with laughter and it was not intended. All the cast and I were dumbfounded. That was the start of something."
Denise's first foray into show-biz came when she joined the clown ensemble in a performance group in Albury after bluffing about her juggling skills.
It was there she met skilled clown and street performer John Lane, who later became her partner. Soon after she became part of the all-female comedy group, the Natural Normans, alongside Home and Away's Lynne McGranger, Sally Anne Upton and Lynda Gibson.
When the girls went overseas to tour, Denise, who was now a mother, decided to go solo, launching her stand-up career.
Her ability to make people laugh with her blend of personal stories and topical conversations has earned her much acclaim including a Barry Award nomination for Best Show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival for her sold out festival hit, Scotty and Son, in 2004.
She received a second nomination the following year for Denise Scott Gives Good Council. Her stand up material has opened the door to a string of television appearances on Big Gig, Full Frontal, Spicks & Speck, Rove [Live] and a regular Friday spot on The 7pm Project.
In 2006, she branched out into radio hosting Melbourne's Vega FM breakfast show on Vega 91.5 with Dave O'Neil and Shaun Micallef.
It was during her two years with the station that a book publisher, and avid listener, offered her a publishing deal. In 2008 she released her autobiographical book All That Happened at Number 26.
With over 20 years of experience under her belt, Denise puts her longevity down to "not knowing how to do anything else".
Although she's already achieved so much in her career, Winners & Losers was her first major TV acting role.