Guy Burnet

Guy Burnet, also spelt Burnett, (born 8 August 1983 in England) is an English television actor best known for playing Craig Dean in the British Channel 4 series Hollyoaks since 2002. Before taking on the role of Craig, Guy could have become a professional footballer in Israel.

In an interview with Attitude Magazine he discussed how the Craig Dean/John Paul McQueen storyline was brought to his attention.

"They sold the whole storyline to me by getting me really drunk one night,” laughs Guy meanwhile, in the none-too-glamorous press office just off the Hollyoaks set, which he’s known for the last four years since he first started on the show as a 15-year-old wheeler dealer: a sort of baby Del Boy. “At first I was slightly hesitant because I wanted to justify – to myself and the audience – that this straight character could have gay tendencies. That was the main challenge and it was the idea of a challenge that made me want to do it.”

It was important to Guy that the storyline should not be stereotypical.

“I would have been absolutely devastated if it had become a cliché,” He found the character's lack of committment particularly interesting to play. “One week the audience is going to love me because I love John Paul and the next they’re going to hate me because I’m beating him up. The gay community love me then hate me. I’m in a lose-lose situation. And I’ll never get accolades for it because he’s not a sympathetic character. With John Paul, you’re just going to love him.”

When asked how it feels, not playing the one everyone’s going to love, Guy says, when it comes to acting at least, he’s happy to take a step back.

“You’ll never see my ego take over,” he says. “In the scene where James comes out to me and tells me that he loves me, I noticed reading the script that I had a lot of lines. They were big scenes. But once we rehearsed them and played them out, I realised it wasn’t about me. It was about him coming out. The way James played it, it was so emotional that I decided to cut my lines and just play it on reaction. Maybe I prefer being the bridesmaid but then hopefully people will realise the bridesmaid is actually making the bride.”