iOTA

iOTA (born 7 May 1968 as Sean Hape in Pinjarra) is a New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and actor. As a musician he has issued six studio albums and was nominated for Best Independent Release for The Hip Bone Connection (1999) at the ARIA Music Awards of 2000. He has won four Helpmann Awards: Best Male Actor in a Musical in 2007 for Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2006 Australian cast) and Best Cabaret Performer, Best New Australian Work and Best Original Score for his work in Smoke and Mirrors in 2010. Personal life iOTA has stated that his parents met in New Zealand; his father is Māori and his mother English. He grew up in Pinjarra, Western Australia, where his father worked at an alumina refinery. At high school, iOTA took drama and music as electives, so he could "slack off for two hours"; he formed his first band, which was short-lived, at the age of 16.