Stephanie Panozzo has been at the core of Home and Away’s music scene for the past few years.
She joined the soap as Eden Fowler in 2022 and has since racked up her fair share of dramatic storylines, from her relationship with local copper Cash Newman to her several near-death experiences.
But away from the show, thankfully, her life is nothing like her character’s.
Stephanie is from Melbourne in Australia and attended drama school there. In her final year, she was cast in a TV show called Hyde & Seek Playing, playing Angela Petrides .
In 2015, she graduated from The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts to study acting.
Since then, she has starred as Jenny in The Newsreader, Jade in the short film Button Man, and Dahila in the TV film Hell Patrol.
In June 2022, it was announced that Stephanie would join the cast of Home and Away as Eden Fowler, who would be a member of the band Lyrik.
Unlike many new characters, Eden already knew some of the residents of Summer Bay, after previously dating Cash.
During her time in the coastal town, she has been reunited with her estranged older brother Levi, been involved in a car crash and been kidnapped.
After being cast in Home and Away, Stephanie had to relocate to Sydney, where the soap is filmed, after previously living in Melbourne.
It was a big transition for her as her long-term boyfriend, Josh Kelly, resides in Melbourne. They couple started dating around 2017, with Josh working as a cook and he owns a pizza truck called Lil Ellen’s Pizzeria.
The actress spoke about the challenge of having a long-distance relationship.
“It can be really challenging at times,” Stephanie told Stuff in 2024. “But we’re both really committed and we do a lot of visits back and forth. We’re just making it work, which is great.
“Sometimes you just want to go home and have your person be there, but we’re in a good groove with it now.”
Stephanie and Josh first met when she was working as a receptionist.
She shared: “I hadn’t met him but a friend mentioned I should meet Josh so I searched him on the gym database. I was such a stalker!”
They are planning to spend part of the year together, as her boyfriend wants to relocate to Sydney during winters.