Stephane Garneau-Monten and Sinead Fitzgerald on their wedding day. Photo/Supplied.
Stephane Garneau-Monten and Sinead Fitzgerald on their wedding day. Photo/Supplied.
Auckland actors Stephane Garneau-Monten and Sinead Fitzgerald met in May 2019, started dating five months later and married on February 18, 2023.
The couple will appear in TVNZ 2′s Shortland Street the week beginning April 24, playing husband and wife. The offer to work together came days after their real-life wedding. After a chemistry read (to confirm the characters have chemistry as a couple), they shot their scenes the following week.
Stephane says . . .
I grew up in Devonport and after I left Northcote College, I moved to Canada for 10 years. I moved back in 2019 and started working at a casting agency. Sinead was working there at the time. We had different roles but we were aware of each other. Sinead and I both entered the 48 Hour Film Project, and both our films made it to the national finals. Sinead’s film won [its category].
When we met, I was immediately drawn to her smile. She was just a really lovely, beautiful, light presence. Her energy just lit up the room. We ended up chatting at work. One day, my brother had to go to hospital, so I had to leave early [he was fine]. It created this wonderful opening with Sinead. She had my contact details and said, “hope everything’s okay with your brother”. We just started firing messages back and forth with so much ease.
One day, I bit the bullet and said, “Hey, would it be okay if we grabbed a drink after work today?” We went and had a drink at Revelry on Ponsonby Rd, which Sinead says she didn’t know was a date. It was so easy and then after that it just developed. We went on another date and it started happening quite quickly.
The start of the relationship was October 13, 2019, and I proposed in June 2021. I knew Sinead would be receptive to something fun, so I decided to do something a little bit grandiose. I went and asked her parents first. She is an only child and I know how much her parents love her. I got their blessing and then started planning. I effectively created a scavenger hunt across Auckland, with all the places we had gone to the early days of our relationship. And at each location, there was a clue for the next location. The final clue said to come down to Cheltenham Beach. She arrived at the beach at sunset, and I was waiting there.
Our wedding venue was Markovina Vineyard Estate in Kūmeū, and it was exactly what we wanted. It really was one of the most fantastic days of our lives. It was a week after the cyclone, so we were all biting our nails it would be fine. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We both gave our phones away in the morning, so we could be 100 per cent present. We were the most happy, confident, excited, chatty, and loving people that day.
Stephane Garneau-Monten and Sinead Fitzgerald on screen together on Shortland Street. Photo/Supplied.
Sinead says . . .
My first impressions were that he was tall, dark, and handsome and I loved his smile. I knew that he was my competition for 48 Hours. I thought he was going to win because I had seen his work before and I knew he was very talented. If I was going to lose, then I was fine to lose against him because he was a worthy adversary.
When he meets people, he treats them as though he’s known them his entire life. He asks you questions about your life, and he’s always incredibly interested, no matter who he’s talking to.
When he asked if it would be okay if we grabbed a drink after work, I was like, “yeah sure”, like colleagues. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. And then when I got there, I was like, “oh, this is a date”.
When our relationship became official, we basically spent every single day together. A room became available in his flat and he said, “Hey, would you want to move in with me?”. Things got fast-tracked because of Covid. It just felt so normal and easy all the time. He is a phenomenal chef. I knew he could cook a good pasta dish, but boy, every night it was a different cuisine, with everything completely made from scratch. You know when a person starts talking about something they’re passionate about, and their whole face lights up? That’s him when he’s cooking.
Before we [filmed] Shortland Street, we did another project together, which is yet to come out. That was our first time acting together. When we got this offer from Shortland Street [to play a married couple], how kismet that it came a week after our wedding?
He is just one of the most generous actors I’ve ever worked with, and I don’t think it’s just because he is my partner. He gives so much emotion and depth to all of his performances, it just draws you into the world. It doesn’t matter if your lines fall apart or if the eyeline isn’t right because you know that you’re being consistently supported in every single scene that you’re in with him. Acting with him on Shortland Street was an incredible experience. I just feel so grateful I got to work with my husband. A lot of people don’t have that opportunity.
Shortland Street screens weekdays at 7pm on TVNZ 2
