Peter Cousens is an Australian actor and singer born in Tamworth, New South Wales. He is the artistic director of the Talent Development Project. He attended The Armidale School in Armidale from 1969 to 1973 and then Gordonstoun School, Scotland. He then spent a year reading Arts at St Paul's College, University of Sydney, before studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 1978. Cousens was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queens Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to the performing arts and the community.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.