Stephen Harold Halliwell was born on 19 March 1946 in Bury, Lancashire to parents Fred and Jenny Halliwell.[1] He had a brother, Clive, who was two years older.[2] Halliwell was an apprentice engineer and worked mainly in cotton and paper mills before drama training at the Mountview Theatre School.[3] He was a founding member of the Interchange Theatre in Bury.[3] Halliwell was once arrested for sleeping rough in an empty government building in London. He was sent to a prison in Ashford for two weeks and was later released on probation.[4] He also spoke openly about his experiences with depression throughout this period of his life.[5]
During the first two decades of his career, Halliwell featured in a number of British television series, including Here I Stand, Threads, Cracker, Crown Court, G.B.H., Heartbeat and Coronation Street.[2] In 1994, he joined the cast of the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Zak Dingle.[5] Together with Emmerdale co-stars Billy Hartman and Alun Lewis, he was a member of UK 1990s country rock trio the Woolpackers who released the single "Hillbilly Rock Hillbilly Roll" in November 1996.[2] In 2014, Halliwell released his autobiography titled If The Cap Fits: My Rocky Road to Emmerdale.[6]