Amanda Felicitas Stepto (born 31 July 1970) is a Canadian retired actress[1] who played Christine "Spike" Nelson throughout the majority of the Degrassi teen drama franchise.

Spike's controversial teenage pregnancy storyline, as well as the punk hairstyle worn by both the character and actress, gave Stepto significant media attention in Canada.

Having left acting in the 1990s due to typecasting and loss of interest, Stepto returned to reprise the role of Spike as an adult in the first seven seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2008).

[11][12] In the United Kingdom, where Degrassi Junior High experienced its highest viewership, the BBC refused to air "It's Late" along with several other episodes,[13] shortly before Stepto was expected to promote the series in London.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror on 13 May 1988, Stepto called the ban "kinda silly", and elaborated: "The issues we've been dealing with in the episodes they wouldn't show happen everywhere and people are going to find out about them sooner or later.

[20] In 1991, Stepto was one of the main six actors to host an episode of Degrassi Talks, a documentary series in which cast members interviewed teenagers and young adults across Canada about various topics.

[22][24] Reviewing the production for the Toronto Star, Geoff Chapman opined that Stepto had "little chance to make her role count", and criticized her "indistinct diction",[25] while Stewart Brown of the Hamilton Spectator said she was "too soft-spoken and understated in her first appearance in professional theatre".

[30] Stepto visited Calgary as a representative of the organization in September 1992,[31] and that same month, appeared in television, radio, and print advertisements promoting the "Just Talk About It" campaign.

[32] Starting from May 1993, Stepto undertook a 37-stop tour of schools across the province to promote a campaign by Planned Parenthood; a viewing of the Degrassi Talks episode she hosted was optional.

[36] Additionally, she said that producers would constantly tell her that she was "too short", "too fat", or "cheeks are too full",[36] and eventually she was "tired of all that bullshit"[36] and left the acting business to pursue other endeavors.

Degrassi remains Stepto's only major acting role; she made brief cameo appearances in the medical drama Strong Medicine, and the science fiction series ReGenesis.

[48] She stated that she developed the hairstyle years before Degrassi,[49] citing Colin Abrahall, vocalist of the UK82 band GBH, as her chief stylistic inspiration.

[53] In the foreword to the Degrassi Talks: Sex print adaptation, she told journalist Catherine Dunphy that she was given a strike at school by her ballet teacher, because the hair "didn't go with the pink getup".

[8] According to Stepto, these experiences directly influenced a storyline on Degrassi Junior High, in which Spike attempts to get a job at a local diner, but is mocked by the manager because of her hair.

[56] During the 1990s, she was the manager of the clothing store Shakti, located in the Kensington Market,[12][54] and operated a jewelry booth at Lollapalooza with co-star Cathy Keenan.