[4] Hope made his acting debut in The Kids of Degrassi Street episode "Martin Meets The Pirates".

Recalling his audition for Degrassi Street, Schuyler described the "huge vulnerability emanating from Neil’s gentle grey eyes, his distinct gravelly voice, and his overall physical appeal".

[7] In his obituary for Hope, Paul Vitello of The New York Times wrote that "all [the series'] characters portrayed teenagers confronting crises over issues like sexual abuse, racism, unwanted pregnancy and AIDS, but the troubles dealt Wheels made him the Job of the cast";[5] in the series, Wheels' adoptive parents are killed by a drunk driver.

[5] The character later starts drinking himself, which leads to a drunk driving incident in which he kills a young child; Wheels is incarcerated for manslaughter.

Christina Boulard, Hope's ex-fiancée, told media: "It made him so upset that they worked so hard on Degrassi and even years later, a whole new generation was watching it in reruns and the cast wasn't getting a dime".

[2] His final public appearance was in the CTV documentary The Degrassi Story, hosted by co-star Stefan Brogren, who interviewed him in Windsor.

In early November 2007, Hope visited Cheapies Records & Tapes, a music store in Hamilton that he often frequented.

Hope also made a documentary called The Darker Side about the children of alcoholic parents, which featured contributions from his co-stars Bill Parrott and Rebecca Haines.

He stayed at his brother Danny and sister-in-law Tracy's home in Mississauga for a year; while there, he would often spend days in his room, watching television and drinking beer without eating.

According to the Toronto Star, Hope was dead for more than a week prior to his discovery, and multiple unused insulin vials were located around his room.

[2] Hope's family began hearing rumours of his death in 2009 and subsequently contacted Hamilton police, who told them they did not have any matching records.

The news was first made public by his sister-in-law on a Facebook fan page, before being picked up by Canadian media on 16 February.

[10][16] Linda Schuyler, co-creator of the Degrassi franchise, said of Hope in a joint statement with Stohn that he had made an "important contribution" to the lives of the producers, cast members and fans of the show, further adding: "His life was not an easy one but the time he spent with us was a shining example of determination, hard work and hopeful optimism and he is sorely missed.

", and added: "My main goal for the Degrassi franchise was to reassure young people that they are not alone, yet, despite my professional intentions and the long-standing friendship that Neil and I shared, he’d died alone.