For millions, Neil Hope was “Wheels” — the lovable, troubled onscreen teen with that feathered blond hair and huge glasses.

To the public, the Toronto actor’s role as Derek Wheeler on the hit Degrassi TV series thrust him into the realm of celebrity, but in real life he died anonymously.

Police have confirmed to the Star that Hope was found dead on Nov. 25, 2007 in a Hamilton rooming house. That shocking revelation was made known to friends and family only this January — and became public Thursday.

He was 35.

To former castmates, producers, friends and relatives of the Degrassi celebrity, he was just Neil, quiet and bright-eyed.

“Neil made an important contribution to our lives, to the lives of our television team, who are like a family to us, and indeed to the live of many Canadians and others around the world who were influenced by Neil and the roles he played,” said statement from executive producers Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn. (Schuyler was involved in the original series.)

“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.”

From its original iteration as The Kids of Degrassi Street in 1979 to the still-running Degrassi: The Next Generation, the series is one of Canada’s prime television success stories. It developed a cult following, was picked up in the U.S. and is now watched the world over.

Many former actors, who were mobbed in malls for their Degrassi fame, went on to successful careers, including Aubrey Graham, better known now as award-winning recording artist Drake.

But Hope met a very different end in that Hamilton rooming house, where local police found him dead, according to former fiancée Christina Boulard, 37.

“I was shocked,” said Boulard, fighting back tears as she talked to the Star.

She and Hope dated between 1998 and 2001 and were engaged until the relationship ended amicably. “I was devastated (by his death). I still am.”

Little is known about how the intensely private Hope came to a sudden end, alone and unnoticed. “Everybody falls on hard times,” Boulard said. “Neil had a hard life.”

The star’s struggles with his parents’ alcoholism — his father eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver — were well documented in interviews.

Boulard said Hope’s brother Danny and his wife, Tracy, began hearing rumours of his death two or three years ago but they brushed it off. But two years went by and no one had heard from him. “That’s when we started to worry,” she said.

Boulard said she lost touch with Hope in 2002, but remained in contact with his family through Facebook. When they hadn’t heard from Hope, they called her. Finally they contacted the police in Hamilton.

Boulard said the police told Hope’s family they had a record of someone who had died but the names and birth date didn’t match up. She said the family clung to that, hoping it wasn’t him.

But finally, this January, police confirmed that it was indeed Hope who had died of “natural causes” in November 2007. (The coroner’s office was not immediately available to confirm the details.)

Hope was buried in March 2008. The location of the grave is being kept private, Boulard said.

Boulard said she is organizing a private ceremony, with help from Amanda Stepto, who played Christine “Spike” Nelson on Degrassi, for friends to remember Hope. Hope’s family is planning their own memorial.

As his character was being eased out of the show in 1991 — “Wheels” pleads guilty to a drunk-driving death late in the series — Hope faded into the background too.

“He was the one that stayed as far away from the public eye afterwards as possible,” Boulard said.

Dan Woods, who played Mr. Raditch, a teacher and later principal on the show, remembered meeting Hope when he was a teen on the set of Degrassi Junior High.

“He was a quiet guy when we were off set, but full of energy, very bright-eyed,” Woods told the Star from California.

He was always friendly with the cast behind the scenes, Woods recalled. In a way, they became his family and the set his home. Schuyler, the early Degrassi producer, became like a second mother to him on the set, many said.

Though he made a few guest appearances on episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Hope went back to being a nobody. He missed his cast family, even though he wasn’t great at keeping in touch, Boulard said.

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“He didn’t know any other life,” she said. “That’s why he latched on to his Degrassi family so hard … They were his brothers and sisters.”

Former Degrassi castmates began sharing the news of Hope’s death a couple of weeks ago, Woods said.

“We’re all pretty shocked about the news. We’re saddened by it. Neil was a great guy and a great light,” he said.

Boulard met Hope when they were both working at a Money Mart in Hamilton. “I’ve gotta work,” she said he told her. “I’ve gotta make a living.”

He moved on to blue-collar jobs, including one at United Furniture Warehouse. But Boulard said he always talked about becoming a director, but never reached out to Degrassi’s producers or former castmates.

“Wheels” made his last guest appearance on Degrassi in 2003 with former castmates Pat Mastroianni and Stefan Brogren, who play Joey Jeremiah and Archibald “Snake” Simpson — the original Degrassi trio who formed the fictional rock band the Zit Remedy.

His last moment on camera shows the three singing a Zit Remedy classic in the car after reuniting at a bowling alley. Hope’s character is all smiles in the passenger seat.

Everybody wants something they’ll never give up,

Everybody wants something, they’ll take your money and never give up

In his quiet off-screen life, Hope romanced Boulard. She remembers one dinner in particular, where the entire kitchen staff came out to ask for Hope’s autograph. While she was annoyed at the intrusion, Hope took it all in stride.

“He was smiling and joking with them and he signed everything,” she said. “He loved being known as ‘Wheels.’ ”

For an audience of teens, Hope represented an awkwardness and personal strife many could relate to.

“You can’t underestimate the phenomenon and how people believed in Wheels,” said former Star journalist Catherine Dunphy, who wrote two Degrassi books and conducted a Degrassi Talks interview with Hope. “This awkward, shy, grinning, bespectacled kid was very endearing.”

His legacy showed on social media sites Thursday, as fans expressed shock at the sudden news of Hope’s death.

“Neil Hope,” “RIP Wheels” and “Zit Remedy” (the fictional band of which Hope’s character was a member) were all trending on Twitter in Canada Thursday.

On a Facebook page dedicated to getting Hope to join the social networking site, Tracy Northrup Hope, his sister-in-law, wrote in January: “RIP You will always be in our hearts and always remembered. Now we all can be at peace. We miss you soo much !!!!xoxox.”