A troubled former child star has told a court about the "helplessness and despair" he feels under a crushing financial management order as he sought bail for allegedly assaulting a flatmate.

Felix Dean, 27, represented himself without a lawyer before the NSW Supreme Court this afternoon when he argued that his sole "criminogenic risk factor" was an order imposed in 2019 restricting access to his cash.

"It appears to people who have an interest in this case ... that I'm just another child star who has hit the drugs and my life's just carked it," the former Home and Away actor told Justice Tim Faulkner from a cell in Lithgow prison.

Dean said that despite being homeless as a child, he had done well in the HSC and had been able to learn his lines for television.

But he said his human rights had been stripped by the financial management order imposed after being given an undisclosed sum as compensation for past trauma.

"It just makes me sad that I've been left in such a state of helplessness and despair because of this financial management order."

Currently on only AU$150 (NZ$165) per week, he said he needed to be free so he could talk to a lawyer about removing these restrictions before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The order had "clearly been a detriment" to the child star, the court was told.

"I want to change the narrative by representing myself today," Dean said.

In a rapid-fire speech which Justice Faulkner often had to interrupt just to slow it down, Dean described himself as a resilient person who had improved his life by ceasing using intravenous drugs since November 2022.

"I don't want to harm myself, I care for myself, I respect my body and I respect my brain," he said.

He described drugs as a "solution" to his actions.

Dean has been charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against carpenter Patrick Keys.

He called the case against him weak. He said he had met Keys at a poker tournament and had allowed him to rent his bedroom to get more money.

The alleged assault which took place on August 1 was an "argy bargy", he told the court, saying that he would plead not guilty.

"It's between two men – he has not sustained serious injuries," Dean said.

Blood found by police in his apartment could have been from a nose-bleed, the court was told.

The alleged assault took place while the former child star was on parole for previous offending.

Justice Faulkner refused to grant the 27-year-old bail, saying he had failed to show cause as to why he should be released.

A hearing for the assault charge will take place at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on November 4.