Jessica Napier (born 13 April 1979) is a New Zealand-born actress based in Australia. She has appeared in a number of feature films, including ''
Love Serenade
''Love Serenade'' is a 1996 Australian comedy film written and directed by Shirley Barrett. It has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man".
There are not many characters in ''Love Serenade'', which is set in a fictitiou ...
'', ''
Blackrock
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...
'', ''
Cut'', ''
City Loop
The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a mostly-underground and partly surface-level subway and rail system in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Loop includes t ...
'', ''
Angst
Angst is fear or anxiety ('' anguish'' is its Latinate equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity.
Etymology
The word ...
'', ''
The Illustrated Family Doctor'' and ''
Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider.
The first s ...
'', and is well known for her role of Becky Howard in the Australian TV drama series ''
McLeod's Daughters
''McLeod's Daughters'' is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons. It stars Lisa Chappell and Bri ...
''.
Early life
Napier was born in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...
, New Zealand. Her father, actor
Marshall Napier
James Marshall Napier (22 October 1951 – 14 August 2022) was a New Zealand-born character actor, playwright and graphic artist. He is known for a succession of strong supporting roles in Australasian films and television shows. He has also h ...
, relocated the family to Australia when she was a child.
Career
Jessica had her first taste for acting at age 9, when she played her father's daughter on the long-running Australian TV series ''
Police Rescue''. A year later she reappeared in another episode, when Marshall nominated Jessica to fill in for a role when the girl who was originally booked to do the job refused because the character was required to be submerged in a swamp.
It was not until Jessica was 15 that she decided to be an actress. On her first serious audition she won the lead role of Edwina on ''
Echo Point
''Echo Point'' is an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Group for Network Ten on 1 June 1995 until 1 December 1995.
The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap ''Home and Away' ...
''. Her first feature film was in
Shirley Barrett's award-winning ''
Love Serenade
''Love Serenade'' is a 1996 Australian comedy film written and directed by Shirley Barrett. It has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man".
There are not many characters in ''Love Serenade'', which is set in a fictitiou ...
'' (with
Miranda Otto), followed by the critically acclaimed ''
Blackrock
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...
'', where her character's brother was played by
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...
in his first prominent film role.
Small parts in a string of other popular Australian TV shows, including ''
Water Rats'' and ''
Murder Call
''Murder Call'' is an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and broadcast on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The series was inspired by the ''Tessa Vance'' novels by Jennifer Rowe, b ...
'', followed; she played the role of Gerry Davis in the highly acclaimed ''
Wildside'', alongside
Aaron Pedersen
Aaron Pedersen is an Aboriginal Australian television and film actor. He is known for many film and television roles, in particular as Detective Jay Swan in the film '' Mystery Road'', its sequel '' Goldstone'', and spin-off television series. ...
,
Rachel Blake
Rachael Morelle Blake (born May 26, 1971) is an Australian actress.
Early life
Blake was born in Perth, Western Australia. At the age of 18 months, she moved to England with her English parents, only to return to Perth at age 11. Blake was b ...
and
Tony Martin. The improvisational-style series also launched the career of
Abbie Cornish.
Napier then appeared in ''
Stingers'' (with
Peter Phelps) and ''
City Loop
The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a mostly-underground and partly surface-level subway and rail system in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Loop includes t ...
'' before landing the lead role of Raffy in Mushroom Pictures' film ''
Cut''. The cult Australian slasher film was her first lead in a feature film and also saw
Molly Ringwald
Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an o ...
,
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
and
Stephen Curry
Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...
.
She then starred in ''
Angst
Angst is fear or anxiety ('' anguish'' is its Latinate equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity.
Etymology
The word ...
'' and appeared in the made-for-TV film ''Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story''.
Already a household name in Australia, Napier then played the
Becky Howard
This is a list of characters from the Australian drama series ''McLeod's Daughters''.
Main characters
Recurring cast
Engagements and marriages
* Claire McLeod and Peter Johnson were engaged, but Claire ended the relationship when she fou ...
on the Australian TV drama ''
McLeod's Daughters
''McLeod's Daughters'' is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons. It stars Lisa Chappell and Bri ...
'' from 2000–2003. Her father played Harry Ryan on the same series.
Napier then starred in the tele-movie ''
The Alice''. Following its success it went on as a series with Jessica reprising her role in the tele-drama.
In 2009, Napier guest starred in both the popular third season of TV series ''
Sea Patrol
''Sea Patrol'' is an Australian television drama that ran from 2007 to 2011, set on board HMAS ''Hammersley'', a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The series focused on the ship and the lives of its crew members.
Despi ...
'' and the new ''
Rescue: Special Ops''.
The thriller ''Savages Crossing'' was released in 2010 and saw Jessica star in an ensemble cast of other Australian favourites including
John Jarratt
John Jarratt is an Australian television film actor, producer and director and TV presenter who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He has appeared in a number of film roles including '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ' ...
,
Craig McLachlan
Craig Dougall McLachlan (born 1 September 1965) is an Australian actor, musician, singer and composer. He has been involved in film, television, the music industry and music theatre for over 30 years. He is best known for appearing in the soap ...
,
Sacha Horler
Sacha Horler (born 1971) is an Australian actress. Her parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s.
Career
Sacha Horler graduated from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 1993 and made ...
and
Chris Haywood
Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, l ...
.
In 2010 the
Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
announced that they would be continuing with their successful ''
Underbelly
Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society.
This term could refer to:
Business
* ...
'' franchise by producing three separate stand-alone crime telemovies which would be known as ''The Underbelly Files''. Jessica was cast as the lead actress in the second of these telemovies, titled ''
Infiltration
Infiltration may refer to:
Science, medicine, and engineering
*Infiltration (hydrology), downward movement of water into soil
*Infiltration (HVAC), a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning term for air leakage into buildings
*Infiltration (me ...
'', opposite
Sullivan Stapleton
Sullivan Stapleton (born 14 June 1977) is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series ''The Secret Life of Us'', '' Strike Back'' and '' Animal Kingdom''. He also starred in the NBC crime drama '' Blindspot''.
S ...
. ''Infiltration'' follows Victorian police officer Colin McClaren's investigation into the local
Calabria
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n mafia in which he infiltrates their group and also stars Valentino del Toro,
Henry Nixon
Henry Nixon is an Australian actor.
Nixon was born at St Margaret's Hospital in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. As a child he lived in Elanora Heights, Paddington and Wollstonecraft in Sydney with his father, Gerald Nixon, a Recordin ...
,
Tottie Goldsmith
Caroline "Tottie" Goldsmith (born 27 August 1962) is an Australian actress and singer.
Career
Television
In the early 1980s, Goldsmith acted in the Australian television series ''The Young Doctors'', '' Starting Out'', ''Prisoner'', '' Saturd ...
, Buddy Dannoun and Glenda Liscott. In 2021 Jessica Napier appeared in a small role in ''
Moon Rock For Monday
Moon Rock For Monday is a 2022 Cinema of Australia, Australian independent film. The film was written and directed by Kurt Martin and produced by Jim Robison. It stars Australian actors George Pullar, Nicholas Hope, Alan Dukes, Aaron Jeffery, Jessi ...
'', an AACTA nominated
feature film directed by Kurt Martin.
Personal life
She is married to David Adler. They have a daughter Emily and a son Oliver. Both Jessica and her father Marshall are vegetarians and support various animal rights foundations.
She has also supported the use of
Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is a zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The opening hours are between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful water view'.
It ...
in Sydney for retired circus elephants.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Jessica
1979 births
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
Australian television actresses
Living people
New Zealand television actresses