Marisa Julia Siketa (born 7 November 1990) is an Australian actress, disc jockey, animal ambassador, and traffic manager. She is best known for her roles as the first actress to play Melanie Atwood on ''

The Saddle Club ''The Saddle Club'' is an Australian-Canadian children's television series developed by Sarah Dodd, based on the books written by Bonnie Bryant. Like the book series, the scripted live action series follows the lives of three best friends in ...

'' and as

Summer Hoyland Summer Hoyland is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours'', played by Jordy Lucas. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 May 2002. The character was originally played by Marisa Siketa f ...

on ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

''.

Acting career

Marisa Siketa was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. She joined Screen Actors Australia in 1998 and commenced training in the Geelong studio on weekends. She started off working as an extra on ''

SeaChange ''SeaChange'' is an Australian television program that ran from 1998 to 2000 on the ABC and in 2019 on the Nine Network. It was created by Andrew Knight and Deborah Cox and starred Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham, William McInnes, John Howar ...

'' and the children's TV series ''

Horace and Tina ''Horace & Tina'' is an Australian children's television series that first screened on Network Ten in 2001. The series was produced by Jonathan M. Shiff Productions. The series mixes animatronic characters (Horace & Tina) with live action drama. ...

''. She was cast as

on ''Neighbours'' from 2002 to 2005 before reducing her role to a recurring one to concentrate on her school work and eventually leaving the series in 2007. In October 2009 it was announced the character of Summer Hoyland was being written back into ''Neighbours'', though the role had been recast for unknown reasons. Siketa left ''The Saddle Club'' after Season 1 due to landing her role on ''Neighbours''. Marisa was replaced by

Jessica Jacobs Jessica Madison Jacobs (14 November 1990 – 10 May 2008) was an Australian actress and singer. She was best known for her role as Melanie Atwood in the second series of ''The Saddle Club''. Biography Born in Canberra, Australia, Jessica Jacob ...

Personal life

Siketa has retired from acting. Siketa has two older siblings named Clinton and Nicole. She is of Croatian descent and speaks the

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

fluently. Siketa was formerly a DJ at 95.5 K-ROCK. but left in 2014. Siketa is an animal ambassador for the Geelong Animal Welfare SocietyMorning Star
and a traffic manager for

Grant Broadcasters Grant Broadcasters is an Australian regional radio network. Founded in 1942, by 2019 it owned 53 radio stations. In 2022 it sold 46 to Here, There & Everywhere retaining shareholdings in seven in Canberra, Geelong, Goulburn and Perth. History ...

stations in Victoria, Australia.

References

External links

*
The Siketa Family
* Australian soap opera actresses Australian child actresses People from Geelong 1990 births Living people Australian people of Croatian descent Actresses from Geelong Actors from Geelong {{Australia-tv-actor-stub