Jessica Napier
Encyclopedia
Jessica Napier is a New Zealand
born actress. She has been working consistently in Australian film and television for the past 15 years. She has appeared in a number of feature films, including Love Serenade
, Blackrock
, Cut
, City Loop, Angst
, The Illustrated Family Doctor and Ghost Rider
and is well known for her ongoing role of Becky Howard in the Australian TV drama series McLeod's Daughters
.
, New Zealand
, the daughter of New Zealand actor Marshall Napier
. At age 9, her family relocated to Sydney, Australia for her father's acting career. She attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts
and has an older brother, Reuben, who is a singer.
. 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
. Her first feature film was in Shirley Barrett
's award winning Love Serenade
(with Miranda Otto
), followed by the critically acclaimed Blackrock
, where her character's brother was played by Heath Ledger
in his film debut.
Small parts in a string of other popular Australian TV shows including Water Rats
and Murder Call
followed, she played the role of Gerry Davis in the highly acclaimed Wildside, alongside Aaron Pedersen
, Rachel Blake 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 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
, Kylie Minogue
and Stephen Curry.
She then starred in Angst
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 on the Australian TV drama McLeod's Daughters
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
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
, Craig McLachlan
, Sacha Horler
and Chris Haywood
.
In 2010 the Nine Network
announced that they would be continuing with their successful "Underbelly
" 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 opposite Sullivan Stapleton
. Infiltration follows Victorian police officer Colin McClaren's investigation into the local Calabria
n mafia in which he infiltrates their group and also stars Valentino del Toro, Henry Nixon
, Tottie Goldsmith
, Buddy Dannoun and Glenda Liscott.
Both Jessica and Marshall are vegetarians and support various animal rights foundations. She has also supported the use of Taronga Zoo
in Sydney for retired circus elephants.
She and her father won $64,000 on Australia's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for a South Australian animal rights group in 2002.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
born actress. She has been working consistently in Australian film and television for the past 15 years. She has appeared in a number of feature films, including Love Serenade
Love Serenade
Love Serenade is a 1996 Australian feature film directed by Shirley Barrett. It is a comedy film which has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man."...
, Blackrock
Blackrock (film)
Blackrock is a 1997 Australian film directed by Steven Vidler and written by Nick Enright. Internationally, it is best remembered as the first prominent role of actor Heath Ledger.-Origin:...
, Cut
Cut (film)
Cut is a 2000 Australian comedy horror film, which was directed by Kimble Rendall and stars Kylie Minogue, Molly Ringwald and Tiriel Mora.-Synopsis:...
, City Loop, Angst
Angst
Angst is an English, German, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch word for fear or anxiety . It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety or inner turmoil...
, The Illustrated Family Doctor and Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (film)
Ghost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the character of the same name which appeared in Marvel Comics, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the Devil and transforms into thevigilante Ghost...
and is well known for her ongoing role of Becky Howard in the Australian TV drama series McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm...
.
Early life
Jessica was born in WellingtonWellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the daughter of New Zealand actor Marshall Napier
Marshall Napier
Marshall James Napier is a New Zealand-born actor. He is the father of actress Jessica Napier and the uncle of actor James Napier.Before becoming an actor, Napier worked variously as an art student, factory worker and truck driver...
. At age 9, her family relocated to Sydney, Australia for her father's acting career. She attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts
Newtown High School of the Performing Arts
Newtown High School of the Performing Arts is a state government school located in the suburb of Newtown in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the leading Performing and Visual Arts schools in Australia...
and has an older brother, Reuben, who is a singer.
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 RescuePolice Rescue
Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC....
. 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
Echo Point was an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Productions for Network Ten in 1995.The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap Home and Away on the Seven Network...
. Her first feature film was in Shirley Barrett
Shirley Barrett
Shirley Barrett is an Australian film director and screenwriter. Her film Love Serenade won the Caméra d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Cherith * Love Serenade * Walk the Talk...
's award winning Love Serenade
Love Serenade
Love Serenade is a 1996 Australian feature film directed by Shirley Barrett. It is a comedy film which has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man."...
(with Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. The daughter of actors Lindsay and Barry Otto and the sister of actress Gracie Otto, she began acting at age eighteen, and has performed in a variety of independent and major studio films....
), followed by the critically acclaimed Blackrock
Blackrock (film)
Blackrock is a 1997 Australian film directed by Steven Vidler and written by Nick Enright. Internationally, it is best remembered as the first prominent role of actor Heath Ledger.-Origin:...
, where her character's brother was played by Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
in his film debut.
Small parts in a string of other popular Australian TV shows including Water Rats
Water Rats (TV series)
Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001. The series was based around the men and women of the Sydney Water Police who fight crime across Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney...
and Murder Call
Murder Call
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked...
followed, she played the role of Gerry Davis in the highly acclaimed Wildside, alongside Aaron Pedersen
Aaron Pedersen
Aaron Pedersen is an Australian television and film actor of Arrente/Arabana Australian Aboriginal descent.-Career:Prior to Aaron's acting career, Aaron plied his trade as a journalist with ABC2 at Elsternwick studios in Melbourne....
, Rachel Blake and Tony Martin
Tony Martin (actor)
Tony Martin is an Australian actor. He married Rachael Blake on 21 December 2003. His son, Justin, is also an actor, with appearances in Somersault and Blue Water High to his credit....
.The improvisational-style series also launched the career of Abbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.-...
.
Napier then appeared in Stingers
Stingers
Stingers was an Australian police drama television series. It ran for eight seasons on the Nine Network before it was canceled in late 2004 due to declining ratings and the late timeslot Channel Nine gave the program...
(with Peter Phelps
Peter Phelps
Peter Phelps is an Australian actor, singer and writer. He is notable for his role of Peter Church in the television drama, Stingers and Trevor Cole, in Baywatch...
) and City Loop before landing the lead role of Raffy in Mushroom Pictures' film CUT
Cut (film)
Cut is a 2000 Australian comedy horror film, which was directed by Kimble Rendall and stars Kylie Minogue, Molly Ringwald and Tiriel Mora.-Synopsis:...
. The cult Australian slasher film was her first lead in a feature film and also saw Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, singer and dancer. Having appeared in the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , and Pretty in Pink , Ringwald has been frequently named the greatest teen star of all time...
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
and Stephen Curry.
She then starred in Angst
Angst
Angst is an English, German, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch word for fear or anxiety . It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety or inner turmoil...
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 on the Australian TV drama McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm...
from 2000-2003. Her father played Harry Ryan on the same series.
Napier then starred in the tele-movie The Alice
The Alice
The Alice was an Australian drama television series created by Justin Monjo and Robyn Sinclair. It was set in the central outback city of Alice Springs. The program began as a successful TV movie, that later spun off a regular series. The series proved less popular and was cancelled by the Nine...
. 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 (TV series)
Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set on board HMAS Hammersley, a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy . The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members....
and the new Rescue: Special Ops
Rescue: Special Ops
Rescue: Special Ops is an Australian television drama series that first screened on the Nine Network in 2009. Filmed in and around Sydney, the program is produced by Southern Star Entertainment with the assistance of Screen Australia and the New South Wales Government.This drama series focuses on a...
.
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
-Early life:Jarratt was born and grew up in Wongawilli, a small rural town near Wollongong, New South Wales and later in the Snowy Mountains area. Jarratt's father was a coal miner and later concreter, who worked on the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric scheme. Both his parents were of Irish origin....
, Craig McLachlan
Craig McLachlan
Craig McLachlan is an Australian actor and singer. He appeared in shows such as Sons and Daughters, Neighbours, Bugs and Home and Away.-Biography:...
, Sacha Horler
Sacha Horler
Sacha Horler is an Australian actress. Her parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s.-Career:...
and Chris Haywood
Chris Haywood
Chris Haywood is an English-born, Australian-based film and television actor/producer.-Early life:Haywood was born in Billericay, Essex, England. He spent his early childhood in Chelmsford before moving to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire where he attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School from...
.
In 2010 the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
announced that they would be continuing with their successful "Underbelly
Underbelly (TV series)
Underbelly is a 13-part Australian television mini-series that retells the real events of the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, and is the first series in the larger Underbelly Franchise. It depicts the key players in Melbourne's criminal underworld, including the Carlton Crew and their rival,...
" 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 opposite Sullivan Stapleton
Sullivan Stapleton
Sullivan Stapleton is an Australian actor, who has appeared in many television series but is best known from his roles in Satisfaction and The Secret Life of Us.-Career:...
. Infiltration follows Victorian police officer Colin McClaren's investigation into the local Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
n mafia in which he infiltrates their group and also stars Valentino del Toro, Henry Nixon
Henry Nixon
Henry Nixon is an Australian actor.Henry Nixon was born in the 1970s at St Margaret's Hospital on Crown Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills...
, Tottie Goldsmith
Tottie Goldsmith
Tottie Goldsmith is an Australian actress and singer.-Biography:Goldsmith is the daughter of Melbourne restaurateur and nightclub owner Brian Goldsmith and British-born actress Rona Newton-John. Her great grandfather was German physicist and Nobel Prize winner Max Born...
, Buddy Dannoun and Glenda Liscott.
Personal life
Jessica married David Adler in late 2009.Both Jessica and Marshall are vegetarians and support various animal rights foundations. She has also supported the use of Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Officially opened on 7 October 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman...
in Sydney for retired circus elephants.
She and her father won $64,000 on Australia's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for a South Australian animal rights group in 2002.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Love Serenade Love Serenade Love Serenade is a 1996 Australian feature film directed by Shirley Barrett. It is a comedy film which has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man."... |
Deborah 'Debbie' | |
| 1997 | Blackrock Blackrock (film) Blackrock is a 1997 Australian film directed by Steven Vidler and written by Nick Enright. Internationally, it is best remembered as the first prominent role of actor Heath Ledger.-Origin:... |
Rachel | |
| 1998 | War Story | Princess | Short film |
| 2000 | Cut Cut (film) Cut is a 2000 Australian comedy horror film, which was directed by Kimble Rendall and stars Kylie Minogue, Molly Ringwald and Tiriel Mora.-Synopsis:... |
Raffy Carruthers | |
| 2000 | City Loop | Sophie | |
| 2000 | Twitch Twitch (film) Twitch is a Student Academy Award nominated short film directed by Leah Meyerhoff.Twitch kicked off the film festival circuit by winning a Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance and going on to screen in over 200 film festivals worldwide... |
Jane | Short film |
| 2000 | Angst Angst (2000 film) Angst is a 2000 black comedy written by Anthony O'Connor, directed by Daniel Nettheim and starring Sam Lewis, Jessica Napier, Justin Smith and Abi Tucker. It was shot in and around Sydney, Australia. The film was released in Australian theatres on 31 August 2000.-Plot:Angst tells the story of a... |
Jade | |
| 2001 | Jet Set | ||
| 2002 | Sweet Dreams | ||
| 2002 | New Skin | Lyra | |
| 2002 | Stuffed Bunny | German Girlfriend | Short film |
| 2004 | Post | Jessica | Short film |
| 2005 | Christine | ||
| 2006 | Safety in Numbers | Jen | |
| 2007 | Ghost Riders Ghost Rider (film) Ghost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the character of the same name which appeared in Marvel Comics, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the Devil and transforms into thevigilante Ghost... |
Broken Spoke Waitress | |
| 2007 | Don't Panic | Kimberly | Short film |
| 2009 | Savages Crossing | Kate |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Police Rescue Police Rescue Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC.... |
Tracey Therese |
Episode: "L.P.G." Episode: "One for Dad" |
| 1995 | Echo Point Echo Point Echo Point was an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Productions for Network Ten in 1995.The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap Home and Away on the Seven Network... |
Edwina Amadio | TV series |
| 1996 | Twisted Tales Twisted Tales Twisted Tales was a horror comics anthology published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.-Publication history:... |
Michelle | Episode: "Night of the Monster" |
| 1996 | Police Rescue Police Rescue Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC.... |
Zoe | Episode: "The Only Constant" |
| 1997 | Water Rats Water Rats (TV series) Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001. The series was based around the men and women of the Sydney Water Police who fight crime across Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney... |
Vanessa | Episode: "The Witness" |
| 1997 | Murder Call Murder Call Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked... |
Brodie Cochrane | Episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin?" |
| 1997-1999 | Wildside | Gerry Davis | 60 episodes |
| 1998 | Stingers Stingers Stingers was an Australian police drama television series. It ran for eight seasons on the Nine Network before it was canceled in late 2004 due to declining ratings and the late timeslot Channel Nine gave the program... |
Kaye Kelso | 5 episodes |
| 2000 | Gladice | Episode: "London Calling" | |
| 2001 | Head Start Head Start (TV series) Head Start is an Australian television drama series that ran for forty episodes on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2001.-Story:... |
Amy | Episode: "Making Music" |
| 2001 | Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story | Klammie | TV movie |
| 2001-2003 | McLeod's Daughters McLeod's Daughters McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm... |
Becky Howard | 70 episodes |
| 2004 | Jess Daily | TV movie | |
| 2005-2006 | Jess Daily | 22 episodes | |
| 2007 | Chandon Pictures Chandon Pictures Chandon Pictures was an Australian comedy television series that premiered on Movie Extra on 10 November 2007 and ended on 7 May 2009.The series featured sixteen episodes and was a spin-off from a Tropfest short film produced by Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress... |
Annabelle | Episode: "Private Dick" |
| 2007 | All Saints All Saints (TV series) All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009... |
Pam Elton | Episode: "Life's Little Miracles" |
| 2009 | All Saints All Saints (TV series) All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009... |
Elyse Leine | Episode: "Out of Control 2" |
| 2009 | Sea Patrol Sea Patrol Sea Patrol may refer to:*Sea Patrol, an Australian television series from 2007-2011**Sea Patrol **Sea Patrol , known as Sea Patrol II: The Coup**Sea Patrol , known as Sea Patrol: Red Gold... |
Simone Robsen | 5 episodes |
| 2009 | Rescue: Special Ops Rescue: Special Ops Rescue: Special Ops is an Australian television drama series that first screened on the Nine Network in 2009. Filmed in and around Sydney, the program is produced by Southern Star Entertainment with the assistance of Screen Australia and the New South Wales Government.This drama series focuses on a... |
Nicole | 4 episodes |
| 2010 | Cops LAC | Natalie | Episode: "Illegal Dumping" |
| 2011 | Underbelly Files: Infiltration Underbelly Files: Infiltration Underbelly Files: Infiltration is an Australian made-for-television movie that aired on February 14, 2011 on the Nine Network. It is the second of three television movies in the Underbelly Files series, the other two being Tell Them Lucifer was Here and The Man Who Got Away.It tells the true story... |
Jude Gleeson / Narrator | TV movie |