Jessica Marais

Jessica Marais is a South African-born Australian actress best known for her work on Australian television. Throughout her career, she has earned five Logie Awards out of nine nominations, as well as two Equity Ensemble Awards nominations. She is widely recognized for her starring roles in hit television series including Packed to the Rafters, Love Child, and The Wrong Girl.

Marais was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in Benoni before her family departed South Africa when she was three years old. After living in Canada and New Zealand, the family settled in Perth, Western Australia, when she was nine. Six months after relocating, her father, a university dean and diplomat, died from a heart attack, leaving her mother to raise Marais and her sister. She attended John XXIII College and St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls before training at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 2007.

While completing her final year at NIDA, Marais landed her breakthrough role as Rachel Rafter on the Seven Network comedy-drama Packed to the Rafters, appearing as a main cast member from 2008 to 2012 with subsequent finale appearances through 2013. Her work on the series earned her Logie Awards for Most Popular New Female Talent and Most Outstanding Newcomer in 2009. During this period, she also made her feature film debut in Two Fists, One Heart (2009) and held a recurring role as Mistress Denna in the American fantasy series Legend of the Seeker.

Following her departure from Packed to the Rafters, Marais moved to the United States and co-starred in the Starz period drama series Magic City from 2012 to 2013. Upon returning to Australia, she appeared in a 2014 Brisbane stage production of Così and portrayed Australian activist and entertainer Carlotta in a 2014 biographic telefilm for ABC TV.

From 2014 to 2017, Marais played the lead role of Dr Joan Millar across four seasons of the Nine Network drama Love Child. Beginning in 2016, she simultaneously starred in Network 10's drama series The Wrong Girl. Her roles across both television series earned her nominations for the Gold Logie in both 2017 and 2018.

In 2018, Marais stepped away from acting and withdrew from upcoming projects including Halifax: Retribution and Back to the Rafters for personal reasons, later revealing that she lives with depression and bipolar disorder. Her most recent screen role was in the 2020 film Chasing Wonders.

Marais was previously engaged to actor James Stewart, with whom she has one child, before ending their relationship in 2015. Outside of acting, she worked at a Sydney café in 2020 and relocated to Perth in 2022, settling in Mosman Park.