australian television information archive

Rachael Carpani as Jodi Fountain

Jodi is an exuberant 17-year-old who has ambitions to be rich and famous. She was born at Drovers Run, the daughter of Meg the housekeeper who moved to the property with her husband, a stock hand, before he left her.

Jodi and her mum are very close, sharing a love of the land and the Sunday night TV movie. When she became a teenager, Jack McLeod paid for Jodi to attend a girls’ boarding school in the city—and her social life took off.

Jodi can hold a tune, is not afraid to perform, and has a pretty face. Well-meaning people told Meg that Jodi should take music and drama lessons at school and unwittingly fuelled her dreams of being famous.

Having just completed her year 12 exams, Jodi is trying to decide what her life is meant to be. Her secret ambition is to be a personal stylist. She sees it as the first step to Hollywood and fame.

Jodi thinks working on Drover’s Run will be a real drag but what she will learn is love, loyalty and a lot about who she really is… even if she doesn’t become famous for a week or two.

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Rachael Carpani has an Italian father and an Australian mother and grew up on five acres (2ha) near Dural, in the Sydney Hills district. Like Jodi, she yearned for the city and was relieved when her family moved to North Sydney.

Rachael joined up with an acting agent and was happy to get bit parts in television shows and commercials, but never took acting seriously… coming from an academic family, school work was always first. She studied drama in her final year of high school, and her marks placed her in the top 10 percent in NSW. She enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts, Media and Cultural Studies degree and also took performance studies, majoring in writing. She deferred her last year of university to work on McLeod's Daughters but hopes to return to do honours in film studies at some point.

When offered the part of Jodi, her first reaction was, "Are you sure you've got the right person?". She says it was "total excitement" to find out Sonia Todd would be playing her mother, Meg.

Rachael studied acting at the Australian College of Entertainment, at Macquarie University and at the Drama Works Drama Company. Her previous television work includes guest roles in All Saints and Home & Away.