Tessa de Josselin
Born (1989-04-13) 13 April 1989 (age 34)
Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActress
Years active2012–present

Tessa de Josselin (born 13 April 1989) is an Australian actress and voiceover artist. She left her job as an environmental planner to pursue a career in acting. Shortly after joining an acting agency, de Josselin appeared in an episode of Tricky Business and was cast as Samantha "Sam" Hazelton in children's drama In Your Dreams. In 2015, de Josselin appeared as Macy in Ready for This and Anna Conigrave in the feature film Holding the Man. From April 2015, de Josselin began starring in the long-running soap opera Home and Away as Billie Ashford. She departed the cast in 2016 and her last scenes aired in February 2017.

Early life

Tessa de Josselin was born in Narrabeen[1][2][3] and attended Manly High School. At 14 she joined the Australian Theatre for Young People, where she received her first acting role in a production of Debra Oswald's Skate.[4] She later enrolled at Sydney University, where she studied a combined arts and environmental sciences degree.[5] She went on to work for the New South Wales Government and two grassroots organisations based in the Northern Beaches.[6] De Josselin has been surfing since she was six years old.[4] She is a member of the North Narrabeen Boardriders team, who compete in the Australian women's Surf Tag Championships.[3][7][8] She also has a black belt in Taekwondo.[6]

Career

While working as an environmental planner, de Josselin joined an acting agency.[9][4] After a guest appearance in Tricky Business,[1] de Josselin was cast in the lead role of Samantha "Sam" Hazelton in the children's drama In Your Dreams.[9][10] The series is shot in both Australia and Germany, and the second season aired in 2014.[6][4] De Josselin also appeared in two short films, Drift and Nerds in Love.[citation needed]

In late 2014, de Josselin joined the cast of soap opera Home and Away as Billie Ashford, the younger sister of established character Martin Ashford. She made her first screen appearance on 27 April 2015.[11] De Josselin admitted to a TV Week writer that she had found some of Billie's storylines "challenging", particularity an arc where Billie falsely accused another character of sexual assault.[9] The actress departed the show in 2016 and Billie's exit storyline aired in February 2017.[12]

2015 saw de Josselin make recurring appearances in the teen drama Ready for This as "roller-derby enthusiast" Macy.[13] Macy is also a lesbian, and de Josselin was pleased with the development, commenting that "there aren't many gay roles being written for young adults on commercial tv."[6] De Josselin also appeared as Anna Conigrave in the Neil Armfield directed film Holding the Man, alongside Ryan Corr and Guy Pearce.[5] Following her departure from Home and Away, De Josselin joined the cast of SBS crime thriller Dead Lucky, alongside Rachel Griffiths.[14]

In early 2019, de Josselin was cast in romantic comedy film Paper Champions, directed by Jo-Anne Brechin. De Josselin plays "confident and determined nurse" Holly.[15]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Tricky Business Krista Episode: "Secrets and Lies"
2013 Drift Pele Short film
2013 Nerds In Love Jess Short film
2013–2014 In Your Dreams Samantha Hazelton
2015 Holding the Man Anna Conigrave Feature film
2015 Ready for This Macy
2015–2017 Home and Away Billie Ashford Main cast; Seasons 28–30
2018 Dead Lucky Jess Roberts
2020 Paper Champions Holly Feature film

References

  1. ^ a b "Tessa De Josselin". Marquee Management. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  2. ^ Marks, Ali; Swain, Sarah (11 December 2015). "Home and a wave on set". Manly Daily: 21.
  3. ^ a b "Tessa de Josselin likes to play". The Mermaid Society. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d "Tessa De Josselin joins Home and Away". Yahoo!7. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Home and Away newcomer Tessa De Josselin feels comfortable in Summer Bay". The Daily Telegraph. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d Wright, Briony (10 June 2015). "10 things to know about Tessa De Josselin". I-D. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  7. ^ Prentice, Andrew (3 March 2014). "Another win for all conquering girls on home soil". Manly Daily. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Girls Hit Centre Stage For Jim Beam Surftag at Dee Why". Tracks Magazine. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  9. ^ a b c "Tessa de Josselin's star status on the rise". TV Week. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  10. ^ "In Your Dreams series 1 (2013)". Screen Australia. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  11. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (21 April 2015). "Home and Away: Meet Ash's younger sister Billie". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  12. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (15 February 2017). "Home and Away kills off a regular character after heartbreaking wedding scenes". Digital Spy. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  13. ^ Pande, Rukmini (23 December 2015). "Ready to Rumble! The Second Half of 'Ready for This' Continues to Fight Numerous Stereotypes". PopMatters. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Rachel Griffiths leads cast in new SBS crime drama Dead Lucky". MediaWeek. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  15. ^ Groves, Don (23 May 2019). "Luke Saliba, Tessa de Josselin and Gary Sweet headline 'Paper Champions'". If Magazine. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

External links

Categories