Actress Rachel Carpani, best known for her role as Jodie Fountain in the country drama “McLeod’s Daughters,” has passed away after battling a chronic illness. She was 45 years old.
Carpani’s sister, Georgia, shared a short statement on Instagram yesterday from her parents, Tony and Gael, revealing that her brother “passed away unexpectedly but peacefully” in the early hours of Sunday, December 7, and requested privacy at this time.
Born in Sydney, Kalpani studied acting at Macquarie University’s Australian College of Entertainment and Drama Works Company, and made her screen debut in the 2000 television film Ihaka: Blunt, directed by Peter Fisk.
Shortly thereafter, she landed the role of Jodie Fountain in McLeod’s Daughters, playing Claire and Tess’s troubled half-sister, for which she was nominated for both a Gold and a Silver Logie Award in 2007.
Her other Australian credits include 800 Words, All Saints, Home & Away and Scorched.
In the United States, Kalpani appeared in “The Rachels”, “The Seeds of Yesterday”, “If There Be Thorns”, “Stalker”, “NCIS: Los Angeles”, “Kane”, “Raw Dogs”, “True Blue”, “Touched”, “The Glades”, played Kathy Baker and Treat Williams’ daughter in “Against the Wall”, and starred in a leading role on the “Lifetime Network”.
She also appeared in the feature films Hating Alison Ashley, The Umbrella Man, Triangle, The Way Back, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee and Beat.
Kalpani spoke candidly about her battle with endometriosis. Like adenomyosis, she said, her endometriosis went undiagnosed “from about age 13 or 14” until her mid-30s.
Bridie Carter, who co-starred with Kalpani in McLeod’s Daughters, also paid tribute to Kalpani, calling her “the ‘baby’ of our MD family.”
“This is the wrong order of things,” she wrote on Instagram.
“The privilege of sharing time with all of you has made us better people. Not only will Ruck be missed immeasurably by her family and us, she is loved and will be missed by everyone around the world.”
