Australian actress Rachael Carpani, best known for her roles on McLeod’s Daughters, Home and Away, and NCIS: Los Angeles, has died at the age of 45.
Her family confirmed the news on Instagram, sharing that Carpani had been living with a chronic illness and passed away unexpectedly but peacefully on December 7. “It is with great sadness that Tony and Gael Carpani announce that their beautiful daughter… passed away after a long battle with chronic illness,” the statement read.
Carpani starred in nearly 180 episodes of McLeod’s Daughters as Jodi Fountain from 2001 to 2009, a role that made her a household name in Australia. In later years, she appeared in Home and Away and several U.S. projects, including NCIS: Los Angeles, The Glades, and the 2020 film The Way Back.
She previously spoke about moving to the U.S. to step beyond her iconic TV role and revealed in 2021 that she had undergone surgery following severe abdominal pain.
