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Actor, Cameo & Crew Profiles > Actor Profiles > Gemma Pranita

Born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1986, to a Thai father and English mother, Gemma Pranita Xumsai moved to Australia with her family when she was aged 12, and after completing high school, in 2004, she trained at the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts. During her audition for WAAPA in Sydney, Gemma met Jai Courtney and, a few months later, they started dating and, as of 2012, have been together for 7 years.

Gemma formed a theatre company, Cry Havoc with her friend Kate Revz in 2006 and, following her graduation from WAAPA, she joined the Bell Shakespeare Company and toured with them for eight months. She went on to appear in the films Crush and Resistance. Having received a grant to research Anton Chekhov, Gemma was in Russia in 2010, believing that she'd missed out on a chance to audition for the new regular role of Jade Mitchell. Upon her return to Australia, Gemma managed to get an audition on the final day of casting and won the role, with the character being announced in September 2010 and first appearing on screen in December of that year.

After two years as Jade, Gemma announced her intention to leave at the end of her contract in June 2012, filming her final scenes in August and making her final appearance in episode 6521, which aired in Australia on 27th October 2012. Gemma was quoted as saying that two years was long enough to play one character, that she would especially miss working with Chris Milligan and Eve Morey and that she intended to pursue work opportunities in both the USA and Australia.

Profile by Steve

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