'I' M A WORK IN PROGRESS

AS THE ACTRESS RETURNS TO NEIGHBOURS, HER FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT

- Kylie Walters

With her red gown billowing around her as she perches on the top edge of a spiral staircase, Jodi Gordon looks at the W camera and breaks into the beaming smile she is famous for as she joins WHO for our exclusive photoshoot and interview to celebrate her return to Ramsay Street. After a quick change into a black broderie dress, she steps outside on the balcony to join the team for the next shot on a very windy spring day. A huge gust almost leads to her very own Marilyn moment, eliciting an infectious fit of giggles from the actress, who radiates joy.

"Days like this remind me of being a teen model and doing shoots for Dolly and Girlfriend," the 38-year-old reminisces. "It's so fun to look back on those days because it was all very glamorous and extremely different to what my day-to-day life looks like now."

Gordon had an early start in show business, winning a modelling competition and contract at just 13. She's been a staple on our screens now for almost two decades, making her debut as tomboy Martha MacKenzie on Home and Away, a role that saw her pick up the Most Popular New Female Talent award at the TV Week Logies in 2006.

Since 2016, she has had a recurring role playing the muchloved Elly Conway on Neighbours. After the Network 10 soap's epic July 2022 finale, which attracted the likes of Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, and its subsequent surprise September return, Gordon has returned as Elly alongside co-star April Rose Pengilly, who plays her on-screen love interest Chloe Brennan.