Perth's Jessica De Gouw opens up about her Netflix show

Perth Now

3 days ago

Jessica De Gouw knows her way around an airport, an 11th-hour itinerary, an unseen destination, a new job.
But on a recent night-time flight, the lights of the city where she is coming in to land are familiar. De Gouw is home.
It's only a lightning-fast visit to Perth to see her sister but finally, after months of being busy, she's taking a beat.
Not that it's a lie-by-the-pool type of homecoming. The actor flew on a last-minute flight to get stuck into a different type of work: helping her sister unpack in her new house, and looking after her six-month-old nephew.
But as she's secreted away in a spare room somewhere in the house to talk to STM, De Gouw feels a kind of peace being back on home turf.
'Perth makes things very easy,' she says. 'When you come from the hustle of big cities, you go ahhh (sighs). Everything slows down a bit and there's something in that, about being present and being mindful. I can take a breath.'
Though now based in London, De Gouw, who grew up in the Perth Hills and studied at Curtin University, has spent the past couple of months in Sydney, reconnecting with her partner of several years, Sophie Roberts.
It's been a little over two years since De Gouw first spoke about falling for Roberts, who works as a hairdresser in Sydney. In a 2023 interview with Vogue, she shared the logistics and the love behind maintaining such a long-distance relationship: 'we work in creative industries and don't know where our next jobs will be, so we have to be up for the adventure'.
'We just make the best decisions for each other and ourselves, and what we want, and what makes us happy, and see where the wind blows us,' she told the magazine. 'It's really exciting to be able to be that open about the future.' Jess De Gouw as Olivia in The Survivors. Credit: Netflix © 2025
Five years after their first date, the couple is still commuting back and forth — this Perth pit stop is just one in a long line for De Gouw, who is constantly on the road.
'I have been (in London) for maybe 12 years now, and it's very much home,' she says. 'But because Soph is in Sydney, it's very, very long distance — we are all just about navigating that . . .
'I am either with her or in London, and following jobs — we're very all-over-the-shop.'
For now, she's immersed in jiggling a baby and helping unpack boxes, but not for long. In a few days, she'll head back over east, then back to London in time for the European summer. There are as-yet-unannounced work opportunities to get started on, the latest in a long line of high-profile jobs De Gouw has scored since starting her career in 2006 on the children's series The Sleepover Club.
In the almost two decades since, the 37-year-old has carved a place as one of the country's most in-demand actors, working across film and TV productions around the world.
Just over a decade ago De Gouw briefly relocated to Los Angeles, where she scored leading roles in two major television productions: the superhero series Arrow and Dracula, in which she starred opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
She came back to Australia to shoot the film Cut Snake, directed by Tony Ayres, who is also the creative force behind De Gouw's most recent project, a TV project for Netflix, The Survivors.
Based on the novel by Jane Harper, the six-part limited series tells the story of Kieran, played by The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power star Charlie Vickers. Kieran returns home to the fictional Evelyn Bay in Tasmania with his partner Mia (played by Yerin Ha, who'll soon be seen as the lead in the upcoming season of Bridgerton) to spend time with his ailing father and emotionally distant mother. Charlie Vickers and Jessica De Gouw in The Survivors. Credit: Aedan O'Donnell / Netflix
But when his return to town coincides with the discovery of a young woman's body, Kieran is forced to reckon with the traumatic events that altered his life 15 years earlier, when a devastating storm led to the deaths of three people close to him.
It's a twisting, turning murder mystery, told through dual timelines and boasting sensational performances from the central ensemble cast, which includes acting powerhouses Catherine McClements and Robyn Malcolm. De Gouw plays an old friend of Kieran who is integral to the story.
'I hadn't read the book (before I got the scripts), but I was aware of Jane Harper, and I was sent one or two episodes and loved it,' De Gow explains.
'Tony and I had known each other for many years, and we'd been looking for an opportunity to work with one another again.
'This feels really Australian, but also very accessible. It's punchy, it's melodrama and it's very entertaining. It's the kind of TV that I like to watch — I think international audiences will love it as well.' Catherine McClements and Jessica De Gouw in The Survivors. Credit: Aedan O'Donnell / Courtesy of Netflix
Ayres, who was a showrunner on the Emmy and BAFTA-nominated series The Slap and co-created the hit series Glitch, describes The Survivors as a Trojan horse.
'It's a family melodrama disguised as a murder mystery,' he says. 'Because the things that are really at its heart are things like a son wanting his mother's love and the mother who just cannot afford to give it because her whole world might fall apart.'
For her part, De Gouw was also able to explore a new location after landing in Tasmania early last year.
'We shot January through March, which was perfect — it was dreamy,' she explains.
'It's so beautiful — I had never been before, so I had a great time being a tourist as well. We shot in incredible locations, including Eaglehawk Neck, which is an hour outside of Hobart.'
It was so idyllic De Gouw found herself browsing online real-estate sites and dreaming of laying down roots in that corner of the country.
But an escape to the wilds of Tasmania will have to wait for now. De Gouw needs to get back to the UK. Her last major role was in the critically acclaimed British series The Couple Next Door, which also starred Outlander's Sam Heughan, and there are more projects in the pipeline in that part of the world. Jessica De Gouw in The Couple Next Door. Credit: Supplied / TheWest
In many ways, De Gouw's career has played out back-to-front compared to so many Australian actors who follow the bright lights straight to Hollywood.
'I definitely did that path — Perth, Sydney, LA — but then I found myself in London, and I found my community more there than I had in LA,' she says.
'LA is amazing, but it's a tough town, and a town of extremes: extremely wonderful times and extremely stressful times, so I found it hard to be able to sit there, at ease.
'But now I think COVID has changed everything: it doesn't matter where you are now, because very rarely do you go into the room for auditions . . .
'I would love it if audition rooms opened up a little more, but it does provide a lot of flexibility for me. I can be in Sydney auditioning for things in London, and then in London auditioning for roles back in Australia.'
More airports for De Gouw, undoubtedly. But also more adventures.