Rachael Carpani, an actress who appeared in nearly 180 episodes of Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters, has died at age 45.

Carpani’s family confirmed her death on Instagram, writing that she had been suffering from a chronic illness but passed “unexpectedly” earlier this month.

“It is with great sadness that Tony and Gael Carpani announce that their beautiful daughter, beloved Australian actress Rachael Carpani, unexpectedly but peacefully passed away after a long battle with chronic illness, in the early hours of Sunday 7th December,” the statement read.

Carpani recently had a recurring role in Home and Away, the long-running Channel 7 soap. She featured in U.S. productions NCIS: Los Angeles, A&E network’s The Glades, and The Way Back, Ben Affleck’s 2020 basketball movie.

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Carpani is best known in Australia for her work in McLeod’s Daughters, in which she starred as sweet-natured Jodi Fountain from 2001-2009. She told 7News last year that she moved to America so she would not be known as “Jodi from McLeod’s Daughters” in her home country.

She revealed in 2021 that she was taken to hospital with abdominal pain and required surgery for an undisclosed illness.