Suzanne Packer

Suzanne Packer (born Suzanne Jackson on 20 September 1962) is a Welsh actress who is best known for playing the role of Tess Bateman in the long-running television series Casualty from September 2003 until August 2015. She returned to the show as a guest for the 30th anniversary episodes. She now teaches in many Welsh schools.

Early life
Packer is the daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents to Abergavenny, and her mother worked as a nurse. She is the elder sister of the Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson. Whilst studying at Llanedeyrn High School in Cardiff, she already showed an interest in acting, playing the lead in school plays including Oklahoma and The King and I.

Career
Packer attended the National Youth Theatre of Wales before earning a BA in theatre and drama at the University of Warwick. She then trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Embarking on an acting career, in the early 1990s she was most well known for her role as Mick Johnson's wife Josie in the Channel 4 soap Brookside. She then undertook a degree in teaching at Goldsmiths College, and after graduating in 1996 taught drama in London.

Whilst acting, she met and married American actor Jesse Newman. The couple moved to New York City, where she taught drama and acted, and in 2003 gave birth to their son Paris. After the birth their relationship began to break down, and they agreed to move back to the UK, but Newman later decided to stay in the US. The couple divorced the following year.

Arriving back in Cardiff with her three-month-old son, she gained an audition for BBC drama Casualty. Three weeks later she started work as Sister Tess Bateman, first appearing on screen from September 2003. In  November 2006 Martina Laird who played the role of Comfort left Casualty, which then meant that Suzanne was the second longest serving cast member.

On August 22, 2015, she quit Casualty after playing the character of Tess for nearly 12 years to become a member of the cast of Stella and Doctors.

Packer appeared with her brother Colin on the first series of Pointless Celebrities on 6 July 2011. They were eliminated in the first round.

On 19 March 2017, Packer appeared in the ITV crime drama Vera as ranger Sophia in the episode "Natural Selection".

On 23 February 2018, Packer appeared in the series finale of Death in Paradise.

On 18 March 2018, Packer played a minor role in an episode of Hold the Sunset.

On 4 November 2018, Packer played Eve Cicero in the Doctor Who episode, "The Tsuranga Conundrum". 

In 2019 Packer played Dame Stella Regan in the 5Star prison drama Clink. And she also played Delyth Lloyd in Series 1 and 2 of the Welsh drama Keeping Faith.

Personal life
Packer is divorced from American actor Jesse Newman and in 2006 lived in Cardiff with their son Paris.

Filmography

TV

References

External links

Category:1962 births
Category:Living people
Category:Actresses from Cardiff
Category:Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick
Category:Black Welsh people
Category:People of Jamaican Maroon descent
Category:People from Abergavenny
Category:Welsh people of Taíno descent
Category:Welsh people of American descent
Category:Welsh people of Jamaican descent
Category:Welsh soap opera actresses
Category:Welsh television actresses
Category:Welsh schoolteachers