Perth-born actress Zoe Ventoura is best known for her starring role as Melissa Rafter in Packed to the Rafters, in which she earned a Logie Award nomination for Most Popular Actress.

Growing up in Thornlie, Zoe was always dedicated to the arts, spending countless hours dancing at her mother’s studio and later studying music in high school before going to study dance at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Decades later, Australia would be traumatised when Zoe’s Rafter’s role was killed off in a dramatic on-screen car crash.

“I’ve had people break down in tears in the supermarket and want to give me a hug,” she told Julie-anne Sprague on 6PR’s Backstories.

Press PLAY to hear Zoe’s full backstory