Home and Away star Jacqui Purvis shows off her incredible acting range in emotional new short film

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Jacqui Purvis is be best known as blonde bombshell Felicity Newman on Home and Away, but the young actress now has a very different project in the works.

The Summer Bay favourite will make her writing debut on a thought-provoking short film about mental health and grief.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday night, Jacqui shared a teaser to Voicemails Last Forever, a project she’s been working on for more than two years.

“Two years ago I wrote a short film about mental health. This project is very near and dear to my heart and I’m excited to announce that I’m finally ready to start filming, but I need your help!” Jacqui shared.

“My team and I wish to create a film that brings an honest, unfiltered portrayal of depression, suicide and grief, conveying how the effects differ with each person, but the underlying truth is the same- you are not alone.”

In the preview clip, Jacqui is seen going through the different stages of grief, while her voice narrates the feelings associated with depression.

“It’s a dangerous feeling, loneliness, left to your own thoughts. Leading you to doors you shouldn’t open. I’m not welcome here, yet I drown myself more and more,” she says.

“The undoing, the crashing, crashing like a wave pushed by the nonsense of the sea. Today I will crash, tomorrow I will glide to shore. Waves of nonsense, drowning, drowning in my own thoughts.

“So what now? You taught me to feel and ill always love you for that, but how do I feel without becoming numb?”

The emotional clip starts with Jacqui’s character sitting helplessly on a couch surrounded by alcohol bottles, before she breaks out into hysterical laughter.

The preview ends with Jacqui lying clothed in a bathtub before gasping for air and crying while looking into the camera.

Jacqui revealed she and her team put their own money behind the project, but they still need additional funding to get it off the ground.

“We would greatly appreciate any kind of contribution, small or large, then hopefully with enough money we can make an amazing film!” she wrote.

“Thank you so much for your help and for being a part of this journey. Let’s bring this project to life!”

Jacqui joined the cast of Home and Away in 2021 alongside Nicholas Cartwright, who plays her brother Cash Newman.

She’s previously opened up to TV WEEK about the role, saying it’s been “super challenging but in the best way”.

“I’ve loved every single day [on set]. I love that my character has no filter and says what she feels, usually, completely unapologetically, which I really admire,” she said.