One of Australia's best loved and most respected performers since she began her career in 1962, whether on stage, movies or television, from Shakespeare and Chekov to Stoppard and Neil Simon. Jacki has won numerous Best Actress awards, for her moving portrayal of Joy Gresham in Shadowlands, and what critics called ‘a brilliant performance’ as Dr Gorgeous in The Sisters Rosensweig. Jacki has two AFI awards for the films Caddie and Stork, a Logie for Do I Have To Kill My Child? and a Variety Club Heart Award for They're Playing Our Song in which she starred with John Waters for two years.

Jacki studied drama at Doris Fitton's Independent Theatre in North Sydney and some of her theatre credits include Born Yesterday, Six Degrees of Separation, The Real Thing, Love Letters, Away and Shadowlands for the Sydney Theatre Company; Emerald City, Blithe Spirit, Joe Egg, Daylight Saving, The Sisters Rosenweig, Shadowlands and Navigating for the Melbourne Theatre Company; Navigating for the Queensland Theatre Company; A Streetcar Named Desire, The Three Sisters, The Imaginary Invalid, Love's Labour's Lost, You Never Can Tell, Forget Me Not Lane and the Legend of King O'Malley for the Old Tote; The Removalists, Rockola, The Seagull, Tom and After Magritte for Nimrod.

Among Jacki's film credits are Picnic At Hanging Rock, Petersen, The Perfectionist, Squizzy Taylor, Stork, The Removalists, Caddie, Alvin Purple, Cosi and most recently Animal Kingdom

Her television credits include The Girl From Moonooloo, Trial By Marriage and House Rules which were written especially for her; the mini-series Water Under The Bridge and The Challenge; eight years as a panelist on ABC TV's Would You Believe and a year as a reporter for Mike Willesee. In the late 1960's Jacki recorded Etta James gospel classic Something's Got A Hold On Me, appearing regularly on Bandstand, Sing,Sing,Sing and The Johnny O'Keefe Show. She also recorded two albums, The Girl From Moonooloo from her telemovie and They're Playing Our Song which won a Gold Record. She has also appeared in the TV Series Satisfaction.

Jacki has completed seasons of Fred, After The Ball, Soulmates and Old Masters for the Sydney Theatre Company. Jacki has toured nationally with productions of The Last Of The Red Hot Lovers, The Last Cab To Darwin and The Blonde The Brunette And The Vengeful Redhead. Other credits include Ruby’s Last Dollar, Derrida in Love, Prisoner of Second Avenue, Death of a Salesman, Secret Bridesmaid Business, Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical and John Doyle’s Pig Iron People for STC.