S19·E33 The Past Is a Foreign Country

This week’s program looks at the untold stranger than fiction life of a woman well recognised in the entertainment industry for her role in helping to launch the careers of some of Australia's biggest stars.

Jan Russ was the initial casting director for Neighbours and remained in the role for nearly 25 years, launching performers like Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia, Liam Hemsworth and Guy Pearce.

But until now the Australian star-maker has hidden the private pain of her own tumultuous real life story.

Jan Russ's personal story has all the ingredients of a prime time drama playing out over fifty years and several continents. It starts with a teenage pregnancy and a lifelong quest to find a daughter adopted out in particularly harrowing circumstances.

There's a stellar career, a doomed marriage and in the last couple of years the unexpected ascendancy of a son who has suddenly become a huge hit on South Korean television...