Way before Delta Goodrem was a songstress with nine number-one singles and 17 top-ten hits to her name, and a television mentor moulding new talent on The Voice, she was a child actress who rose to prominence in the Australian soap opera, Neighbours.
Goodrem played Nina Tucker, a painfully shy school student described as the "quintessential girl-next-door" and won a Most Popular New Female Talent Logie for the role.
But she was written out of the series in 2003 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and had to concentrate on her treatment and get back to health.
Now, Goodrem is returning to the world of the television drama series as Izzy, a learning support teacher on Channel Nine's House Husbands.
Set in Melbourne, House Husbands stars Firass Dirani, Gyton Grantley, Rhys Muldoon and Gary Sweet as four stay-at-home dads and focuses on their complicated lives. In 2013, House Husbands won Most Popular Drama Series at the Logies.
Though it is unclear if Goodrem gets to stretch her vocal chords, she will bring glamour to the rather understated position of a reading recovery teacher, a role described by the Channel Nine publicity department excitedly as this:
"Riding in on her cafe racer motorbike, brilliant, beautiful and slightly tomboyish, Izzy both excites and frightens everyone in the House Husbands world and her audacious attitude is instrumental in diverting a threat to the Nepean South community that none of them see coming."
Nine's co-heads of drama, Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan, say the "much-loved" Goodrem will bring a special star quality to the screen: "We can't wait to welcome her on-set to play Izzy."
Goodrem said in the same statement: "I couldn't be happier to join the amazing House Husbands family. It's such a fantastic Aussie drama that I love – and my whole family loves – so I feel very lucky and cannot wait to get started."
Filming of House Husbands season five is underway.
