Music career Chapnik Kahn formed her first band at the age of 17. After one year, the band dismantled and she toured nationally and internationally playing keyboards and singing in the bands of artists and bands such as
Sarah Blasko,
Old Man River, and the
Kahn Brothers. While touring, Chapnik Kahn met musician
Ben Lee and the two later began collaborating on music projects. In 2008 Chapnik Kahn recorded the soundtrack for the Australian film
The Square, directed by
Nash Edgerton. All songs were written and produced by Ben Lee, and sung by Chapnik Kahn. The album was nominated for both an
AFI Award and an Australian Recording Industry Association (
ARIA) Award for "Best Original Soundtrack". Following this album, Chapnik Kahn re-invented her solo persona as Appleonia. In 2013, Chapnik Kahn teamed with musician Nadav Kahn and scored the film
Despite the Gods, a documentary directed by Penny Vozniak which closely follows the journey of director
Jennifer Chambers Lynch as she makes her film
Hisss in India. The soundtrack was released in 2013 and features the song "She is the Sun" which Chapnik Kahn sang with
Craig Nicholls from
The Vines. Chapnik Kahn again collaborated with Ben Lee, co-writing and co-producing his album
Ayahuasca: Welcome to the Work, released in April 2013. The album is a sonic documentation of her and Lee's experiences with the South American healing medicine,
ayahuasca. In 2014 she released her album
OH, which was recorded over a few continents and over several years. It features the handiwork of several collaborators including
Dntel,
Ian Ball and Nadav Kahn. In 2022, Chapnik Kahn performed a rendition of the folk song
The Water Is Wide with her husband, musician Nadav Kahn, for the closing moments and end credits of the Australian film
Everything in Between.
Acting career Chapnik Kahn trained as an actress in
New York City for two years at the
Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, which was founded by playwright
David Mamet. While living in New York, she acted in a string of plays, and on returning to Sydney she continued working in theatre. In 2006 she joined Australian TV drama
Home and Away, playing
Sam Tolhurst/Holden. The role was originally a three-month contract, but was extended to almost two years due to the storyline's popularity. Chapnik Kahn later had a guest role in the American adventure/fantasy series
Legend of the Seeker, playing Anna Brighton. The episodes (episode 12: "Home" and episode 14: "Hartland") were broadcast in early 2009 on
Disney-ABC Domestic Television. In 2009 she also starred in the Spanish-speaking short film
Amanecer (
Daybreak), directed by Alvaro D. Ruiz, a film that won several awards in Latin film festivals worldwide. Jessica has directed and co-directed music videos for her Appleonia albums. In 2013 she directed a music video for Ben Lee's song "On My Knees".
Writing career Chapnik Kahn published her first children's book in 2018 called
Lenny and the Ants, illustrated by Australian artist Matthew Martin. In 2019, she released a collection of poems and drawings called
MADRE, inspired by the birth of her son. In 2020, she co-wrote the biography A Repurposed Life which was longlisted for an ABIA Award for Biography Book of the Year in 2021. In 2025, she was a featured speaker and poet at TEDxSydney, and her collaborative work
The Fire Always Says Yes had its world premiere at the
Sydney Opera House later that year. == Personal life ==