Jess Bush Explained

Jess Bush (born 26 March 1992) is an Australian actor, model, reality television personality, and visual artist. Her television work includes competing on the seventh season of the reality television series Australia's Next Top Model, and playing Nurse Christine Chapel on .

Personal life

Jess Bush was born on 26 March 1992, and is from Keperra, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Speaking with The Daily Beast in mid-2023 about LGBTQ+ representation and her portrayal of a bisexual character, she describes herself as queer.

Visual arts career

A visual artist from childhood through her mid-20s, Bush began selling her pieces professionally at age 19. She is also a jewellery designer, and some of her pieces appear on Strange New Worlds. By mid-2017, Bush's studio was in Sydney's "infamous Hibernian House", she had returned from painting two commissioned murals in New York City, and had been a finalist for the 44th Muswellbrook Art Prize - New South Wales' second biggest art prize.

Bee Totem

In 2019, Bush began developing and exhibiting her ongoing Bee Totem series. She collects dead honey bees from beekeepers, preserves them in spheres of crystal resin, and attaches fine jewellery chains. Her exhibitions collaborate with projection artists and sound designers to hang the many preserved bees at different heights to create shapes and experiences in three-dimensional space.

She has described Bee Totem as recognizing and emphasizing the importance of the bees that, not only make the human world livable, but then "live by the thousands and die quietly by the thousands." The individual preserved bee in the sphere is amplified and magnified, showing its intelligence and beauty; it causes the observer to "pause and think about the moment that it died, because its frozen in that moment after its death, so its kind of like a memorial." The installation then amplifies "that impact of thousands dead at the same time".

Having received several rounds of funding from the Australian Government by 2022, Bush described it as "the most significant work that [she's] ever made" with a goal of doing so "probably forever". She would like to build a cathedral for thousands of preserved bees, to allow people to quietly sit and reflect in the immensity of sacrifice. While acting, Bush takes a hiatus from her visual art work, though she has taken her materials when shooting.

Performing arts career

Bush's first television appearance was competing on the seventh season of the reality TV series Australia's Next Top Model; she told the programme that she entered modeling for the challenge, competitiveness, travel, and variety. In Australia, she has also performed on Home and Away and Playing for Keeps.

In the early 2020s, Bush was "feeling pretty burnt out and exhausted by the hustle" of acting and performing; she told her talent managers that she was pulling back and resting, only interested in exciting productions, which led to her booking a role on . The 2022 Star Trek spin-off was her first television role outside Australia. Bush co-stars as Christine Chapel, a character previously played by Majel Barrett in the original Star Trek. Heavy described Bush's interpretation of the character as "very different [...] fun, irreverent, and a bit of a live wire." Bush eschews her native Australian accent for the performance, a dichotomy that helps her get into character physically and mentally.

Awards

Award	Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
Saturn Award	2022		Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series	<	-- for nomination -->
	2024		Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series

Other professional work

Bush's work on Star Trek ignited a passion for the real-world space industry; by 2023, she was collaborating with NASA and Redwire at the Kennedy Space Center.

References

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Further reading

• Bush . Jess . 2024-03-15 . Koons on the Moon? Artists' crucial role in shaping humanity's image on Earth and beyond . live . . en . 1046-6940 . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20240316160357/https://spacenews.com/koons-moon-artists-crucial-role-shaping-humanitys-image-earth-beyond/ . 16 March 2024 . 2024-03-16 .
• Bush . Jess . Douglas . Naeem . 2024-03-19 . MoMA Mixtape: Monet's Water Lilies Knocks Jess Bush off Her Feet . live . Magazine . en . . https://web.archive.org/web/20240321000624/https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1044 . 2024-03-21 . 2024-03-21 . The Star Trek actor gets physical pairing art and music..

Notes and References

1. News: 2011-10-19 . Jess plans to use Top Model experience . . en . . 30.
2. Web site: 2017-02-10 . . Finalists Announced 2017 Muswellbrook Art Prize . en . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250718074820/https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2017/02/finalists-announced-2017-muswellbrook-art-prize . 2025-07-18 . 2025-12-16.
3. News: Hughes . Betina . 2017-03-12 . The 44th Muswellbrook Art Prize 2017 opening a success . subscription . . en . 2201-5329 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250718074820/https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2017/02/finalists-announced-2017-muswellbrook-art-prize . 2025-07-18 . 2025-12-16.
4. News: Verdouw . Emily . 2017-04-03 . Jess Bush: The Next Generation Of Australian Artist . . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20231210210017/https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/jess-bush-the-next-generation-of-australian-artist_au_5cd3acd4e4b0ce845d83b62e . 2023-12-10 . 2023-12-10 . Things are looking good for the future of the Aussie art scene..
5. News: Spelling . Ian . 2022-04-30 . Jess Bush is the New Nurse Chapel on 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' . live . en . . https://web.archive.org/web/20221102200940/https://heavy.com/entertainment/star-trek/jess-bush-new-nurse-chapel/ . 2022-11-02 . 2022-11-15.
6. News: Kaplan . Rebecca . 2022-05-08 . Jess Bush Binged Star Trek: The Original Series for Strange New Worlds Role . live . en . . https://web.archive.org/web/20221102200902/https://movieweb.com/jess-bush-star-trek-the-original-series-nurse-chapel/ . 2022-11-02 . 2022-11-15 . Jess Bush read as much as she could about Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and Nurse Chapel..
7. Bush . Jess . Charles . Trapunski . Star Trek: Strange New Worlds interview with Jess Bush on playing Christine Chapel . . 2022-06-01 . . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220723232211/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHTUk-rMbc . 2022-07-23 . 2022-11-15.
8. Schulz . Madeleine . 2022-06-09 . Jess Bush The 'Strange New Worlds' of Hollywood . dead . Flaunt . en . 1523-5726 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221115155656/https://archive.flaunt.com/content/jess-bush-strange-new-worlds . 2022-11-15 . 2022-11-15.
9. Hoffman . Jordan . Jordan Hoffman . 2022-06-14 . Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Standout Jess Bush Is a Bit of a Mad Scientist . subscription . live . . en . 0733-8899 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230512011401/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-jess-bush-interview . 2023-05-12 . 2023-06-12 . The Australian actor on putting a new spin on a legacy character and smacking Spock..
10. Parker . Ryan . 2022-06-16 . 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Actress Jess Bush Talks Honor and Joy of Making Iconic Franchise Character Her Own . . en . 0018-3660 . 44653726 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20250723221312/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-jess-bush-nurse-chapel-1235161759/ . 2025-07-23 . 2025-08-25 . The Hollywood Reporter caught up with the Nurse Chapel actress prior to this week's episode, 'The Serene Squall' to explore a number of topics, including how she was ready to take a step back in her career when the series serendipitously arrived..
11. News: Tinoco . Armando . 2022-08-12 . Saturn Awards Nominations: 'The Batman', 'Nightmare Alley', 'Spider-Man', 'Better Call Saul' Top List . live . . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20221018011312/https://deadline.com/2022/08/saturn-awards-2022-nominations-list-movies-tv-1235089636/ . 2022-10-18 . 2022-11-15.
12. Web site: Saturn Award Winners Headlined By 'Everything Everywhere All At Once,' 'Top Gun Maverick,' and 'Better Call Saul' . O'Rourke . Ryan . 2022-10-26 . . en . 2022-11-15 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221111164403/https://collider.com/saturn-award-winners-2022-better-call-saul-top-gun-maverick/ . 2022-11-11 . Kathryn Leigh Scott, Julie Plec, and more were also given special awards..
13. News: Ennis . Dawn . 2023-06-15 . The 'Star Trek' Cast on the Radical LGBT+ Representation of 'Strange New Worlds' . live . . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20230625233603/https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-cast-on-its-radical-lgbt-portrayal . 2023-06-25 . 2023-06-26 . The out stars of 'Strange New Worlds' discuss what the show’s unapologetic depiction of queerness and gender means to them and the 'Star Trek' franchise's history of allyship..
14. Bush . Jess . onejessa . CqQ7jq0P6qy . 2023-03-26 . Ringing in my 31st year with my parents in Ash Fork, Arizona. […] . en . . 2023-08-29 . live . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/instagram/onejessa/3067213282138892978_3067212553467462972 . 2023-08-29.
15. News: Hipes . Patrick . 2023-12-06 . 'Avatar: The Way Of Water', 'Oppenheimer', 'Star Trek' Series Lead Nominations For Genre-Focused Saturn Awards . live . . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20231207141641/https://deadline.com/2023/12/saturn-awards-nominations-list-movies-tv-1235654052/ . 2023-12-07 . 2023-12-10.
16. Web site: Star Trek Wins Big At The 2024 Saturn Awards . Donaldson . Mark . 2024-02-05 . . en . 2024-03-01 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240207182548/https://screenrant.com/everything-star-trek-won-saturn-awards-2024/ . 2024-02-07 . The Star Trek franchise swept the board at the 51st Annual Saturn Awards, with some big wins for Picard, Strange New Worlds, and The Next Generation..
17. Web site: Jess – Bio . . en . 2022-11-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111005171341/http://www.fox8.tv/shows/australias-next-top-model/models/jess/bio . 2011-10-05.