Rising star scoops a date with Dracula

Novice Perth actor Jessica de Gouw has been cast in the upcoming television series Dracula, completing the fastest rise from obscurity to stardom in memory.

De Gouw will appear with Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a 10-episode series commissioned by the American television network NBC and Britain's Sky Broadcasting.

Dracula opens with Meyers' bloodsucker living a double life in 1890s London, taking on the guise of an American businessman trying to bring modern science to Victorian society by day and seeking revenge on those who curse him by night.

Dracula's plans are derailed when he falls in love with a beautiful young woman, played by de Gouw, 24, who seems to be the reincarnation of his dead wife.

Her agent, Theresa Huska, of RGM WA, said she had never seen a performer rise through the ranks so rapidly.

"When we got the confirmation through, I burst into tears because it has never happened this fast," she said.

Huska said de Gouw, a Lesmurdie High School and Curtin University graduate, shot her Dracula audition on her phone in her Sydney house and sent it to the producers.