One of Summer Bay’s most beloved stars, Penny McNamee, celebrated her birthday on March 17, and the Home And Away family made sure to wish her well.
WATCH: Penny McNamee and Ditch Davey talk about filming steamy scenes on H&A
Penny, who plays the fun, down-to-earth and positive Summer Bay doctor, Tori Morgan, turned 38 and is entering an exciting new chapter of her life.
The Home And Away cast and crew are famously supportive of one another, which has always been a breath of fresh air within the sometimes cutthroat television industry.
For her birthday, the soap’s official Instagram page posted a picture of Penny with a big “Happy Birthday Penny” message over the image.
The picture was paired with the loving caption, “We’re wishing Penny McNamee a very happy birthday today!”
The post was flooded with birthday wishes from fans who adore the actress and her character, including a fan account dedicated to the actor.
Penny’s co-star Sam Frost, who plays Jasmine Delaney on the show, also liked the post.
Her other beloved co-star Emily Symons, who plays Marilyn Chambers on the soap, dedicated an Instagram story to Penny for her big day.
Emily posted a picture of herself with Penny and Ada Nicodemou, and she mused: “Hope you have a lovely day @penny.mcnamee.”
Although the soap doctor has yet to post her birthday festivities to her Instagram, she probably spent the big day with her high-school sweetheart husband, Matt Tooker, and their children, Jack, five, and Neve, 22 months.
Earlier this year, Penny spoke exclusively with New Idea about her relationship with her husband, and spilled some intimate details about their history.
“My husband and I love renovating houses. We renovated our last house, and recently sold it and bought a fixer-upper in the middle of lockdown,” Penny said.
“Here I am lifting out pieces of copper, which were part of an old water heater in the roof, and throwing them in the skip bin. I love putting on my work boots and getting my hands dirty with renovating, as well as loving the creative styling process.”
Penny has no regrets about marrying her childhood sweetheart, and she believes they have only grown stronger over the years.
“Matt and I met at high school when we were 16, and we got married in our mid-20s. He’s my rock, my safe place to come home to and my best friend.
“I once heard Sheryl Sandberg say: ‘The most important career decision a woman will make is the man she marries,’ and I couldn’t agree more,” Penny shared.
As if this TV star couldn’t be more loveable, she is also a huge supporter of Camp Breakaway, an organisation from the central coast that works with kids and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Penny explained on her Instagram the charity has a close place in her heart because her cousin Kim has benefited from the program.
She said, “Camp Breakaway is a beautiful oasis on the central coast for kids and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. They can stay at the specially-designed camp for several days and participate in really fun activities run by professional carers and nurses, giving their families much needed respite.
“This first photo is of my cousin Kim and I at Camp Breakaway. Kim has attended these amazing camps since she was a kiddo, which gave my beautiful aunty Clair some time-out from being Kim’s full-time carer.”
However, because of Covid, the camp is struggling to fund its much-needed services.
“Covid has depleted Camp Breakaway of funds and they have had to cancel camps for the next 6 months!” Penny said.
For those interested in helping the charity, Penny includes many links for donations to the camp on her socials.
It appears Penny is impacting lives on and off the screen, but we hope she found some time for herself on her big day to relax.
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