It's a puzzle. Dee Smart lived with media heir James Packer, sat at the head table at that wedding and is a social regular. Yet her favourite hobby is knitting. She is also an intensely private person - but has a house full of clutter (her husband, futures trader Chris Hancock, fondly refers to it as "crapola").
The couple's rented terrace house in Woollhara is full of it: hundreds of photos, dozens of paintings (some by Smart), and old scooter, heaps of mirrors, countless pieces of antique furniture and a shoe collection to rival that of Imelda Marcos. "I've still got heaps of stuff in storage," Smart laughed, admitting her frustration at not being able to decorate properly until the couple buy a place of their own.
Las September, they sold their Rose Bay home for $1.19 million. They now hope to buy "anywhere, as long as it has a garden" by the end of the year. The plan then, will be to paint the walls green and cover them with "stuff".
Then there's the human clutter. When we met, there are two publicists, a hair and make-up artist, a sister, a nephew, a niece, a jack russell and, later, a brother-in-law and a husband.
Jessie, the dog, is making the most waves: jumping, rolling, running. It's easy to understand why, the weekend before, she got stuck down a wombat hole during a weekend with friends in Kangaroo Valley. In a Water Rats-on-land plot, she had to be rescued (which took more than two hours) by local police and rescue squad workers.
Just another day in the chaotic life of Deirdre Claire Smart.
The 34-year-old handles the havoc with resigned calm: as the third-youngest of nine siblings raised on a large cattle farm outside Adelaide, she's used to it.
She disrupted the neat boy/girl order of her strict Catholic family by not being born a boy. Today, the five girls and four boys range in age from 27 to 47, in occopation from art teacher to builder, classical pianist to nurse.
Two sisters living close by in Sydney: the rest are scattered around South Australia, Queensland and London.
"It's all about family for me, I have to have family around me," Smart said. "Every time one of my sisters says they have to move out of Sydney because it's too expensive, I do something drastic. My mum is a breeding machine - she's not happy unless there are plenty of kids around. She's Mother Earth."
"She gave me a knowledge, wisdom and respect for nature - one day I hope to have a farm like hers. I'm sure it was insane for her, but I just had the best time."
To wind down, Smart knits (she's on to her fourth scarf this year), paints, sews, walks the dog on Bondi Beach and spends time with some of her assorted nieces and nephews.
At last count there were "about 30", which she said is making her "extremely clucky".
"I've always loved children and I can't wait to have them," she sais.
Right now, though, she has set that longing aside as she is budy working on Channel Nine drame Water Rats and waiting to convince her husband that starting a family is a good idea.
Hancock, or "Cocky" as Smart calls him, is better known as James Packer's best friend (since their days at the expensive Sydney school Crabrook) than as Smart's husband.
he was groomsman at the billionaire's wedding to Jodie Meares and the couples shared Packer's plush Bondi pad for a year.
Smart describes that time - which began just after Packer split with actor Kate Fischer and eneded a few months after helping plan the huge wedding - as "just so much fun".
"I think James was pretty lonely when he asked us to move in, because he had just broken up with a girlfriend and he was in that big place by himself," she said.
"We ended up having the greatest year. I have the best memories."
Her own wedding two years ago was more low-key.
After a four-year relationship, she and Hancock escaped to Las Vegas, where they were married quietly in front of 10 friends (James packer included) and an Elvis impersonator singing Viva Las Vegas.
Smart wore a stunning orange and yellow skirt and bodice, Hancock a traditional suit and ultra-short hair.
She says it was love at first sight when she was introduced to "Cocky" by mutual friends.
"It's always exciting when you meet your soul mate," she said.
"He's wonderful: so caring and supportive of my career. he loves what I do and helps me get through it, he's always there to pick me up."
Scoring the part as privileged private-school-girl turned hard-nosed Water Rats Alex St Clare was not as easy as Smart expected.
After an exhausting three-month interview process - testing physical strength, action prowess, chemistry with Steve Bisley and acting ability - Smart had to endure rumours that she had been given the Channel Nine job because of her Packer connections.
"I didn't worry about it. They were other pople's thoughts and I never bought into them."
She's come a long way since, at age 16, she joined the Victorian College of Arts along with Nick Giannopoulos from The Wog Boy, hoping to become a famous dancer.
"I hung out with all the actors - it was like Fame at lunchtime," she said. She did eventually study acting, at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, and said she'd "have two plastic hips by now" if she'd stuck with dance.
But it had been 11 years since her only non-guest-role television stint - 18 months playing Home And Away's vivacious Lucinda Croft, a draining experience that steered her into theatre.
"I've been offered TV roles," she said. "I've even gone to auditions and got them and turned them eown - it just didn't feel right."
"Then Water Rats came along, and I thought, 'This is how I can go back to television'. It's the only show that I thought was good enough to spend a long time on."
She described herself as the luckiest woman in the world.
"Every morning I say, 'What a great job'," she said. "I'm so happy."
"I love Sydney and I've learned more about this harbour through working than I could have dreamed of learning in my whole life."
"It can be tough out on boats and stuff when it's freezing, but the vibe and the feeling every time you get on a water taxi to go to work is so beautiful"
"It's generally six to six, so I'm up at five, then jome at seven. And being the lead girl, you're in every scene."
"Although," she laughed, "I can always find time for knitting."

Water Rats supervising producer Ted Roberts said that one of the reasons she eventually scored the role was that she was one of the only women to keep her eyes open when she fired a gun.
Hearing this, Smart laughed: "I think that was because I'd had enough of the audition, it was like, 'Right, all you bastards!'"
Smart did have a secret weapon, but not the obvious one. The outgoing Catherine McClements was on her side.
"Catherine used to live next door to me," Smart said. "she would be outside her house going off to work and I'd be there going off to audition for her role. We'd have a laugh about it."
So did McClements offer some over-the -fence tips?
"A little," said Smart. "But I was still nervous. Two years is a long, long time to work on the one thing if you're not happy. I got the inside goss on what it was like to work every day. She said the crew were all-time greats so I knew I was home and hosed."
Seven months on, Smart believes her performance has silenced the critics. "I just never felt the transition at all, " she said.