Vanessa Downing (born 1958) is an Australian actress. She was educated in Sydney and holds a Masters Degree in English Literature from Sydney University. She has featured in many Television roles including All Saints and classic 80's soap Sons and Daughters .
She is best known for being an original cast member of the television soap opera Home and Away at the age of 32, playing a role many years her senior as foster mother Pippa Fletcher, Replacing Carole Willesee at short notice, the wife of Newsreader Mike Willesee who was originally cast as Pippa. When Downing left the series in 1990, the part was taken over by Debra Lawrance who played the character from 1990–1998. Vanessa has starred in the sitcom Bullpit, along with many Roles in Mini-series; she is also an extremely well known theatre actress.