Age: 44

Occupation: Opera Singer

Clarissa's love for music hit at a young age, with her first solo performance taking place at just 12 years of age. Like most musicians, Clarissa juggled a day job while working professionally as an opera singer. But due to a problematic jaw condition impacting her singing, Clarissa had to redirect her career path. Enrolled in a post graduate qualification to become a teacher this year, Clarissa deferred her studies to pursue her MasterChef Australia dream.

"I have fond memories of growing up on a hobby farm. We had a few pigs, chooks, a cow and calf, and a few sheep. I remember my parents making sausages, catching yabbies from the creek, picking mulberries from the mulberry tree and scratching the pigs' backs with sticks, they loved that."

In addition to a degree in Sociology/Anthropology and Public Relations, Clarissa holds a Certificate of Music (Classical).

Clarissa credits her mother Ludmila as being a major influence in her interest of cooking, making delicious Ukrainian food and growing her own fruit and vegetables.

"We had three peach trees in our garden and as a kid one of my favourite memories is picking a fresh peach off the tree after school or having a slice of homemade cake my mother would have made especially. Mum made delicious cakes using fruits she grew from our garden, donuts with custard filling, sponge cakes with jam that she'd made with fruit that we'd grown. She pickled olives from our olive tree and made peach, apricot and fig jams from our fruit trees in the garden. Not many kids have that these days and I cherish those memories."

Clarissa hopes MasterChef Australia will allow her to turn her love of food and cooking into a fulfilling career and she dreams of offering cooking classes in a range of cuisines.

"There's such an honesty to making something with your own hands."