She is the main protagonist of Bob Clark's seminal slasher film Black Christmas (1974) in which she was portrayed by actress Olivia Hussey.

The character is distinctive for her feminist focused story arc which follows her decision to have an abortion despite the opposition of her estranged boyfriend.

[1] This has led to her being a heavily discussed pop culture figure in film studies and the final girl theory.

In the original Black Christmas, Jess is a member of the sorority house Pi Kappa Sig.

[6] Approached by Clark to portray the lead role of Jess, Hussey agreed and left Los Angeles for eight weeks to film in Toronto, Canada in the winter of 1973.

She described shooting the film as a positive experience despite the dark subject matter and stated that she worked well with Clark and two of the other leads, Keir Dullea and John Saxon.

[7] As the Black Christmas films take place in a winter setting, the characters wear the apt attire.

Jess begins the film in a black Christmas jumper that features two large, white hands stitched across the chest worn on top of a yellow collared undershirt and matching pants.