Rose Byrne
Encyclopedia
Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress.

Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll is an Australian film starring Sandra Bernhardt, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne and written and directed by Ann Turner.-Plot:...

. In 2000 she played a leading role in the Australian film The Goddess of 1967
The Goddess of 1967
The Goddess of 1967 is a 2000 Australian film directed by Macau-born Australian Clara Law, who wrote the script with her husband Eddie Ling-Ching Fong....

, which brought her a Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 award for Best Actress.

Since 2007, she has played Ellen Parsons
Ellen Parsons
Ellen Parsons is a fictional character on the American legal thriller series Damages. Portrayed by Rose Byrne, the character serves as the show's deuteragonist...

 in the cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 television series Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

, which has earned her two Golden Globe Awards nominations and two Emmy Awards nominations. In 2011, she starred in the financially successful films Insidious
Insidious (film)
Insidious is a 2011 American independent supernatural horror film written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Barbara Hershey. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for ghosts...

, X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the X-Men.-Publication history:The original series was an eight-issue limited series. It began in September 2006 and ended in April 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and penciled by Roger Cruz...

and Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids (2011 film)
Bridesmaids is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, and Clayton Townsend. The plot centers on Annie ....

.

Early life

Byrne was born in Balmain
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....

, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent (her grandfather was an Irish immigrant to Australia). She is the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher. She is the youngest of their four children; she has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. Both of her parents are atheists
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and she describes herself as agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

. Byrne attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School
Hunters Hill High School
Hunter's Hill High School is a public, secondary, co-educational day school, located in Hunter's Hill, a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Lane Cove River, near the Figtree Bridge....

 before attending Bradfield College in Crows Nest
Crows Nest, New South Wales
Crows Nest is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Crows Nest is located 5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.-History:...

. She began taking acting classes at age eight, joining the Australian Theatre for Young People
Australian Theatre for Young People
The Australian Theatre for Young People is Australia's flagship youth theatre company and the largest youth theatre in the world. Over 6000 young people aged between three and 26 participate in the company's work across Australia....

 and later attended the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

. In 1999, Byrne studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company developed by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...

 and William H. Macy
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy, Jr. is an American actor and writer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He is also a teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though...

.

Acting

Byrne was cast in her first film role, Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll is an Australian film starring Sandra Bernhardt, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne and written and directed by Ann Turner.-Plot:...

, when she was 13 years old. She has appeared in several Australian television shows including Heartbreak High
Heartbreak High
Heartbreak High is an Australian television series that ran for seven years from 1994 to 1999. The series dealt with the students of Hartley High, a tough high school in a multi-racial area of Sydney, and proved to be a more gritty and fast-paced show than many of its contemporaries...

and Echo Point
Echo Point
Echo Point was an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Productions for Network Ten in 1995.The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap Home and Away on the Seven Network...

, and the film Two Hands with Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

. She appeared in The Date, My Mother Frank
My Mother Frank
My Mother Frank is a multi-award-winning Australian film released in 2000.-Plot outline:David Kennedy is preparing to go to university. His mother, Francis is a widow and has very little social life. David tells her that she should get out more and much to his surprise, Frank enrolls at the same...

, and Clara Law
Clara Law
Clara Law is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director, now having relocated to Australia before the 1997 Hong Kong handover....

's The Goddess of 1967
The Goddess of 1967
The Goddess of 1967 is a 2000 Australian film directed by Macau-born Australian Clara Law, who wrote the script with her husband Eddie Ling-Ching Fong....

for which she was award the Volpi Cup
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...

 for "Best Actress" at the 2000 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

. She appeared as a guest in an episode of the police drama series Murder Call
Murder Call
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked...

. On stage, she played a lead role in La Dispute
La Dispute
La Dispute is a prose comedy written by Pierre de Marivaux, shown for the first time on 19 October 1744 by the Theatre-Italien in the Hotel de Bourgogne....

and in a production of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

's classic Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...

at the Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....

.

In 2002, Byrne made her first appearance in a Hollywood film with a small role as Dormé, the handmaiden to Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...

's Senator Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate...

, in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. She appeared the same year in City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts is a 2002 drama film co-written, directed by and starring Matt Dillon, about a con artist who must go to Cambodia to collect his share in money collected from an insurance scam...

with Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...

.

The year previously she had flown to the UK to shoot I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle is Dodie Smith's first novel, written in the 1940s during a sojourn in America. Smith was already an established playwright and later became famous for authoring the children's classic The Hundred and One Dalmatians....

, Tim Fywell
Tim Fywell
Tim Fywell is an English television and film director. Fywell started his career in British television, directing episodes of Brookside. In 2003 his made his feature debut with I Capture the Castle, an adaption of the novel that goes by the same title by Dodie Smith...

's adaptation of the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....

. In the 2003 release, she portrayed Rose Mortmain, the elder sister of Romola Garai
Romola Garai
Romola Sadie Garai is an English actress. She is known for appearing in the movies Amazing Grace, Atonement, and Glorious 39, and for appearing in the BBC adaptation of Emma.-Early life:...

's Cassandra. In 2003, she starred in three Australian films: The Night We Called It a Day
The Night We Called It a Day (film)
The Night We Called It a Day is an Australian film directed by Peter Clifton starring Dennis Hopper as Frank Sinatra and Melanie Griffith as Barbara Marx, and featuring Portia de Rossi, Joel Edgerton, Rose Byrne, and David Hemmings. The movie is based on the true events surrounding one of several...

with Melanie Griffith
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner for her performance in the 1988 film Working Girl...

 and Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

; The Rage in Placid Lake
The Rage In Placid Lake
The Rage in Placid Lake is a 2003 Australian film starring Ben Lee and Rose Byrne. It features Placid Lake , a seventeen-year-old boy who has led a suburban hippie life with his neurotic, free loving parents...

for which she was named Best Actress at the Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

 with singer Ben Lee
Ben Lee
Benjamin Michael "Ben" Lee is an ARIA Award winning musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appeared as the protagonist in the Australian film The Rage in Placid Lake...

; and Take Away
Take Away
Take Away is a 2003 Australian comedy movie, written by Dave O'Neil, who also features as a minor character, and Mark O'Toole. It stars Vince Colosimo, Stephen Curry, Rose Byrne and Nathan Phillips...

, another comedy.

In 2004, Byrne starred as Briseis
Briseis
Brisēís was a mythical queen in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War. Her character lies at the center of a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that drives the plot of Homer's Iliad.-Story:...

, the Trojan
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

 priestess who is abducted during the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...

 by Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....

, played by Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

, in Wolfgang Petersen
Wolfgang Petersen
Wolfgang Petersen is a German film director and screenwriter. His films include The NeverEnding Story, Enemy Mine, Outbreak, In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy, and Poseidon...

's epic Troy
Troy (film)
Troy is a 2004 epic war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen based on the events of the Trojan War. Its cast includes Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector.It was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.-Plot:...

, also starring Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...

, Peter O’Toole, Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

, and Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...

. She then reunited with Peter O'Toole in the BBC TV drama Casanova
Casanova (2005 TV serial)
Casanova is a 2005 British television comedy drama serial, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson...

. Byrne appeared with Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

 in Danny Green's film The Tenants
The Tenants
The Tenants is a 2005 film drama starring Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg. Screened at only one theatre, the film received harsh criticism due to what some critics discerned as anachronistic depictions of the racial tension between the principal characters and a lack of multidimensionality...

, based on Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...

's novel, and starred with Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...

 and Diane Kruger
Diane Kruger
Diane Kruger is a German actress and former fashion model. She is known for roles such as Helen in Troy, Dr. Abigail Chase in National Treasure and its sequel, Bridget von Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds, Anna in Mr...

 in the romantic psychological thriller Wicker Park
Wicker Park (film)
Wicker Park is a 2004 American psychological drama/romantic mystery film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett. The film is a remake of the 1996 French movie L'Appartement...

where she played Alex, the woman who manipulated Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...

's character to keep him apart from the woman he falls in love with.

In 2006, Byrne portrayed Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...

, a French aristocrat and friend of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

, in Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...

's Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...

, with Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...

, and appeared in The Dead Girl
The Dead Girl
The Dead Girl is a 2006 American film written and directed by Karen Moncrieff, starring Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden. The film was nominated for several 2007 Independent Spirit Awards awards including Best Feature and Best Director. It is the story of a young...

, directed by Karen Moncrieff
Karen Moncrieff
Karen Moncrieff , is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Her directing credits are in both television and features and she acted in the soap operas Days of our Lives and Santa Barbara. In 1985, she was crowned Miss Illinois and competed in the Miss America pageant...

.

In 2007, she played Cassie, the pilot in Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...

's science fiction suspense film Sunshine
Sunshine (2007 film)
Sunshine is a 2007 British science fiction film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb with the mass...

, Scarlett Ross, an army medical officer in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is a Spanish film director, script writer, and producer. He directed Intacto and 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. His film Esposados was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1996.-Early life:Fresnadillo was born in...

's science fiction horror 28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British/Spanish film sequel to the 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later. 28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and released in the United Kingdom and United States on 11 May 2007...

, the sequel to Boyle's 28 Days Later
28 Days Later
28 Days Later is an acclaimed 2002 British horror film directed by Danny Boyle. The screenplay was written by Alex Garland, and the film stars Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston...

, and appeared in the independent film Just Buried
Just Buried
Just Buried is a 2007 Canadian film written and directed by Chaz Thorne. It stars Rose Byrne and Jay Baruchel.-Cast:*Jay Baruchel as Oliver Whynacht*Rose Byrne as Roberta Knickel*Graham Greene as Henry Sanipass*Nigel Bennett as Chief Knickle...

, a Canadian dark comedy written and directed by Chaz Thorne
Chaz Thorne
Chaz Thorne is a Canadian actor and television and film director. He graduated from the National Theatre School in 1996. He has appeared on stages across Canada as well as in numerous film and television projects, including The Event and Lucky Girl...

.

Since 2007, Byrne has appeared in the FX drama production Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

, playing the regular lead role of Ellen Parsons, a young attorney torn between her new boss, played by Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...

, and her own ambitions.

She appeared in the Australian film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 The Tender Hook
The Tender Hook
The Tender Hook is a 2008 Australian film noir starring Hugo Weaving, Rose Byrne and Matthew Le Nevez.The film tells the story of a love triangle set in a stylised version of Sydney’s criminal/boxing underworld in the 1920s. The story is about Iris’ rise to the apex of a love/power triangle that...

with Hugo Weaving
Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving is a Nigerian born, English-Australian film actor and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "V" in V for Vendetta, and performances in numerous Australian character dramas.-Early...

.

In 2009, Byrne co-starred with Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...

 in the science fiction thriller, Knowing
Knowing (film)
Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...

. Later that year, she appeared in the indie film, Adam, with Hugh Dancy
Hugh Dancy
- Early life and career :Dancy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of British philosopher Jonathan Dancy, a professor at the University of Reading and at the University of Texas at Austin. His mother, Sarah, is a publisher. His brother, Jack, is a co-director of the travel company, Trufflepig...

. She appeared in the 2010 comedy film, Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director...

, starring Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...

 and Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...

 and she was joint lead in the James Wan
James Wan
James Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...

 horror film Insidious
Insidious (film)
Insidious is a 2011 American independent supernatural horror film written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Barbara Hershey. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for ghosts...

, which premiered in September 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

 and went on general release on 1 April 2011.

Byrne also starred in the Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American film and television actress who currently appears as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Wiig was a member of improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of...

 comedy, Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids (2011 film)
Bridesmaids is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, and Clayton Townsend. The plot centers on Annie ....

, released on 13 May 2011. On 15 August 2010, it became public that she had been cast in the role of Moira MacTaggert
Moira MacTaggert
Dr. Moira Kinross MacTaggert is a fictional character appearing in X-Men stories in the Marvel Comics universe. She works as a geneticist and is an expert in mutant affairs. Olivia Williams played a minor role of Dr. Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: The Last Stand...

 in the X-Men spin-off, X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the X-Men.-Publication history:The original series was an eight-issue limited series. It began in September 2006 and ended in April 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and penciled by Roger Cruz...

, directed by Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and directing the films Layer Cake , Stardust and Kick-Ass...

. The movie opened 3 June 2011.

Byrne has employed several different accents in her films: Australian
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....

, English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

, American
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

, and Canadian
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...

.

Other activities

Byrne has appeared in the music videos for Darren Hayes
Darren Hayes
Darren Stanley Hayes is a UK-based Australian singer-songwriter. Hayes was the front man and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, whose 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in United Kingdom and No. 3 in United States...

's single "I Miss You
I Miss You (Darren Hayes song)
"I Miss You" is the third solo single released by Australian singer Darren Hayes in 2002. It is the fourth single in Australia from his album Spin, and was released after "Crush " in 2003....

", M.Craft's "Sweets", and starred with Australian musician Alex Lloyd
Alex Lloyd
Alex Lloyd is an Australian singer-songwriter. His most popular album Watching Angels Mend, which includes the songs "Amazing" and "Green", was released in 2001 went double platinum. His third album Distant Light released in 2003 featured three songs that made the Australian top 40 singles charts...

 in the music video for his single "Black The Sun
Black the Sun
Black the Sun is the debut album by the Australian singer–songwriter Alex Lloyd, released in January 1999 via EMI Records.The song "Something Special" was later remixed by Resin Dogs to create "Something Special "....

", as well as featuring on the cover artwork for the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

. She also appeared in a television commercial for Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

.

Byrne was the face of Max Factor
Max Factor
Max Factor & Company is a cosmetics company, founded during 1909 by Maksymilian Faktorowicz , Max Factor, a Polish-Jewish cosmetician. Max Factor & Company was a related, two-family, multi-generational international cosmetics company before its sale in 1973 for $500 million dollars...

 between 2004 and 2006 and named in the Most Beautiful People of 2007 list in Who Magazine
Who magazine
Who is a celebrity news and entertainment weekly magazine published in Australia by Pacific Magazines. It was launched as a sister magazine to the United States weekly People, with a name change facilitated because of an existing Australian lad's mag of the same nameAs of 2006, Who had a...

.

Byrne has supported UNICEF Australia by being the face of the 2007 Designers United campaign and a member of tropfest
Tropfest
Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival.Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people in a cafe in Sydney but has since become the largest platform for short films in the world. Tropfest Australia takes place in February each year in front of a live audience of approximately...

 jury in 2006 and tropfest
Tropfest
Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival.Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people in a cafe in Sydney but has since become the largest platform for short films in the world. Tropfest Australia takes place in February each year in front of a live audience of approximately...

 @ tribeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...

 in 2007. She is a graduate and ambassador for NIDA's (National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...

) Young Actors Studio. She was recently named the first patron of Chauvel Cinemas presented by the Brisbane International Film Festival
Brisbane International Film Festival
Brisbane International Film Festival held in Brisbane provides a focus for film culture in Queensland, Australia. The festival has taken place since 1992 and focuses on films from the Asia-Pacific region. The event offers films including features, documentaries, shorts, experimental, silent films...

 and named in honour of Charles Chauvel.

Personal life

Byrne was in a relationship with Australian writer, director and actor Brendan Cowell
Brendan Cowell
Brendan Cowell is an Australian actor, screenwriter and director. Cowell was born in Sydney. He stumbled upon acting by accident while waiting for his sister to come out of a rehearsal; he was then cast in a commercial at age 8...

 for over six years. For much of the time their relationship was maintained at long-distance, with work commitments meaning they were often on separate continents. Cowell moved from Sydney to New York City, following Byrne's success on Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

. The relationship ended in January 2010.
Previously she dated Australian writer/director Gregor Jordan
Gregor Jordan
Gregor Jordan is an Australian film director.Jordan's films include Two Hands , Buffalo Soldiers , and Ned Kelly . He has also directed the concert video These Days: Live in Concert by Australian rock band Powderfinger.His film Two Hands won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction...

, who directed her in Two Hands.

Filmography

List of film credits
Year Title Role Notes
1994 Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll
Dallas Doll is an Australian film starring Sandra Bernhardt, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne and written and directed by Ann Turner.-Plot:...

Rastus Sommers
1999 Two Hands Alex
1999 Sophie
2000 My Mother Frank
My Mother Frank
My Mother Frank is a multi-award-winning Australian film released in 2000.-Plot outline:David Kennedy is preparing to go to university. His mother, Francis is a widow and has very little social life. David tells her that she should get out more and much to his surprise, Frank enrolls at the same...

Jenny
2000 BG Volpi Cup
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...

 for Best Actress
2001 Girl
2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...

Dormé
2002 City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts
City of Ghosts is a 2002 drama film co-written, directed by and starring Matt Dillon, about a con artist who must go to Cambodia to collect his share in money collected from an insurance scam...

Sabrina
2003 I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle (film)
I Capture The Castle is a 2003 film directed by Tim Fywell. It is based on the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith and was adapted to screenplay by Heidi Thomas...

Rose Mortmain
2003 Audrey Appleby
2003 Monster Uncredited Role
2003 Gemma Taylor Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
The Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an award presented annually at the Australian Film Institute Awards. The award has been presented annually since 1971.-History:...

2003 Take Away
Take Away
Take Away is a 2003 Australian comedy movie, written by Dave O'Neil, who also features as a minor character, and Mark O'Toole. It stars Vince Colosimo, Stephen Curry, Rose Byrne and Nathan Phillips...

Sonja Stilano
2004 Troy
Troy (film)
Troy is a 2004 epic war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen based on the events of the Trojan War. Its cast includes Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector.It was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.-Plot:...

Briseis
Briseis
Brisēís was a mythical queen in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War. Her character lies at the center of a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that drives the plot of Homer's Iliad.-Story:...

2004 Wicker Park
Wicker Park (film)
Wicker Park is a 2004 American psychological drama/romantic mystery film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett. The film is a remake of the 1996 French movie L'Appartement...

Alex
2005 Irene Bell
2006 Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...

Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...

2006 Leah
2007 Sunshine
Sunshine (2007 film)
Sunshine is a 2007 British science fiction film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb with the mass...

Cassie
2007 28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British/Spanish film sequel to the 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later. 28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and released in the United Kingdom and United States on 11 May 2007...

Major Scarlet Ross
2008 Just Buried
Just Buried
Just Buried is a 2007 Canadian film written and directed by Chaz Thorne. It stars Rose Byrne and Jay Baruchel.-Cast:*Jay Baruchel as Oliver Whynacht*Rose Byrne as Roberta Knickel*Graham Greene as Henry Sanipass*Nigel Bennett as Chief Knickle...

Roberta Knickle
2008 Iris
2009 Knowing
Knowing (film)
Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...

Diana Wayland
2009 Adam Beth Buchwald
2010 I Love You Too
I Love You Too (2010 film)
I Love You Too is a 2010 Australian romantic comedy film, and the directorial film debut of Daina Reid. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Peter Helliar. It stars Brendan Cowell, Peter Dinklage, Yvonne Strahovski, Peter Helliar and Megan Gale, and was produced by Princess Pictures on a...

Drunk Passenger Cameo
2010 Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director...

Jackie Q
2011 Insidious
Insidious (film)
Insidious is a 2011 American independent supernatural horror film written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Barbara Hershey. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for ghosts...

Renai Lambert 2011 Scream Awards
2011 Scream Awards
The 2011 Scream Awards was the name of the sixth annual Scream Awards, an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films, television and comic books...

 Nominated for Best Horror Actress
2011 Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids (2011 film)
Bridesmaids is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, and Clayton Townsend. The plot centers on Annie ....

Helen Harris
2011 X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the X-Men.-Publication history:The original series was an eight-issue limited series. It began in September 2006 and ended in April 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and penciled by Roger Cruz...

Moira MacTaggert
Moira MacTaggert
Dr. Moira Kinross MacTaggert is a fictional character appearing in X-Men stories in the Marvel Comics universe. She works as a geneticist and is an expert in mutant affairs. Olivia Williams played a minor role of Dr. Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: The Last Stand...


List of television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1995 Echo Point
Echo Point
Echo Point was an Australian television soap opera produced by Southern Star Productions for Network Ten in 1995.The series was devised as an attempt by the Ten Network to rival the opposition soap Home and Away on the Seven Network...

Belinda O Conor Lead character
1997 Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels (Australian TV series)
Fallen Angels was an Australian television series screened on the ABC in 1997. There was only one series of 20 episodes produced. The series was set around a community legal centre in Endeavour Park, a fictional western suburb of Sydney...

Siobhan Guest (1 episode)
1997 Wildside Heidi Benson Guest (2 episodes)
1999 Big Sky Angie Guest (1 episode)
1999 Heartbreak High
Heartbreak High
Heartbreak High is an Australian television series that ran for seven years from 1994 to 1999. The series dealt with the students of Hartley High, a tough high school in a multi-racial area of Sydney, and proved to be a more gritty and fast-paced show than many of its contemporaries...

Carly Whitely Guest (3 episodes)
2000 Murder Call
Murder Call
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked...

Sarah Watson Guest (1 episode)
2005 Casanova
Casanova (2005 TV serial)
Casanova is a 2005 British television comedy drama serial, written by television scriptwriter Russell T Davies and directed by Sheree Folkson...

Edith BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Mini series
2007–present Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

Ellen Parsons Lead character
2009 Herself

Awards

Nominated
  • Golden Globe Award
    Golden Globe Award
    The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

    s
    • Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Damages
      Damages (TV series)
      Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

      • 2008
      • 2010
  • Primetime Emmy Award
    Primetime Emmy Award
    The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...

    s
    • Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Damages
      Damages (TV series)
      Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

      • 2009
      • 2010
  • Movie Extra Filmink Awards
    • 2008– Best Performance by an Aussie In An Overseas Movie for Sunshine
      Sunshine (2007 film)
      Sunshine is a 2007 British science fiction film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb with the mass...

      (2007)
  • Australian Film Institute
    Australian Film Institute
    The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

    • 2003– AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Rage in Placid Lake
      The Rage In Placid Lake
      The Rage in Placid Lake is a 2003 Australian film starring Ben Lee and Rose Byrne. It features Placid Lake , a seventeen-year-old boy who has led a suburban hippie life with his neurotic, free loving parents...

      (2003)
  • Film Critics Circle of Australia
    Film Critics Circle of Australia
    The Film Critics Circle of Australia is a group of cinema critics that judge Australian films.-External links:**...

    • 2002– FCCA Award for Best Actress for The Goddess of 1967
      The Goddess of 1967
      The Goddess of 1967 is a 2000 Australian film directed by Macau-born Australian Clara Law, who wrote the script with her husband Eddie Ling-Ching Fong....

      (2000)
  • Satellite Awards
    • Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series for Damages
      Damages (TV series)
      Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

      • 2010


Won
  • Australian Film Institute
    Australian Film Institute
    The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

    • 2007– International Award for Best Actress for Damages
      Damages (TV series)
      Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...

      (2007)
  • Venice Film Festival
    Venice Film Festival
    The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

    • 2000– Volpi Cup for Best Actress for The Goddess of 1967
      The Goddess of 1967
      The Goddess of 1967 is a 2000 Australian film directed by Macau-born Australian Clara Law, who wrote the script with her husband Eddie Ling-Ching Fong....

      (2000)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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