Rose Byrne

Rose Byrne
Rose Byrne, 2010
Born	Mary Rose Byrne 24 July 1979 (1979-07-24) (age 31) Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present

Rose Byrne (born Mary Rose Byrne;^[1] 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. Her films include 28 Weeks Later, Sunshine, Knowing, Marie Antoinette and Get Him to the Greek. She appears regularly as Ellen Parsons in the U.S. television series Damages.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Awards 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent, the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher.^[2] She has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. While both of her parents are atheists, she describes herself as agnostic.^[3] Byrne attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School before attending Bradfield Senior College in Crows Nest. She began taking acting classes at age eight, joining the Australian Theatre for Young People and later attended the University of Sydney. In 1999, Byrne studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy.

Career

Byrne was cast in her first film role, Dallas Doll, when she was 13 years old.^[4] She has appeared in several Australian television shows including Heartbreak High and Echo Point, and the film Two Hands with Heath Ledger. She appeared in The Date, My Mother Frank, and Clara Law's The Goddess of 1967 for which she was award the Volpi Cup for "Best Actress" at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. She appeared as a guest in an episode of the police drama series Murder Call. On stage she played a lead role in La Dispute and in a production of Anton Chekhov's classic Three Sisters at the Sydney Theatre Company.

Byrne has appeared in the music videos for Darren Hayes's single "I Miss You", M.Craft's "Sweets", and starred with Australian musician Alex Lloyd in the music video for his single "Black The Sun", as well as featuring on the cover artwork for the EP. She also appeared in a television commercial for Sony.

In 2002, Byrne made her first appearance in a Hollywood film with a small role as Dormé, the handmaiden to Natalie Portman's Senator Padmé Amidala, in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. She appeared the same year in City of Ghosts with Matt Dillon.

The year previously she had flown to the UK to shoot I Capture the Castle, Tim Fywell's adaptation of the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith. In the 2003 release, she portrayed Rose Mortmain, the elder sister of Romola Garai's Cassandra. In 2003 she starred in three Australian films: The Night We Called It a Day with Melanie Griffith and Dennis Hopper; The Rage in Placid Lake for which she was named Best Actress at the Australian Film Institute with singer Ben Lee; and Take Away, another comedy.

In 2004, Byrne starred as Briseis, the Trojan priestess who is abducted during the Trojan War by Achilles, played by Brad Pitt, in Wolfgang Petersen's epic Troy,^[5] also starring Eric Bana, Peter O’Toole, Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloom. She then reunited with Peter O'Toole in the BBC TV drama Casanova. Byrne appeared with Snoop Dogg in Danny Green's film The Tenants, based on Bernard Malamud's novel, and starred with Josh Hartnett^[6] and Diane Kruger in the romantic psychological thriller Wicker Park where she played Alex, the woman who manipulated Josh Hartnett's character to keep him apart from the woman he falls in love with.

In 2006 Byrne portrayed Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, a French aristocrat and friend of Marie Antoinette, in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, with Kirsten Dunst, and appeared in The Dead Girl,^[7] directed by Karen Moncrieff.

In 2007, she played Cassie,^[8] the pilot in Danny Boyle's science fiction suspense film^[9] Sunshine,^[10] Scarlett Ross, an army medical officer in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's science fiction horror 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Boyle's 28 Days Later, and appeared in the independent film Just Buried,^[11] a Canadian dark comedy written and directed by Chaz Thorne.

Since 2007, Byrne has appeared in the FX drama production Damages,^[12] playing the regular lead role of Ellen Parsons,^[13] a young attorney torn between her new boss, played by Glenn Close, and her own ambitions.

She appeared in the Australian film noir The Tender Hook with Hugo Weaving.

Byrne was the face of Max Factor between 2004 and 2006 and named in the Most Beautiful People of 2007 list in Who Magazine.^[14]

Byrne has supported UNICEF Australia by being the face of the 2007 Designers United campaign and a member of tropfest jury in 2006 and tropfest@tribeca^[15] in 2007. She is a graduate and ambassador for NIDA's (National Institute of Dramatic Art) Young Actors Studio. She was recently named the first patron of Chauvel Cinemas presented by the Brisbane International Film Festival and named in honour of Charles Chauvel.

Byrne has used several different accents in her films: Australian, British,^[4] American,^[16] and Canadian.^[17]

In 2009, she co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the science fiction thriller, Knowing. Later that year, she appeared in the indie film, Adam, with Hugh Dancy. Byrne appeared in the 2010 comedy film, Get Him to the Greek, starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill. She will appear in the James Wan horror film Insidious, scheduled for release in September 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[18] Byrne has also signed on to star in the upcoming Kristen Wiig comedy, Bridesmaids, set for release on May 12, 2011.^[19][20] On August 15, 2010, it became public that she had been cast in the role of Moira MacTaggert in the X-Men spin-off, X-Men: First Class, directed by Matthew Vaughn.^[21]

Personal life

Byrne was in a relationship with Australian writer, director and actor Brendan Cowell 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. The relationship ended in January 2010.^[22]

Previously she dated Australian writer/director Gregor Jordan, who directed her in Two Hands.^[23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Dallas Doll	Rastus Sommers
1999	Two Hands	Alex
	The Date	Sophie
2000	My Mother Frank	Jenny
	The Goddess of 1967	BG	Volpi Cup for Best Actress
2001	The Pitch	Girl
2002	Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones	Dormé
	City of Ghosts	Sabrina
2003	I Capture the Castle	Rose Mortmain
	The Night We Called It a Day	Audrey Appleby
	Monster	Uncredited Role
	The Rage in Placid Lake	Gemma Taylor	Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
	Take Away	Sonja Stilano
2004	Troy	Briseis
	Wicker Park	Alex
2005	The Tenants	Irene Bell
2006	Marie Antoinette	Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
	The Dead Girl	Leah
2007	Sunshine	Cassie
	28 Weeks Later	Major Scarlett Ross
2008	Just Buried	Roberta Knickle
	The Tender Hook	Iris
2009	Knowing	Diana Wayland
	Adam	Beth Buchwald
2010	Get Him to the Greek	Jackie Q
	Insidious	Renai	completed
2011	Bridesmaids[24]	Helen	filming
	X-Men: First Class	Moira MacTaggert	pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Echo Point	Belinda O Conor	Lead character
1997	Fallen Angels	Siobhan	Guest (1 episode)
	Wildside	Heidi Benson	Guest (2 episodes)
1999	Big Sky	Angie	Guest (1 episode)
	Heartbreak High	Carly Whitely	Guest (3 episodes)
2000	Murder Call	Sarah Watson	Guest (1 episode)
2005	Casanova	Edith	BBC Mini series
2007–present	Damages	Ellen Parsons	Lead character
2009	The Chaser's War on Everything	Herself

Awards

Nominated

• Golden Globes
  • 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
    • 2008
    • 2010
• Primetime Emmys
  • Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Damages
    • 2009
    • 2010
• Movie Extra Filmink Awards
  • 2008– Best Performance by an Aussie In An Overseas Movie for Sunshine (2007)
• Australian Film Institute
  • 2003– AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Rage in Placid Lake (2003)
• Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards
  • 2002– FCCA Award for Best Actress for The Goddess of 1967 (2000)

Won

• Australian Film Institute
  • 2007– International Award for Best Actress for Damages (2007)
• Venice Film Festival
  • 2000– Volpi Cup for Best Actress for The Goddess of 1967 (2000)

References

External links

• Rose Byrne at the Internet Movie Database
• Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy interview on RadioPlanet.tv

Persondata
Name	Byrne, Rose
Alternative names	Byrne, Rose Judith Esther
Short description
Date of birth	1979-07-24
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Date of death
Place of death