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Rose Byrne

Mary Rose Byrne[1][2] (born 24 July 1979[3]) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film Dallas Doll (1994),[4] and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role in The Goddess of 1967 (2000), which brought her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress,[5] and made the transition to American cinema with a small role in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), followed by bigger parts in Hollywood productions of Troy (2004), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Knowing (2009).

Rose Byrne

Mary Rose Byrne

(1979-07-24) 24 July 1979

Actress

1994–present

Brendan Cowell
(2003–2010)
Bobby Cannavale
(2012–present)

2

Rose McIver (sister-in-law)

Byrne appeared as Ellen Parsons in the legal thriller series Damages (2007–2012), which earned her nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Roles in Get Him to the Greek (2010), Bridesmaids (2011), Neighbors (2014), Spy (2015) and Instant Family (2018) established her as a comedic actress. She has also starred in the horror film Insidious (2010) and its sequels Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) and Insidious: The Red Door (2023) ; the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011) and its sequel X-Men: Apocalypse (2016); and the family film Peter Rabbit (2018) and its sequel Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021). Byrne also portrayed Gloria Steinem in the miniseries Mrs. America (2020) and led the comedy series Physical (2021–2023) and Platonic (2023).

Early life[edit]

Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. She has Irish and Scottish ancestry.[6][7] Her parents are 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. In a 2009 interview, Byrne said that her mother was an atheist, while both she and her father were agnostic.[8] Her family was described by The Telegraph as "close-knit", and frequently kept her grounded as her career took off. "At one point one of my sisters had a word with me saying, 'Watch yourself'", she once remarked. "But they were really supportive."[9]


Byrne attended Balmain Public School,[10] Australian Theatre for Young People (at age eight, encouraged by one of her sisters),[11] and Hunters Hill High School[11] before attending Bradfield Senior College[12] for years 11 and 12.[13]


She later lived in the Sydney suburbs of Newtown and Bondi.[14] Growing up, she experienced "plenty of rejection" from film schools. "I auditioned for a few of the big drama schools—Nepean, WAAPA, NIDA—and didn't get in to any of them. I was really disappointed with myself. I wasn't quite sure if I'd be legitimate without training for three years in a more traditional sense". Instead, she studied an arts degree at Sydney University. "I still have great memories of those days: studying, working, auditioning. Just being a jobbing actor trying to figure out life after high school".[15] In 1999, she studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company, which was developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy.

Career[edit]

1994–2006: Beginnings[edit]

Byrne obtained her first film role in Dallas Doll (1994) when she was 15 years old.[14] Throughout the 1990s, she appeared in several Australian television shows, such as Wildside (1997) and Echo Point (1995), and starred as the love interest in the film Two Hands (1999), opposite fellow up-and-coming actor Heath Ledger. A role in the award-winning film My Mother Frank (2000) was followed by her first leading role in Clara Law's The Goddess of 1967 (also 2000), which gained her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 57th Venice International Film Festival. Byrne revealed in a post-award interview that, prior to winning the Venice Film Festival Award, she was surprised by her own performance and found it confronting watching the film because her acting was "too depressing". Byrne admitted that "watching myself is confronting because I'm convinced I can't act and I want to get out, that's how insecure I am."[5]


On stage, Byrne starred in La Dispute and in a production of Anton Chekhov's classic Three Sisters at the Sydney Theatre Company.[16] In 2002, she appeared in a brief appearance as Dormé, the handmaiden to Natalie Portman's Senator Padmé Amidala, in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. She then transitioned to Hollywood as she appeared in the 2002 thriller City of Ghosts, with Matt Dillon. Byrne had flown to the UK to shoot I Capture the Castle (2003), Tim Fywell's adaptation of the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith. In it, she portrayed Rose Mortmain, the elder sister of Romola Garai's Cassandra.


In 2003, Byrne starred in three Australian films; The Night We Called It a Day, with Melanie Griffith and Dennis Hopper; The Rage in Placid Lake, with Ben Lee; and Take Away, alongside Vince Colosimo, Stephen Curry, John Howard and Nathan Phillips. All films were comedies and opened to varying degrees of success at the box office, but The Rage in Placid Lake earned Byrne an AACTA Award nomination for Best Actress. In the epic drama Troy (2004), she took on the role of Briseis, the captured priestess presented to "amuse" Brad Pitt's Achilles.[17] Variety's review of the film stated: "Byrne's spoils-of-war chattel plays more as a convenient invention than as a woman who could possibly turn Achilles’ head and heart around".[18] In her other 2004 film release, the thriller Wicker Park, Byrne appeared, opposite Josh Hartnett and Diane Kruger, as the girlfriend of a young advertising executive's old friend.[19] Wicker Park director Paul McGuigan described her as the best actress he has worked with, and her Troy co-star Peter O'Toole described her as "beautiful, uncomplicated, simple, pure actress and a very nice girl".[20]


Byrne reunited with Peter O'Toole, playing a young servant, in the BBC TV drama Casanova (2005), a three-episode production about 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova. In 2005, she also starred with Snoop Dogg in The Tenants, based on Bernard Malamud's novel. 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 as a medical examiner who thinks the dead woman she is prepping is her missing sister in the critically acclaimed thriller The Dead Girl,[21] directed by Karen Moncrieff.

2007–2012: Breakthrough[edit]

In 2007, Byrne had significant parts in two studio sci-fi thriller films. She played a space vessel's pilot[22] in Danny Boyle's[23] Sunshine,[24] alongside Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans, and also an army medical officer in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Boyle's 28 Days Later. While Sunshine flopped, 28 Weeks Later was a critical success and grossed over US$64.2 million globally.[25] In 2007, Byrne began playing Ellen Parsons, a bright, young attorney, in the FX legal thriller television series Damages, alongside Glenn Close.[26] Her performance was widely praised; she was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2009 and 2010, and for Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film in 2008 and 2010. She appeared in all 59 episodes of the series until its finale in September 2012.[27]

Personal life[edit]

In 2013, Byrne lived in New York and said she remained insecure about a stable career: "I don't think that insecurity ever leaves you. You're a freelancer. There's always an element of uncertainty."[4]


Byrne was in a relationship with Australian actor Brendan Cowell for over six years. He moved from Sydney to New York City following Byrne's success on Damages. Their relationship ended in January 2010.[71]


Byrne has been in a relationship with American actor Bobby Cannavale since 2012. They have two sons, born in February 2016 and November 2017.[72][73]


Through her brother George's marriage, Byrne is the sister-in-law of New Zealand actress Rose McIver.[74]


Byrne has supported UNICEF Australia as the face of the 2007 Designers United campaign, and was a jury member of Tropfest in 2006 and Tropfest@Tribeca[75] in 2007. She is a graduate and ambassador for NIDA's (National Institute of Dramatic Art) Young Actors Studio.[76]

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Rose Byrne