Biography
Though Australian-born actress Rose Byrne made her film debut in 1994, when she played a supporting role in the eccentric drama
Dallas Doll alongside
Sandra Bernhard and Jake Blundell, her breakout performances within her native country were both on the small screen; namely, in the soap opera
Echo Point and the long-running drama series
Heartbreak High. After developing a fan base and gaining some critical recognition, Byrne was cast alongside fellow Aussie
Heath Ledger in
Two Hands (1999), which featured the actress playing an innocent country girl whose would-be suitor has unwittingly found himself in the midst of a mafia scandal. Though she undoubtedly caught the eye of American filmmakers after
Two Hands' premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Byrne wouldn't appear in an American film until several years later, when she made a very small appearance in a very big movie -- Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones. However, before
Star Wars, Byrne starred in two little-known, but nonetheless significant, Australian parts, including her first lead role in
The Goddess of 1967 (2000), in which she portrayed a blind, emotionally unstable orphan, and
My Mother Frank, which featured her as the unrequited love interest of a pining college student. After the 2002 release of Attack of the Clones, Byrne could be seen in a minor but indelible supporting role in
Matt Dillon's
City of Ghosts. Byrne went on to perform in two critically acclaimed Australian features --
The Rage in Placid Lake (2003) and The Night We Called It a Day (2003) -- as well as the U.K. release
I Capture the Castle (2003), in which she co-starred as the beautiful daughter of a once-grand English family. In 2004, Byrne played a supporting role in
Wolfgang Petersen's big-budget historical epic
Troy, and went on to star with
Josh Hartnett,
Matthew Lillard, and
Troy alumna
Diane Kruger in director Paul McGuigan's thriller
Wicker Park. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide