Rose Byrne (b. 1979), actor, was raised in the Sydney suburbs of Balmain and Newtown, and joined the Australian Theatre for Young People at the age of eight. At thirteen she was cast in the Australian film Dallas Doll (released in 1995). Her breakthrough came playing opposite Heath Ledger in Two Hands (1999). In 2000 her performance in The Goddess of 1967 won her a best actress award at the Venice Film Festival. In recent years she has appeared in such Hollywood productions as Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones (2002) and City of Ghosts (2003), and in the local films The Night We Called it a Day and The Rage in Placid Lake (both 2003). In 2004 she was in the thriller Wicker Park and the epic Troy; she starred in the miniseries Casanova in 2005 and the film Marie Antoinette in 2006. Beginning in 2007, she acted over five seasons in the television series Damages, gaining two Golden Globe nominations. She has since appeared in the brash and ribald comedies Get Him to the Greek (2010), Bridesmaids (2011) and Bad Neighbours (2014).
