Frances O'Connor
About
Biography
Biography
After graduating from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts in Perth and appearing extensively on Australian TV in series including "Halifax f.p.," dark-haired, porcelain-skinned actress Frances O'Connor made her film debut in Emma-Kate Croghan's surprise hit "Love and Other Catastrophes" in 1996. She played Mia, a self-assured film student facing difficulties with school administration and romantic problems with her girlfriend Danni (Radha Mitchell). The actress' impressive turn as the staunch and spunky young woman in this Australian independent garnered notice and acclaim. Hot on the heels of the 1996 Cannes screening of "Love and Other Catastrophes," O'Connor began lensing "Thank God He Met Lizzie" (1997) a romantic comedy starring Cate Blanchett as the titular significant other of a man (Richard Roxburgh) plagued by thoughts of his previous girlfriend Jenny (O'Connor). As Jenny, O'Connor gave an exuberant performance, easily evincing the high-spirited vitality and charm crucial to her role as the idealized early girlfriend who lives primarily in flashback. Although the film attracted only a small audience, critics pointed to O'Connor's performance as a stand-out feature of the otherwise unremarkable offering.
More memorable was her powerful starring turn in Bill Bennett's "Kiss or Kill" (1997) opposite fellow "Love and Other Catastrophes" co-star Matt Day. The two played con artist lovers on the run after their routine scheme turned sour, accidentally killing their intended robbery victim and ending up with a sordid videotape that incriminates a sports celebrity. O'Connor shone in the well-made character driven thriller, capably handling the emotionally demanding role of a calculating and cool but anxiety-ridden young woman who is scarred by her mother's brutal murder, which she witnessed as a young child. The following year, she was featured in Peter Duncan's odd "A Little Bit of Soul," playing a genetic researcher who is competing with her former lover for a grant from a wealthy high ranking politician who is also a practicing Satanist.
In 1999, O'Connor took on her first non-Australian film, starring as Fanny Price in Patricia Rozema's adaptation of "Mansfield Park." A somewhat revisionist take on Jane Austen's novel, the film presented O'Connor's character as a more interesting and likable character than she is in the text, with Rozema inserting some of Austen's own personality (from writings in letters and journals) into Fanny's character. Although vastly different from her previous work, the actress gave an admirably strong performance in the role, remaining true to the script while letting her own modern spark shine through. She deftly handled the more reined in emotions necessary to the film, and proved a magnetic screen presence alongside co-stars Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller and Alessandro Nivola. O'Connor followed up this acclaimed performance with a role as a book lover who brings her passion into the real world thanks to a seductive young man (Stuart Townsend) who happens to be dating her sister (Kate Hudson) in the Dublin-set feature "About Adam" (2000) before starring as the conflicted title character in the 2000 BBC-1 production of the Flaubert classic "Madame Bovary." That same year she was featured in the more commercial "Bedazzled" with a pivotal supporting role as a dream girl so compelling that a man (Brendan Fraser) makes a deal with the devil (Elizabeth Hurley) in an effort to win her heart. In 2001, she raised her profile considerably putting aside the historical pieces that helped her garner the attention of director Steven Spielberg to take on a futuristic role in the director's futuristic "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," playing the conflicted mother of a robotic boy (Haley Joel Osment). Reteaming with Brendan Fraser, O'Connor starred as Maggie in the acclaimed West End production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in the fall of 2001 and returned to period costume as co-star of the legendary Oscar Wilde comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest" the next year, essaying the charming Gwendolyn Fairfax opposite Colin Firth's lovestruck Jack Worthing. Later in 2002 she was featured in John Woo's World War II actioner "Windtalkers" (filmed in 2000).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1995
Appeared in the Australian TV series "Halifax f.p."
1996
Feature debut in "Love and Other Catastrophes", playing a lesbian university student as part of an ensemble that also included Matt Day; also sang in the film
1997
Starred opposite Day in "Kiss or Kill"; was nominated for the Australian Film Institute Award as Best Actress
1997
Played the idealized ex-girlfriend of the protagonist in "Thank God He Met Lizzie"; also nominated for the Australian Film Institute Award as Best Actress
1998
Appeared in support of Geoffrey Rush in Patrick Duncan's "A Little Bit of Soul"
1998
Returned to the Melbourne Theater Company to star in "The Herbal Bed"
1999
Starred as Fanny Price in Patricia Rozema's adaptation of Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park"
2000
Had co-starring role in the Dublin set feature "About Adam", featuring Kate Hudson and Stuart Townsend (released in the USA in 2001)
2000
Starred as the object of Brendan Fraser's affection in the remake of "Bedazzled"
2000
Played the title character in the BBC-1 presentation of the Flaubert classic "Madame Bovary" (aired in USA in February)
2001
Cast as Monica, the adoptive mother of a robotic child, in "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"
2001
Reteamed with Fraser on the London stage in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
2002
Had supporting role in "Windtalkers", directed by John Woo
2002
Portrayed Gwendolyn in the remake of "The Importance of Being Earnest"
2003
Cast in female lead of the film version of Michael Crichton's novel "Timeline"
