Miranda Otto
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A crimson-haired Aussie beauty with a girl-next-door smile and the daughter of prolific Australian actor Barry Otto , Miranda Otto cut her teeth on the stage after graduating from the prestigious theatrical school NIDA (which boasts alumnae including Mel Gibson, Judy Davis and Cate Blanchett) and went on to appear in a spate of Australian films beginning in 1986 with an appearance as the title character in "Emma's War." She subsequently earned Australian Film Institute award nominations for her work in Gillian Anderson's "The Last Days of Chez Nous" (1992), along with "The Well" (1997) and "In The Winter Dark" (1998). She also received an Australian Film Critics Circle Award nominations for her performance in "The Last Days of Chez Nous," and "Love Serenade" (1996), which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Making her American debut in "The Thin Red Line" (1998), director Terrence Malick's Oscar-nomionated meditation on war, Otto quickly caught the attention of Hollywood filmmakers and the actress snared high-profile supporting roles in the HBO Western telepic "The Jack Bull" (1999) opposite John Cusack, and director Robert Zemeckis' "What Lies Beneath" (2000) opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford. But by far her biggest international exposure came when she joined the ensemble of director Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, bowing as beautiful, battle-ready Eowyn in the second instalment, "The Two Towers" (2002) and returning for the finale, "The Return of the King" (2003). In between, she appeared opposite Rhys Ifans in writer-director Jeff Balsmeyer's offbeat Australian film "Danny Deckchair" (2003), a tale inspired by a true story, as a female parking officer who falls for a man who lands in har yard after taking to the sky in a lawnchair tied to balloons.
Next for Otto was the New Zealand-made mystery "In My Father's Den" (2004) and then she headlined the Aussie TV miniseries "Through My Eyes" (2004) as Lindy Chamberlain, the real-life woman suspected in her baby's disappearance after she claimed a dingo carried the child off (the inspiration for the Meryl Streep film "A Cry in the Dark"). Back in Hollywood, she starred opposite Dennis Quaid in the remake of "Flight of the Phoenix" (2004) as an oil engineer among the survivors of a downed military aircraft. Then it was on to a brief but effective role as Tom Cruise's ex-wife in Steven Spielberg's riveting remake of the sci-fi classic "War of the Worlds" (2005).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1986
Film debut, "Emma's War"
1992
Co-starred in Gillian Armstrong's "The Last Days of Chez Nous"
1996
Was featured in "Love Seranade"
1997
Starred in "Doing Time for Patsy Cline"
1998
Played Ben Chaplin's wife in "The Thin Red Line"
1999
Appeared in the HBO Western "The Jack Bull" opposite John Cusack
2000
Portrayed Mary Feur in "What Lies Beneath"
2002
Co-starred in the blockbuster feature "Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers"
2002
Starred as Nora Helmer in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the Henrik Ibsen classic "A Doll's House."
2002
Starred as a headstrong woman dealing with her husbands adulterous ways in the drama feature "Julie Walking Home"
2003
Featured in the "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2004
Cast opposite Goran Visnjic in the thriller "Close Your Eyes"
2004
Starred opposite Dennis Quaid in the remake of the 1965 film "The Flight of the Phoenix"
2004
Starred in the comedy "Danny Deckchair"
2005
Cast in Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," based on H.G. Wells' novel, which chronicles a Martian invasion of Earth
Family
Companions
