Radha Mitchell
About
Biography
Biography
An Australian actress who began performing professionally while still in high school, Mitchell quickly developed a talent for roles requiring both a youthful energy and naivete as well as more intense, adult ambitions. She got her start in the Australian TV series "Sugar and Spice" and followed up with credits in another series, "Neighbours" as well as other TV productions including "Blue Heelers," "Ph nix," "GP" and "The Flying Doctors." Mitchell also played the leading role in an Australian stage production, "Desire."
The actress enjoyed a major career breakthrough when she made her feature debut in Emma-Kate Croghan's engaging romantic comedy, "Love and Other Catastrophes" (1996), playing Danni, "a sweet young thing" as Mitchell describes her role, who is dazzled by Mia, a university film student. The two break up, but are eventually reconciled amid the often farcical incidents befalling their close circle of friends and lovers. Although Mitchell's follow-up film and US debut, Lisa Cholodenko's "High Art" (1998), was in many ways a different, much more dramatic film, her role as Syd did have some connections with Danni. Mitchell's large, expressive eyes and blonde hair suggested the youth and inexperience of an aspiring magazine editor dazzled by a gifted photographer (Ally Sheedy) on a career and personal downhill. At the same time, though, Mitchell was also called on to convey a mature and intense emotional attraction as well as a sometimes unattractive ambition, both of which she managed to critical acclaim. After a turn as a house guest who won't leave in the indie "Cleopatra's Second Husband" (also 1998).
Mitchell moved more into mainstream fare with the science-fiction horror of "Pitch Black" (2000), the thriller "Phone Booth" (2003) and as Dakota Fanning's mother in "Man on Fire" (2004), and she had her best role yet in "Finding Neverland" (2004) as the disconnected, alienated wife of "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp). Meanwhile the actress wrote, directed and starred in her own labor of love, the indie "Four Reasons" (2002).
Mitchell took on her most complex and accomplished role when she starred as the title character(s) in writer-director Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" (2005), which told of the romantic troubles of a young woman in two distinctly different parallel storylines, one tragic and one comedic. Mitchell effectively portrayed both Melindas, one as a wounded, self-destructive and possibly doomed figure, and the other as a more charming but neurotic woman blind to the available love that she could embrace. She next starred in "Silent Hill" (2006) as a desperate mother trying to find an answer for her daughter's mysterious recurring dream that pulls her out of bed to sleepwalk. Instead of letting her child succumb to psychiatric care, she takes her to a fog-shrouded ghost town inhabited by a variety of strange beings-including demons-and overcome by a living darkness that transforms everything it touches. Despite negative reviews, "Silent Hill" opened number one at the box office with over $20 million in box office booty.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1988
Made acting debut on Australian TV series "Sugar and Spice"
1994
Briefly appeared briefly on popular Australian soap opera "Neighbours"
1995
Played leading role in Australian stage production "Desire"
1996
Returned to "Neighbours" playing a different character
1996
Made feature film debut in Australian comedy "Love and Other Catastrophes"
1998
U.S. feature debut, "High Art"
2000
Starred in sci-fi flick "Pitch Black"
2000
Co-starred in "Cleopatra's Second Husband"
2003
Starred opposite Colin Farrell in "Phone Booth"
2004
Cast opposite Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning in "Man on Fire"
2004
Portrayed author J.M. Barrie's (Johnny Depp) chilly wife in "Finding Neverland"
2005
Starred as the central character in Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda"
2006
Starred in film adaptation of popular video game "Silent Hill"
2007
Cast in Robert Benton's ensemble drama "Feast of Love"
2008
Cast in Australian horror film "Rogue"
2008
Appeared opposite Luke Wilson in Mark Pellington's "Henry Poole is Here"
2009
Co-starred with Bruce Willis in "Surrogates"
2010
Co-starred with Timothy Olyphant in remake of 1973 horror classic "The Crazies"
2012
Reprised role in "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D"
2013
Played Gerard Butler's wife in action thriller "Olympus Has Fallen"
2013
Starred on ABC drama series "Red Widow" as the title character
