Biography - Toni Collette

Born in Blacktown, New South Wales on November 1, 1972, Australian beauty Toni Collette has become one of the most acclaimed and versatile actresses of her generation. The dedicated performer left school at 16 to attend courses at the Australian Theatre for Young People and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), having figured from an early age that acting would be her future. Collette left NIDA early to appear in “Spotswood” with Anthony Hopkins and Russell Crowe, which helped her land the role that would make her famous, the title character in 1994’s melancholic comedy “Muriel’s Wedding”. P.J. Hogan’s touching and hilarious film famously required Collette to gain 40 pounds in seven weeks, and she ultimately won the Australian Film Institute award for Best Actress in a Lead Role, her first of four statues from the prestigious body of Australian film professionals. Many critics in Australia and abroad consider her performance as the despondent Muriel to be one of the best of the 90s

Suddenly an international star, Collette appeared in a variety of diverse roles over the next few years, including the title role of the intense drama “Lilian’s Story” and two films with Gwyneth Paltrow, “Emma” and “The Pallbearer”. In 1998 Collette starred with Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Todd Haynes’s stunning glam-rock odyssey “Velvet Goldmine”, and the next year earned an Oscar nomination for her hard-hitting performance as Haley Joel Osment’s mother in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense”. The latter film and 2000’s “Shaft” remake buoyed her career in Hollywood, and she soon starred in “Changing Lanes”, “About a Boy”, and gave a brief but terrific performance in the award-winning ensemble drama “The Hours”. Collette has recently appeared in Curtis Hanson’s “In Her Shoes” with Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine, and is on screens this summer in “The Night Listener” with Robin Williams and in the critically acclaimed indie smash “Little Miss Sunshine”.

Self-described as an “actor not a movie star”, Collette is one of the most interesting and watchable actresses in cinema today. Later this year she can be seen in the thriller “Like Minds”, playing a forensic psychologist wrapped up in a beguiling murder mystery involving two teenage boys.