Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto (born 16 December 1967) is an Australian actress. The daughter of actors Lindsay and Barry Otto and the sister of actress Gracie Otto, she began acting at age eighteen, and has performed in a variety of independent and major studio films.Her first major film appearance was in the 1986 film Emma's War, in which she played a teenager who moves to Australia's bush country during World War II. In 1996, directorShirley Barrettcast Otto as a shy waitress in the filmLove Serenade. She starred in the 1997 filmsDoing Time for Patsy Cline and The Well, for which earned her third Australian Film Institute nomination. Her next project was the romantic comedyDead Letter Office(1998). The film was Otto's first with her father,Barry, who makes a brief appearance. Later that year, she starred in the film In The Winter Dark, directed by James Bogle, for which she was nominated for her fourth Australian Film Institute Award.After a decade of critically acclaimed roles in Australian films, she gained Hollywood's attention after appearing in supporting roles in The Thin Red Line (1998) and What Lies Beneath (2000). In 2001, she was cast as anaturalistin the comedyHuman Nature and appeared in theBBCadaptation ofAnthony Trollope'sThe Way We Live Now, as a strong-willed American Southerner. Her breakthrough role came in 2002, when she portrayed Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Her character was introduced in the trilogy's second filmThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towersin 2002 and appeared in the third film,The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the following year. Her performance earned her an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films nomination for Best Supporting Actress.DirectorSteven Spielberg, impressed by Otto's performance inThe Lord of the Rings, called her to ask if she would play oppositeTom Cruisein the big-budget science fiction filmWar of the Worlds(2005). Otto, pregnant at the time, believed she would have to turn down the role, but the script was reworked to accommodate her.Her next project was playing the lead in the Australian filmDanny Deckchair (2003). She then took on the Australian televisionminiseriesThrough My Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story(2004).At the 2005Logie Awards, Otto won Most Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role.In 2007, Otto starred as Cricket Stewart, the wife of a successful director, in the television miniseriesThe Starter Wife. She had a starring role in the 2008 American television series Cashmere Mafia, and Australian films such as In Her Skin and Blessed (2009). She starred oppositeStephanie SigmanandAnthony LaPagliain the horror prequelAnnabelle: Creation. She portrayedZelda Spellmanin Netflix'sChilling Adventures of Sabrina(2018-2020).She made hertheatricaldebut in the 1986 production ofThe Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kantfor theSydney Theatre Company.[28]Three more theatrical productions for the Sydney Theatre Company followed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2002, she returned to the stage playing Nora Helmer inA Doll's Houseopposite her future husband Peter O'Brien. Otto's performance earned her a 2003Helpmann Awardnomination and the MO Award for "Best Female Actor in a Play". Her next stage role was in thepsychological thrillerBoy Gets Girl(2005).