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Miranda Otto

Actor, ProducerBorn December 16, 1967 (57 years)
Miranda Otto (born December 16, 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, director Shirley Barrett cast Otto as a shy waitress in the film Love Serenade. She starred in the 1997 films Doing Time for Patsy Cline and The Well, for which earned her third Australian Film Institute nomination. Her next project was the romantic comedy Dead 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 a naturalist in the comedy Human Nature and appeared in the BBC adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The 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 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 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.

Director Steven Spielberg, impressed by Otto's performance in The Lord of the Rings, called her to ask if she would play opposite Tom Cruise in the big-budget science fiction film War 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 film Danny Deckchair (2003). She then took on the Australian television miniseries Through My Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story (2004). At the 2005 Logie 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 miniseries The 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 opposite Stephanie Sigman and Anthony LaPaglia in the horror prequel Annabelle: Creation. She portrayed Zelda Spellman in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020).

She made her theatrical debut in the 1986 production of The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant for the Sydney 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 in A Doll's House opposite her future husband Peter O'Brien. Otto's performance earned her a 2003 Helpmann Award nomination and the MO Award for "Best Female Actor in a Play". Her next stage role was in the psychological thriller Boy Gets Girl (2005).

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • The Homesman
  • Reaching for the Moon
  • Dance Academy: The Movie

Known For

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
  • War of the Worlds
  • Talk to Me
  • Annabelle: Creation
  • Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
  • What Lies Beneath
  • The Silence
  • I, Frankenstein
  • Flight of the Phoenix
  • The Homesman
  • 24: Legacy
  • The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
  • Human Nature
  • Reaching for the Moon
  • Downhill
  • Danny Deckchair
  • In My Father's Den
  • The Clearing (2023)
  • In Her Skin
  • Zoe
  • Love Serenade
  • Rake (US)
  • The Portable Door
  • The Jack Bull

Featured Videos

    Filmography

    2025
    2024
    2024
    Thou Shalt Not Steal (TV Series) · as Maxine
    2024
    My Freaky Family · as Aneska Flood
    2024
    Ladies in Black (TV Series) · as Virginia Ambrose
    2023
    The Clearing (2023) (TV Series) · as Adrienne Beaufort
    2023
    Wellmania (TV Series)
    2023
    The Portable Door · as Countess Judy
    2023
    Koala Man (TV Series) · as Mindy
    2022
    At the Gates · as Marianne Barris
    2022
    Talk to Me · as Sue
    2022
    True Colours (2022) (TV Series) · as Isabelle Martin
    2021
    Fires (TV Series) · as Kath Simpson
    2021
    The Moth Effect (TV Series) · as Jenny
    2021
    The Unusual Suspects (TV Series) · as Sara
    2020
    Downhill · as Charlotte
    2019
    The Silence · as Kelly Andrews
    2018
    The Chaperone · as Ruth St. Dennis
    2018
    Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV Series) · as Zelda Spellman
    2018
    Zoe · as The Designer
    2017
    Annabelle: Creation · as Esther Mullins
    2017
    Dance Academy: The Movie · as Madeline Moncur
    2016
    24: Legacy (TV Series) · as Rebecca Ingram
    2015
    The Daughter · as Charlotte
    2014
    The Homesman · as Theoline Belknap
    2014
    Rake (US) (TV Series) · as Maddy Deane
    2014
    I, Frankenstein · as Leonore
    2013
    The Turning · as Sherry
    2013
    Reaching for the Moon · as Elizabeth Bishop
    2012
    Mabo · as Margaret White
    2012
    Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV Series) · as Lydia Andrews
    2011
    Homeland (TV Series) · as Allison Carr
    2011
    Locke & Key · as Nina Locke
    2010
    South Solitary · as Meredith Appleton
    2009
    Blessed · as Bianca
    2009
    In Her Skin · as Mrs. Barber
    2008
    Cashmere Mafia (TV Series) · as Juliet Draper
    2007
    The Starter Wife (TV Series) · as Cricket Stewart
    2005
    War of the Worlds · as Mary-Ann
    2004
    2004
    2004
    Through My Eyes (TV Series) · as Lindy Chamberlain
    2004
    In My Father's Den · as Penny Prior
    2004
    2003
    2003
    2003
    Danny Deckchair · as Glenda Lake
    2003
    2002
    2002
    Julie Walking Home · as Julie Makowsky
    2002
    Close Your Eyes · as Clara Strother
    2001
    The Way We Live Now (TV Series) · as Mrs Hurtle
    2001
    Human Nature · as Gabrielle
    2000
    What Lies Beneath · as Mary Feur
    2000
    Kin · as Anna
    1999
    The Jack Bull · as Cora Redding
    1998
    The Thin Red Line · as Marty Bell
    1998
    In the Winter Dark · as Ronnie
    1998
    Dead Letter Office · as Alice Walsh
    1997
    1997
    The Well · as Katherine
    1997
    1996
    Love Serenade · as Dimity Hurley
    1995
    1993
    The Nostradamus Kid · as Jennie O'brien
    1992
    1992
    The Girl Who Came Late · as Nell Tiscowitz
    1991
    Heroes II: The Return (TV Series) · as Roma Page
    1991
    Hampton Court (TV Series) · as Melissa
    1989
    Police Rescue (TV Series) · as Amanda
    1989
    G.P. (TV Series) · as Elizabeth Wiggins
    1988
    The 13th Floor · as Rebecca
    1987
    Initiation · as Stevie
    1987
    Emma's War · as Emma Grange
    1985
    The Flying Doctors (TV Series) · as Amy Brodie
    1981
    A Country Practice (TV Series) · as Millie Allcott

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