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Toni Collette extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Toni Collette
Collette at the Orange British Academy Film Awards, February 2007
Born	Antonia Collette 1 November 1972 (1972-11-01) (age 37) Blacktown, Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Actress/Musician
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Dave Galafassi (2003–present)

Antonia "Toni" Collette (born 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish.

Collette's acting career began in the early 1990s with comedic roles in films such as Spotswood (1992) and Muriel's Wedding (1994), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.¹ Following her performances in Emma (1996) and The Boys (1998), Colette achieved international recognition as a result of her Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Lynn Sear in The Sixth Sense (1999).¹ She has since established herself as the second best-known and highest-paid Australian actress in Hollywood (after Nicole Kidman), who has had her biggest commercial successes with thrillers such as Shaft (2000) and Changing Lanes (2001) and independent comedy films like About a Boy (2002) for which she received a BAFTA nomination, In Her Shoes (2005) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006).² Her performance(s) on Showtime's United States of Tara has won her the Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Discography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Collette was born in Blacktown, a working class suburb in western Sydney, the daughter of Judy, a customer-service representative, and Bob Collette, a truck driver. She has two younger brothers, Ben and Christopher.³ From an early age, Collette showed a talent for acting. She faked appendicitis when she was eleven years old and was so convincing that doctors removed her appendix, although tests showed nothing wrong with it.⁴ She attended Blacktown Girls High School until the age of 16, and then later attended both the Australian Theatre for Young People and NIDA.

Career

Collette has won five Australian Film Institute awards, including the Australian Best Actress in a Lead Role for Muriel's Wedding in 1994, a role for which she gained 18kg (40lb) in seven weeks. In 1996, she was part of the ensemble cast of the comedy, Così. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role as the mother of a troubled boy in the U.S. film The Sixth Sense, which also starred Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment.

She has also received broad acclaim on Broadway, starring as Queenie in Michael John LaChiusa's musical work, The Wild Party. For this role, Collette received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

Collette had to turn down the title role in Bridget Jones's Diary because she was committed to perform on Broadway at the time, the role eventually went to Renee Zellweger. She then auditioned for the role of ambitious murderess Roxie Hart in the hit film Chicago. She almost got the part but, because she wasn't a well-known enough actress, she lost that role to Renée Zellweger as well.⁵ On the other hand, some of Collette's success has come at the expense of Naomi Watts career as Collette beat out Watts for roles in the films, Velvet Goldmine, Shaft and The Sixth Sense.

In 2006, she played Sheryl Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy. After filming three films consecutively in the fall of 2006, Collette said in a recent interview that she wants to take a year off from acting and spend time with her friends and family. She has also stated that she wants to take roles in Australian films rather than mainstream US films.^{citation needed} In October 2006, she began touring Australia to promote her first vocal album Beautiful Awkward Pictures, released on Hoola Hoop Records under the name Toni Collette & the Finish, a band for which her husband drums. Collette recently appeared on the Australian television show Cool Aid and performed the song "Look Up" off of her album. Collette and the Finish were a headlining act at the Sydney show of Live Earth. She sang T-Rex's "Children Of The Revolution" with The Finish.

“

Thank you so much, it is heartwarming to see so many people here today in the name of going green, and in the name of very necessary change. Just by being here today, just by turning up is helping to create awareness of this very life threatening situation. So I take my hat off to you.6

”

Collette accepted the leading role in the Showtime series, United States of Tara. The show was created by Steven Spielberg and developed by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno, Diablo Cody. She plays a wife and mother of two with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Tara and her family cope with her four alters (alternate personalities) who began showing up more frequently after Tara stopped taking her medications (to increase her quality of life). Collette plays opposite John Corbett who portrays her husband Max. Filming began on 14 April 2008.⁷ The series was originally planned for a 12 episode season, but has recently been picked up for an additional 12 episode season (for 2010). She won the Emmy for best leading actress in a comedy on 20 September 2009 for her performance in this show.⁸ At the 67th Golden Globe Awards, Collette won the award for Best Actress in a TV Comedy for her performance on Showtime's United States of Tara.

Personal life

Collette has previously dated Jonathan Rhys Meyers.⁹ She has been married to Dave Galafassi since 11 January 2003 and owns homes in both Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Collette is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. She urged former Prime Minister John Howard to end the Australian sheep farming practice of mulesing, which is considered by many animal rights activists to be cruel.¹⁰ She later revised her position after doing her own research of the Australian wool industry.¹¹ She gave birth to her first daughter Sage Florence in Sydney on 9 January 2008.¹²

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	Spotswood	Wendy Robinson	Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1993	The Thief and the Cobbler	Mad Holy Old Witch (voice)
1994	This Marching Girl Thing	Cindy	Short film
	Muriel's Wedding	Muriel Heslop	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1996	Così	Julie
	The Pallbearer	Cynthia
	Emma	Harriet
	Lilian's Story	Young Lilian Singer	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1997	Clockwatchers	Iris Chapman
	The James Gang	Julia Armstrong
	Diana & Me	Diana Spencer
1998	The Boys	Michelle	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actor - Female
	Velvet Goldmine	Mandy Slade
1999	8½ Women	Griselda/Sister Concordia
	The Sixth Sense	Lynn Sear	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Suspense Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2000	Shaft	Diane Palmieri	Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Action
	Hotel Splendide	Kath
	The Magic Pudding	Meg Bluegum (voice)
2001	Dinner with Friends	Beth	Television film
2002	Changing Lanes	Michelle
	About a Boy	Fiona	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
	Dirty Deeds	Sharon	Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Female
	The Hours	Kitty	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003	Japanese Story	Sandy Edwards	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Female Inside Film Award for Best Actres Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2004	The Last Shot	Emily French
	Connie and Carla	Carla
2005	In Her Shoes	Rose Feller	Nominated — Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actress Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2006	Little Miss Sunshine	Sheryl Hoover	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated — Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	The Night Listener	Donna D. Logand
	Like Minds	Sally
	The Dead Girl	Arden
2007	Evening	Nina Mars
	Towelhead	Melina Hines
2008	The Black Balloon	Maggie Mollison	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger	Mary
2009	Mary and Max	Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice)
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	A Country Practice	Tracy	Episode: "The Sting: Part 1"
2004	Tsunami: The Aftermath	Kathy Graham	Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries
2009	United States of Tara	Tara Gregson	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated —Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Discography

• Beautiful Awkward Pictures (2006) - Toni Collette & The Finish

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Toni Collette

• Toni Collette at the Internet Movie Database
• Collette & Sage Photo

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Patricia Heaton (2001) · Jennifer Aniston (2002) · Debra Messing (2003) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2004) · Felicity Huffman (2005) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2006) · America Ferrera (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) · Toni Collette (2009) Complete list: (1950–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Kirstie Alley (1990) · Candice Bergen (1991) · Roseanne Barr (1992) · Helen Hunt (1993) · Helen Hunt (1994) · Cybill Shepherd (1995) · Helen Hunt (1996) · Calista Flockhart (1997) · Jenna Elfman (1998) · Sarah Jessica Parker (1999) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2000) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2001) · Jennifer Aniston (2002) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2003) · Teri Hatcher (2004) · Mary-Louise Parker (2005) · America Ferrera (2006) · Tina Fey (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) · Toni Collette (2009) Complete List · (1969–1989) · (1990–2009)

Persondata
NAME	Collette, Toni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Collette, Antonia
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian actress and musician
DATE OF BIRTH	1972-11-1
PLACE OF BIRTH	Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH