Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto

Birthdate
December 16, 1967 (56 years old)
Place of Birth
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
December 16, 1967 (56 years old)
Place of Birth
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Known For
Acting

Biography

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).

Miranda Otto's LGBTQ+ Titles

Reaching for the Moon
Reaching for the Moon
Elizabeth Bishop

Acting (73)

Thou Shalt Not Steal as Maxine (1 episode)
Ladies in Black (1 episode)
2024
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim as Éowyn (voice)
2024
My Freaky Family as Aneska Flood
2023
At the Gates as Marianne Barris
2023
Talk to Me as Sue
2023
The Clearing as Adrienne Beaufort (8 episodes)
2023
Wellmania (8 episodes)
2023
The Portable Door as Countess Judy
2023
Koala Man as Mindy (1 episode)
2022
True Colours as Isabelle Martin (4 episodes)
2021
Fires as Kath Simpson (2 episodes)
2021
The Moth Effect as Jenny (1 episode)
2021
Faith & Fear: The Conjuring Universe as Self
2021
The Unusual Suspects as Sara (4 episodes)
2020
Downhill as Charlotte
2019
The Silence as Kelly Andrews
2019
The Chaperone as Ruth St. Dennis
2018
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as Zelda Spellman (36 episodes)
2018
Zoe as The Designer
2017
The Raid as Rebecca Ingram
2017
Directing Annabelle: Creation as Herself
2017
Annabelle: Creation as Esther Mullins
2017
Dance Academy: The Movie as Madeline Moncur
2017
24: Legacy as Rebecca Ingram (12 episodes)
2015
The Daughter as Charlotte
2014
The Homesman as Theoline Belknap
2014
Rake as Maddy Deane (13 episodes)
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 as Lydia Andrews (1 episode)
2011
Homeland as Allison Carr (12 episodes)
2011
Locke & Key as Nina Locke
2010
South Solitary as Meredith Appleton
2009
Blessed as Bianca
2009
In Her Skin as Mrs. Barber
2009
Schadenfreude as Waitress
2008
Cashmere Mafia as Juliet Draper (7 episodes)
2005
War of the Worlds as Mary-Ann
2004
Flight of the Phoenix as Kelly
2004
Through My Eyes as Lindy Chamberlain (2 episodes)
2004
In My Father's Den as Penny Prior
2004
The Three-Legged Fox as Ruth
2003
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision as Self
2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as Éowyn
2003
Danny Deckchair as Glenda Lake
2003
Film Collectibles: Capturing Movie Memories as Herself
2002
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as Éowyn
2002
Julie Walking Home as Julie Makowsky
2002
Doctor Sleep as Clara Strother
2001
The Way We Live Now as Mrs Hurtle (4 episodes)
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
Doing Time for Patsy Cline as Patsy
1997
True Love and Chaos as Mimi
1997
The Well as Katherine
1996
Love Serenade as Dimity Hurley
1995
Sex Is a Four Letter Word as Viv
1993
The Nostradamus Kid as Jennie O'Brien
1992
The Last Days of Chez Nous as Annie
1992
Daydream Believer as Nell Tiscowitz
1991
Police Rescue as Amanda (1 episode)
1988
The 13th Floor as Rebecca
1987
Initiation as Stevie
1986
Emma's War as Emma Grange
1986
The Flying Doctors as Amy Brodie (1 episode)

Production (1)

2023
Talk to Me • Executive Producer
• Executive Producer