Actors - Miranda Otto

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	Actors - Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto (born December 16, 1967) is an Australian theatre and Australian Film Institute-nominated film actress. She began her career in the Australian film Emma's War in 1986 and gained critical recognition in 1991's The Girl Who Came Late. After a decade of critically acclaimed roles in Australian films, Otto gained Hollywood's attention after landing minor roles in The Thin Red Line
(1998) and What Lies Beneath
(2000), before her breakthrough in 2003 when her character Éowyn was introduced to audiences in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
. She performs predominantly in minor roles in a wide variety of low-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. Her most popular films include The Lord of the Rings
film trilogy (2002, 2003) and Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds
(2005).

Early life and education

Otto was born in Brisbane, Australia. She is the daughter of Australian stage and film actor Barry Otto and former actress Lindsay Otto, whom retired from acting upon Otto's birth. Otto was named after the character Miranda from William Shakespeare's The Tempest. She was raised in Newcastle and Brisbane, but briefly resided in Hong Kong following her parents' separation in 1973. She eventually settled in Newcastle, a town north of Sydney. Her parents remain married, but they live with other partners. Otto spent weekends and holidays with her father in Sydney when she was not with her mother and developed an interest in acting.

Growing up she excelled academically and in ballet, even considering it as a career option before realizing that she could not become a soloist due to having a slight scoliosis as many ballet soloists had to be physically perfect. While still in school Otto appeared in minor roles in the films The 13th Floor (1988) and Heroes II: The Return (1990), before she graduated in 1990.

Career

Early works, 1986 – 1993

Although Otto made her film debut in 1986 as Emma Grange in the Australian film Emma's War, she began to seriously focus on acting after graduation from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1990. Her first roles were in the low-budget Australian films The Girl Who Came Late (also known as Daydream Believer) (1991) and Last Days of Chez Nous (1992). Both films garnered Otto an Australian Film Institute nomination for best actress and critical recognition.

Her next film was the sexually provocative The Nostradamus Kid (1993) co-starring Noah Taylor, which was based on the memories of Australian author Bob Ellis. The film was hard to do for Otto as it required multiple sex scenes, which made her uncomfortable. On the sex scenes in the film Otto commented: "The first time you do it, though, it's very technical - do you want my arm there, that's not working, do you want me to scream louder, that sort of stuff. It's hard, cos it's not something you've seen other women do, so you're scared that you'll do something that gives you away as really strange."

Her breakthrough in Hollywood came in 2002 when her character Éowyn was introduced to audiences in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
. Otto beat off many talented actresses for the role as the strongest female character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy. Peter Jackson, the trilogy's director, was convinced that she was the best for the role after watching her audition tape only once. For the role she took on a grueling nine month schedule between March and December 2000 to film the part, for which she was given training in horseriding and sword-fighting. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers would also become one of the most successful films of all time when it grossed over $900 million on a budget of $94 million USD. The following year Otto would reprise her role in the third and final film in the trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
, which also was a box office success and earned Otto a nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Awards.

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