Miranda Otto

Birthday: 1967-12-16
Birthplace: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

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).

Credits

Year Title Character
The Pout-Pout Fish
2024-12-05 The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Éowyn (voice)
2024-10-17 Thou Shalt Not Steal Maxine
2024-03-25 My Freaky Family Aneska Flood
2023-11-03 At the Gates Marianne Barris
2023-07-26 Talk to Me Sue
2023-03-23 The Portable Door Countess Judy
2020-02-06 Downhill Charlotte
2019-05-16 The Silence Kelly Andrews
2019-03-29 The Chaperone Ruth St. Dennis
2018-07-19 Zoe The Designer
2017-12-12 The Raid Rebecca Ingram
2017-08-03 Annabelle: Creation Esther Mullins
2017-04-06 Dance Academy: The Movie Madeline Moncur
2015-10-09 The Daughter Charlotte
2014-05-18 The Homesman Theoline Belknap
2014-01-22 I, Frankenstein Leonore
2013-09-25 The Turning Sherry
2013-02-09 Reaching for the Moon Elizabeth Bishop
2012-06-10 Mabo Margaret White
2011-01-01 Locke & Key Nina Locke
2010-07-29 South Solitary Meredith Appleton
2009-09-10 Blessed Bianca
2009-03-13 In Her Skin Mrs. Barber
2009-02-21 Schadenfreude Waitress
2005-06-13 War of the Worlds Mary-Ann
2004-12-17 Flight of the Phoenix Kelly
2004-06-11 In My Father's Den Penny Prior
2004-02-01 The Three-Legged Fox Ruth
2003-12-17 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Éowyn
2003-05-16 Danny Deckchair Glenda Lake
2002-12-18 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Éowyn
2002-09-04 Julie Walking Home Julie Makowsky
2002-02-01 Doctor Sleep Clara Strother
2001-09-12 Human Nature Gabrielle
2000-07-21 What Lies Beneath Mary Feur
2000-07-05 Kin Anna
1999-04-17 The Jack Bull Cora Redding
1998-12-23 The Thin Red Line Marty Bell
1998-09-10 In the Winter Dark Ronnie
1998-08-20 Dead Letter Office Alice Walsh
1997-09-25 Doing Time for Patsy Cline Patsy
1997-05-22 True Love and Chaos Mimi
1997-05-14 The Well Katherine
1996-10-10 Love Serenade Dimity Hurley
1995-10-01 Sex Is a Four Letter Word Viv
1993-10-14 The Nostradamus Kid Jennie O'Brien
1992-10-08 The Last Days of Chez Nous Annie
1992-08-07 Daydream Believer Nell Tiscowitz
1988-05-31 The 13th Floor Rebecca
1987-06-20 Initiation Stevie
1986-12-26 Emma's War Emma Grange