Miranda Otto
Born: 1967-12-16 in 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).
Filmography
2026
- The Pout-Pout Fish as (voice)
2024
- The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim as Éowyn (voice)
- My Freaky Family as Aneska Flood (voice)
- Revealed: Otto By Otto as Self
- Ladies in Black as Virginia Ambrose
- Thou Shalt Not Steal as Maxine
2023
- Talk to Me as Sue
- The Portable Door as Countess Judy
- The Clearing as Adrienne Beaufort
- At the Gates as Marianne Barris
- Wellmania as Camille Lavinge
- Koala Man as Mindy (voice)
- In the Grip of Terror: Making Talk To Me as Self
2022
- True Colours as Isabelle Martin
2021
- Fires as Kath Simpson
- The Moth Effect as Jenny
- The Unusual Suspects as Sara
2020
- Downhill as Charlotte
- Reunited Apart as Self
- Faith & Fear: The Conjuring Universe as Self
2019
- The Silence as Kelly Andrews
- The Chaperone as Ruth St. Dennis
2018
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as Zelda Spellman
- Zoe as The Designer
2017
- Annabelle: Creation as Esther Mullins
- The Raid as Rebecca Ingram
- 24: Legacy as Rebecca Ingram
- Dance Academy: The Movie as Madeline Moncur
2015
- The Daughter as Charlotte
2014
- The Homesman as Theoline Belknap
- Rake as Maddy Deane
- I, Frankenstein as Leonore
2013
- The Turning as Sherry
- Reaching for the Moon as Elizabeth Bishop
2012
- Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries as Lydia Andrews
- Mabo as Margaret White
2011
- Homeland as Allison Carr
- Locke & Key as Nina Locke
2010
- South Solitary as Meredith Appleton
2009
- Blessed as Bianca
- Schadenfreude as Waitress
- In Her Skin as Mrs. Barber
2008
- Cashmere Mafia as Juliet Draper
2007
- The Starter Wife as Cricket Stewart
2005
- War of the Worlds as Mary-Ann
2004
- Flight of the Phoenix as Kelly
- In My Father's Den as Penny Prior
- The Making of 'The Return of the King' as Self
- The Three-Legged Fox as Ruth
- A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King' as Self
- Through My Eyes as Lindy Chamberlain
2003
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as Éowyn
- Danny Deckchair as Glenda Lake
- The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision as Self
- The Making of 'The Two Towers'
2002
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as Éowyn
- Doctor Sleep as Clara Strother
- Julie Walking Home as Julie Makowsky
2001
- Human Nature as Gabrielle
- The Way We Live Now as Mrs Hurtle
2000
- Kin as Anna
- What Lies Beneath as Mary Feur
1999
- The Jack Bull as Cora Redding
1998
- The Thin Red Line as Marty Bell
- Dead Letter Office as Alice Walsh
- In the Winter Dark as Ronnie
1997
- The Well as Katherine
- True Love and Chaos as Mimi
- Doing Time for Patsy Cline as Patsy
1996
- Love Serenade as Dimity Hurley
1995
- Sex Is a Four Letter Word as Viv
1993
- The Nostradamus Kid as Jennie O'Brien
1992
- Daydream Believer as Nell Tiscowitz
- The Last Days of Chez Nous as Annie
1991
- Police Rescue as Amanda
- Heroes II: The Return as Roma Page
1988
- The 13th Floor as Rebecca
1987
- Initiation as Stevie
1986
- The Flying Doctors as Amy Brodie
- Emma's War as Emma Grange