Rose Byrne Biography

Australian actress Rose Byrne is best known to American television audiences as protegé-turned-nemesis Ellen Parsons, a character in the Glenn Close series Damages.

Byrne began her professional career as a kid in Australian films and television shows, and garnered critical respect with one of her early adult roles, the 2000 film The Goddess of 1967.

Byrne’s Hollywood debut was in the George Lucas film Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002) — she played a handmaiden to Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman).

A brown-eyed brunette, Byrne has shown her intelligence in dramatic roles like Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later (both 2007), as well as her flair for sex and comedy in films such as Get Him to the Greek (2010, starring Russell Brand) and Bridesmaids (2011, as arch-rival to Kristen Wiig).

She’s been a central character in Damages since its 2007 debut, while maintaining a film career that includes Knowing (2009, starring Nicolas Cage), Insidious (2010) and X-Men: First Class (2011).