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Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto

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).

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

2024

as Éowyn (voice)

Thou Shalt Not Steal

2024

as Maxine

Thou Shalt Not Steal

2024

as Maxine

Revealed: Otto By Otto

2024

as Self

Ladies in Black

2024

as Virginia Ambrose

My Freaky Family

2024

as Aneska Flood

At the Gates

2023

as Marianne Barris

Talk to Me

2023

as Sue

The Clearing

2023

as Adrienne Beaufort

Wellmania

2023

The Portable Door

2023

as Countess Judy

Koala Man

2023

as Mindy

True Colours

2022

as Isabelle Martin

Fires

2021

as Kath Simpson

The Moth Effect

2021

as Jenny

Faith & Fear: The Conjuring Universe

2021

as Self

The Unusual Suspects

2021

as Sara

Downhill

2020

as Charlotte

The Silence

2019

as Kelly Andrews

The Chaperone

2019

as Ruth St. Dennis

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

2018

as Zelda Spellman

Zoe

2018

as The Designer

The Raid

2017

as Rebecca Ingram

Directing Annabelle: Creation

2017

as Herself

Annabelle: Creation

2017

as Esther Mullins

Dance Academy: The Movie

2017

as Madeline Moncur

24: Legacy

2017

as Rebecca Ingram

The Daughter

2015

as Charlotte

The Homesman

2014

as Theoline Belknap

Rake

2014

as Maddy Deane

I, Frankenstein

2014

as Leonore

The Turning

2013

as Sherry

Reaching for the Moon

2013

as Elizabeth Bishop

Mabo

2012

as Margaret White

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

2012

as Lydia Andrews

Homeland

2011

as Allison Carr

Locke & Key

2011

as Nina Locke

South Solitary

2010

as Meredith Appleton

Blessed

2009

as Bianca

In Her Skin

2009

as Mrs. Barber

Schadenfreude

2009

as Waitress

Cashmere Mafia

2008

as Juliet Draper

War of the Worlds

2005

as Mary-Ann

Flight of the Phoenix

2004

as Kelly

Through My Eyes

2004

as Lindy Chamberlain

In My Father's Den

2004

as Penny Prior

The Three-Legged Fox

2004

as Ruth

The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision

2003

as Self

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2003

as Éowyn

Danny Deckchair

2003

as Glenda Lake

Film Collectibles: Capturing Movie Memories

2003

as Self

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2002

as Éowyn

Julie Walking Home

2002

as Julie Makowsky

Doctor Sleep

2002

as Clara Strother

The Way We Live Now

2001

as Mrs Hurtle

Human Nature

2001

as Gabrielle

What Lies Beneath

2000

as Mary Feur

Kin

2000

as Anna

The Jack Bull

1999

as Cora Redding

The Thin Red Line

1998

as Marty Bell

In the Winter Dark

1998

as Ronnie

Dead Letter Office

1998

as Alice Walsh

Doing Time for Patsy Cline

1997

as Patsy

True Love and Chaos

1997

as Mimi

The Well

1997

as Katherine

Love Serenade

1996

as Dimity Hurley

Sex Is a Four Letter Word

1995

as Viv

The Nostradamus Kid

1993

as Jennie O'Brien

The Last Days of Chez Nous

1992

as Annie

Daydream Believer

1992

as Nell Tiscowitz

Heroes II: The Return

1991

as Roma Page

Police Rescue

1991

as Amanda

The 13th Floor

1988

as Rebecca

Initiation

1987

as Stevie

Emma's War

1986

as Emma Grange

The Flying Doctors

1986

as Amy Brodie

A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'

as Self