Abbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish, 2007
Born	Abbie Cornish 7 August 1982 (1982-08-07) (age 27) Lochinvar, New South Wales, Australia

Abbie Cornish (born 7 August 1982) is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, including Penne in the comedy/lifestyle parody Life Support, her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault and her role as Fannie Brawne in Bright Star.

Career

Her career began at the age of thirteen, when she began taking jobs as a model after reaching the finals of a Dolly Magazine competition. By the time she was sixteen, Cornish was juggling television acting roles with studying for her HSC, with the intention of pursuing a career as a veterinarian. In 1999, Cornish was awarded the Australian Film Institute Young Actor's Award for her role in the ABC's television show Wildside and was soon offered her first role in a feature film, The Monkey's Mask. In 2001, Abbie landed the role of Reggie McDowell, a character on the Australian tv show "Outriders".

In 2004, Cornish appeared in the award-winning short film Everything Goes with Hugo Weaving. She received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress at the FCCA and IF Awards and Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2005 Miami International Film Festival for her role in 2004's Somersault, the film which raised her to international prominence. Cornish received widespread critical acclaim for her role in 2006's Candy, which she starred in opposite Heath Ledger. She has also starred in A Good Year, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Kimberly Peirce's latest movie, Stop-Loss. Cornish was set to star as Catherine Earnshaw in the 2011 film version of Wuthering Heights, but was replaced by Gemma Arterton who was also later replaced. In April 2010 Cornish was cast in the film adaption of the novel The Dark Fields, directed by Neil Burger and also starring Robert De Niro.

Personal life

Cornish was born in Lochinvar, New South Wales, as the second of five children. Her father runs a paper recycling business and her mother is an amateur photographer. Until 2005, she occasionally performed live with the Australian hip hop outfit Blades Of Hades. Her family currently resides in the Hunter Valley. In 2007, she began dating fellow actor Ryan Phillippe, a relationship that some media sources allege began on the set of the movie Stop-Loss while Phillippe was still married to actress Reese Witherspoon. Phillippe and Cornish attended the Calvin Klein 40th Anniversary party on Cockatoo Island in Sydney on the 16 December 2008. Phillippe also spent some of the 2008 Christmas break in Australia with Cornish and her family. On February 21, 2010, Cornish's publicist announced that Cornish and Phillippe had ended their relationship.

Cornish, who has been a vegetarian since she was 13, in 2008 was named Australia's sexiest vegetarian.

Filmography

Further reading

• Goodwin, C (2007-10-28). "Pout and about". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers Ltd). http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article2705661.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-28. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abbie Cornish

• Abbie Cornish at the Internet Movie Database
• Abbie Cornish: Poetry in Motion Photos and Interview at Los Angeles Times Magazine
• Abbie Cornish: Video Interview at Los Angeles Times Magazine