Today is Toni Collette’s birthday! From comedies to dramas to the occasional horror movie, the Australian actress has received 89 award nominations throughout her career. These include an Academy Award, several Golden Globes, three Primetime Emmys, and even a Tony Award!
Although she is best known for her acting work, she first debuted as a singer on a variety show in 1988, and her goal was to perform in musicals. Later, she played the role of Muriel in Muriel’s Wedding, which was a box office success that jump-started her acting career.
In 2015, she acted alongside Drew Barrymore in Miss You Already, a film about a pair of inseparable best friends who must navigate life together after one of them is diagnosed with breast cancer. Jessica E. Perry writes in her review, “Miss You Already will have you laughing through your tears. Now, beware, there will be many many tears. This was quite possibly [the] saddest film I have seen in a long time. Yes, it was also quite funny, with its fair share of both light-hearted and laugh-out-loud moments. Barrymore and Collette make a great pair, artfully sharing the screen, effectively helping Hardwicke to deliver a wonderful film.”
Highlights of Collette’s filmography include The Sixth Sense, for which she earned her Academy Award nomination, Little Miss Sunshine, Hereditary, and Knives Out. These movies are critically acclaimed, and give Collette the opportunity to shine on-screen. However, she also gets a chance to show off her charisma and skill in more lowkey comedic pictures, like Fun Mom Dinner, which Giorgi Plys-Garzotto writes that is a “charming” addition to the “group of busy urban friends without much time to go out has a rare wild night together, which quickly goes off the rails due to drugs, crime, or sexual escapades the characters would not usually participate in” genre.
Another example of Collette’s talent in comedy is In Her Shoes, a movie where Collette plays Rose, the self-serious sister of free-spirited Maggie (Cameron Diaz). In Jan Lisa Huttner’s review, she writes, “Screenwriter Suzannah Grant does for Cameron Diaz what she did for Julia Roberts in ERIN BROCKOVICH: creates a flawed but multi-dimensional woman & then helps her grow… Enjoy a warm, winning story of two well-matched sisters… finding themselves as adults after the traumas of their childhood.”
Happy Birthday, Toni Collette!
© Anna Nappi (11/1/21) Special for FF2 Media.
CREDITS & PERMISSIONS
Featured photo: Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore in Miss You Already. Photographer: Nick Wall.
