Abbigale Cornish was born 7th August 1982 in Lochinvar, New South Wales in Australia and grew up on a farm in the Hunter Valley town with her parents, three brothers and younger sister. "I grew up on 170 acres. I remember so much beauty. I'd lie on the trampoline with my brothers and look at the stars all night." Abbie was a self-proclaimed tomboy, albeit one who was "super soft on the inside". Her older brother liked to chase her across the paddocks in his rally car. She became adept at rolling under the nearest fence. She fell off motorbikes, learned to drive at the age of 12 and became a decent shot with a rifle (not that she ever killed anything!). As a teenager, Abbie would sometimes pose for her keen amateur photographer mother, Shelley, and later on started modelling locally, mainly because she was "bored" and a few of her friends were doing it. Abbie's first acting job came at the age of 15 on the Australian Broadcasting commission series
Childrens Hospital playing a quadriplegic in two scenes. As soon as the cameras started rolling, she experienced an epiphany. "It was like the first time you eat a great lolly," she says. "Or the first time you ride a horse. It's like the heavens have opened up for you." She began making the three-hour train trip to Sydney to attend acting classes at NIDA and the Australian Theatre for Young People. Abbie would move to Newcastle at the age of 16, sharing a warehouse in the city with an artist. "Moving out was quite easy, to tell you the truth," she says. "I was 16 so I was fearless, I didn't worry about anything. If I didn't have money, I just wouldn't eat. If I didn't have money for three days, I just wouldn't eat. By the third day maybe I'd scram some change and get some money for a laksa and that would do me for two days." Abbie won the role of 'Simone Summers' in
Wildside (1997), a gritty Australian police drama series. The show ran for two seasons and was discontinued because apparently it did not sell well overseas. Nevertheless, it received several prestigious awards in its native country and gained name for young Abbie, who won the Young Actor's AFI Award at the Australian Film Institute for her performance. Abbie was featured in a supporting role in the television product
Close Contact (1999) and would next be seen as 'Mickey Norris' in Samantha Lang's international production named
The Monkey's Mask (2000), in whichs Abbie portrayed a mysterious student who has disappeared. By the time Cornish was 17, Newcastle had become too small for her and she took off for the US and Europe for six months, during which time she held her solitary 18th birthday celebration in the Italian hills. Abbie now says that those months were some of the best in her life so far.
In 2001 Abbie Cornish played 'Reggie McDowell' in the Australian series
Outriders, which ran for 26 episodes, and 'Penne' for the first season of
Life Support, a spoof lifestyle program taking a satirical look at Australian society. Abbie stretched her comic muscles as 'Becky Wodinski' in
Horseplay (2003) and did guest roles for TV series
Water Rats (2000) and
White Collar Blue (2003). Cornish received an AFI Award nomination for her work in
Marking Time (2003) for the role of 'Tracey' and had a supporting role in
One Perfect Day (2004) as a young girl whose life comes to a tragic end after yet another night at an effervescent rave party.
Abbie Cornish was next cast as 'Heidi' in Cate Shortland's
Somersault (2004), a beautiful film about a confused teenager who tries to start her life over in a sleepy Aussie town, and her fumbling journey of self-discovery. Abbie won the AFI, IF and FCCA Awards for Best Actress for her stunning performance as Heidi and made name for herself internationally. She was also seen in the award winning short film
Everything Goes next to Hugo Weaving. 2006 saw Abbie Cornish pull off yet another masterful performance in Neil Armfield's
Candy, a story of Dan (Heath Ledger), who falls in love with two kinds of
Candy - a woman of the same name, and heroin. Abbie portrays the title role. Her 'Candy' is magnetic, mysterious, incredibly multi-layered and very realistic. Cornish was determined to land the role the moment she read the script. She chased the part doggedly for more than two years. "It's so well written," Abbie says. "Each time I read it I need half an hour to get my head together afterwards." Armfield first saw Abbie in
Wildside. He was impressed and asked her to read a scene in which Candy has a violent confrontation with her mother. She nailed it and Armfield was pretty sure he had his girl. But it wasn't until Cornish did a screen test with Ledger months later that he knew his two leads made a "fantastic combination". "It's incredible how true she is," Armfield says. "There's such a control of how she releases a character arc through the camera." Abbie Cornish was next be seen in Ridley Scott's
A Good Year (2006) in which she shares most of her scenes with Russell Crowe. The film was widely distributed and raised Abbie's profile internationally. Next she filmed
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) in England, the sequal of
Elizabeth, which saw her act in a powerhouse cast among Cate Blanchett, Samantha Morton, Clive Owen and Geoffrey Rush. Abbie also filmed
Stop-Loss (2008) back-to-back with
Golden Age. It is the second full feature from Kimberly Peirce, the director of
Boys Don't Cry and saw Abbie star opposite Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum. Abbie Cornish was praised for her diversity and screen presence in
Elizabeth: The Golden Age and
Stop-Loss and both performances also saw her tackle two different accents. While Abbie played supporting roles in both, she received warm reviews and no doubt gained new admirers. Abbie Cornish's rising star also caught the eye of Jane Campion, who cast her in the role of 'Fanny Brawne' in
Bright Star - the acclaimed director's first full lenght feature in five years. Abbie was also cast in the Viking epic
Last Battle Dreamer but the film was post-poned and later put on hiatus. Abbie will next film the role of 'Cathy' for
Wuthering Heights, to be released in 2010.
bestfriend99posted 59 days ago
