Radha Mitchell

Radha Mitchell

Active - 1996 - 2023  |   Born - Nov 12, 1973 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia  |   Genres - Drama, Thriller, Crime

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Biography by AllMovie

Small, blonde, and Australian, Radha Mitchell first made an impression on international audiences as the paramour of a heroin-addled photographer (Ally Sheedy) in Lisa Cholodenko's High Art (1998). Mitchell, a native of Melbourne, began acting when she was still in high school and had her professional debut on the popular Aussie soap Neighbours in 1994. Two years later, she made her film debut in the romantic comedy Love and Other Catastrophes, in which she starred as a college student experiencing a messy breakup with her girlfriend (Frances O'Connor). The film proved to be fairly popular in Australia, but it wasn't until she was cast in High Art that Mitchell gained an introduction to a wider audience. The critical success of High Art made it possible for her to do more international work, and her increasing popularity was reflected by her subsequent casting in a number of projects. Among them were Pitch Black (2000), a sci-fi horror film in which Mitchell played a pilot whose ship crashes on a hostile planet, and Everything Put Together (2000), a drama about a suburban woman (Mitchell) shunned by her peers after the death of her baby. Her career continued with a diverse run of films including Nobody's Baby, Man on Fire, Finding Neverland, and landing the lead in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda. Those last three films all hit screens in 2004, and although kept working steadily, she never quite capitalized on the buzz she generated that year. Her other credits include Silent Hill, Henry Poole Is Here, Surrogates, and the horror film The Crazies.

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Factsheet

  • Named after the lover of the Hindu deity Krishna. 
  • Starred in the popular Australian soap Neighbours in the mid-'90s.
  • Made her U.S. film debut in 1998's High Art; big break was the 2000 sci-fi flick Pitch Black.
  • Received a personal phone call from Woody Allen when the director wanted to offer her a starring role in 2004's Melinda and Melinda.
  • Won Best Actress in the 2010 Antipodes Film Festival in France for her work in The Waiting City.