Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Griffiths wasn't chasing fame when she accepted the role of Rhonda Epinstalk. She just wanted to work. In 1994, the world discovered an actress who didn't ask permission to take over the screen. That performance in Muriel's Wedding gave her a direct path to Hollywood, bypassing the usual hurdles of the Australian industry.

She did so with a force that stunned casting directors in Los Angeles.

In 1998, she earned an Oscar nomination for Hilary and Jackie. It was a grueling shoot in which Griffiths played Hilary du Pré with a restraint that stood out against her co-stars' theatrics. Still, she preferred television, where female characters had more edge than in the films of the late 1990s.

She had no interest in being the hero's girlfriend.

HBO's Risk and the Paradigm Shift

In 2001, Alan Ball sent her the script for Six Feet Under. The character of Brenda Chenowith was an emotional disaster with a brilliant IQ. Griffiths took on the challenge because the script was raw and real. Over five seasons, the actress inhabited a woman who systematically sabotaged her own happiness.

She won a Golden Globe in 2002 for that role. The series changed the way scripted television was produced in the United States. In the final seasons, Griffiths was earning more than $150,000 per episode. But money was not the main driving force, since she was looking for stories that would make the average viewer uncomfortable.

In 2006, she joined the cast of Brothers & Sisters. There she played Sarah Walker for more than a hundred episodes. It was a period of financial stability that allowed her to start thinking about her own projects. So she decided to return to Australia to support local production.

From Los Angeles Sets to the Director's Chair

In 2019, she directed Ride Like a Girl.

The film was a box office hit in its home country. It grossed more than AU$12 million and became the highest-grossing film directed by a woman that year. Griffiths proved she could handle major budgets from behind the camera without losing narrative control.

In 2023, she appeared in the romantic comedy Anyone but You. She played the lead character's mother in a production that performed very well at theaters worldwide. But her main interest remained in creating original content with political and social themes.

In 2024, production wrapped on the third season of the series Total Control. On this project, she serves as creator and executive producer, in addition to playing a key supporting role. The series was shot mainly in Canberra and Sydney, with a crew that was 60% women.