Rose Byrne Movies and Career Information

Rose Byrne (born Mary Rose Byrne; 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. Her films include 28 Weeks Later, Sunshine, Knowing, Marie Antoinette and Get Him to the Greek. She plays the main supporting protagonist as Ellen Parsons in the U.S. television series Damages. Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent, the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher. She has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. While both of her parents are atheists, she describes herself as agnostic. Byrne attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School before attending Bradfield Senior College in Crows Nest. She began taking acting classes at age eight, joining the Australian Theatre for Young People and later attended the University of Sydney. In 1999, Byrne studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy. Byrne was cast in her first film role, Dallas Doll, when she was 13 years old. She has appeared in several Australian television shows including Heartbreak High and Echo Point, and the