She is well-known for playing two quintessential if very different Californians, first in the celebrated series on HBO, "Six Feet Under," and now in the ABC drama, "Brothers & Sisters." But Rachel Griffiths was born and bred in Australia.
Her first international notice as an actress came in 1994 in her film debut co-starring in "Muriel's Wedding" with fellow Australian Toni Collette. Her role as a musical prodigy's sister (based on a true story) in "Hilary and Jackie" won her an Academy Award nomination in 1998. She continues to make movies, such as the 2006 "Step Up" with co-star Channing Tatum (left).
American audiences got to know her, though, primarily through her role in "Six Feet Under." Here she is with Jay Leno in 2002.
Griffiths played Brenda Chenowith, who has on-again, off-again relationship with Nate Fisher, played by Peter Krause. Here Krause and Griffiths are presenters at the annual prime-time Emmy Awards in 2001, the year "Six Feet Under" began. In subsequent years, Griffiths was nominated twice for an Emmy for her role in the series.
Over five seasons of the series, Brenda and Nat meet, cheat, marry (somebody else), get back together, console, criticize, condemn -- have, in short, a complicated relationship.
Brenda also had a complicated relationship with her mentally ill brother Billy, played by Jeremy Sisto.
In Griffiths' new series, her character Sarah Whelan, a corporate executive called back to help run the family business, has complicated relationships with much of her family,especially her husband, played by John Pyper-Ferguson...
...and her mother, played by Sally Field (who is also up for an Emmy nomination)...
Griffiths is actually married to artist Andrew Taylor; here they are attending an exhibition of his paintings, entitled "Outside" in an art gallery in Sydney, Australia in May. They have two children, a son named Banjo and a daughter named Adelaide. Griffiths was raised by a single mother; their father walked out when she was 11.
Griffiths has told interviewers that she is drawn to complicated characters, because people are complicated; they don't have just one mood; they are not just black and white.