Toni Collette

Antonia Collette, known mostly as Toni Collette (born November 1, 1972) is an Academy award-nominated Australian actress and musician.

Biography
Collette was born in Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales to Bob Collette, a truck driver, and Judy, a customer-service representative. She attended both the Australian Theatre for Young People and NIDA.

Career
Collette has won four Australian Film Institute awards, including the Australian Best Actress in a Lead Role for Muriel's Wedding, in 1994, a role for which she gained 40 pounds (18 kg) in seven weeks. In 1996, she was part of the ensemble cast of the comedy, Cosi. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role as the mother of troubled boy Cole in the U.S. film The Sixth Sense, which also starred Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment.

She has also received broad acclaim on Broadway, starring as Queenie in Michael John LaChiusa's musical work, The Wild Party. For this demanding role, Collette received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

In 2006, she played the mother Sheryl in Little Miss Sunshine, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress.

In October 2006 a vocal album of her own songs titled Beautiful Awkward Pictures, recorded by Toni Collette & the Finish, was released on Hoola Hoop Records.

Personal life
When Toni Collette was eleven years old she faked appendicitis out of boredom and longing for attention. She was so convincing that doctors removed her appendix, even though tests showed nothing wrong with it. 

Collette has been married to Dave Galafassi since 11 January, 2003 and owns homes in both Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

Collette is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. She recently urged Australian Prime Minister John Howard to end the Australian practice of mulesing sheep, which is considered by many animal rights activists to be cruel. She later revised her position after doing her own research of the Australian wool industry. 

Filmography

 * Spotswood (1992), Wendy Robinson
 * This Marching Girl Thing (1994), Cindy
 * Muriel's Wedding (1994), Muriel Heslop/Marial Heslop-Van Arckle
 * Lilian's Story (1995), Young Lilian Singer
 * Arabian Knight (1995), Nurse/Good Witch
 * Cosi (1996), Julie
 * The Pallbearer (1996), Cynthia
 * Emma (1996), Harriet Smith
 * Clockwatchers (1997), Iris Chapman
 * The James Gang (1997), Julia Armstrong
 * Diana & Me (1997), Diana Spencer
 * The Boys (1998), Michelle
 * Velvet Goldmine (1998), Mandy Slade
 * 8½ Women (1999), Griselda/Sister Concordia
 * The Sixth Sense (1999), Lynn Sear
 * Shaft (2000), Diane Palmieri
 * Hotel Splendide (2000), Kath
 * The Magic Pudding (2000), Meg Bluegum (voice)
 * Changing Lanes (2002), Michelle
 * About a Boy (2002), Fiona Brewer
 * Dirty Deeds (2002), Sharon
 * The Hours (2002), Kitty Barlowe
 * Japanese Story (2003), Sandy Edwards
 * Connie and Carla (2004), Carla
 * The Last Shot (2004), Emily French
 * In Her Shoes (2005), Rose Feller
 * ''The Dead Girl (2006), Arden
 * Like Minds (2006), Sally Rowe
 * Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Sheryl
 * The Night Listener (2006), Donna Logand
 * The Black Balloon (2007), Maggie Mollison
 * ''Evening (2007), Nina (not yet released)
 * ''Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger (2007), (not yet released)

Selected quotes

 * "Look at my face; I was not thinking anything bad about you." - as Lynn Sear in The Sixth Sense.
 * "All my life I could do anything. I could do anything, really. Except the one thing I wanted." - as Kitty in The Hours.
 * "Now, just because someone sees, you know, two naked people asleep in bed together, it doesn't necessarily prove sex was involved. It does, however, make for a very strong case." - as Mandy Slade in Velvet Goldmine.