Heralded as Australia's next major acting talent, Abbie Cornish garnered critical-acclaim and the Australian Film Institute Award as Best Actress for her star turn as a sexually-charged teenager in Cate Shortland's 2004 coming-of-age drama, "Somersault."

For her breakthrough role as Heidi, the sexually tortured teen, Cornish also won the Inside Film (IF) Award as Best Actress, the Australian Film Critics Circle prize and a Special Jury Breakthrough Award at the 2004 Miami International Film Festival. "Somersault," the only Australian film screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival (where Cornish won a standing ovation) elicited raves from The New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, who called her "an actress whose delicate and ferocious performance combines classic movie-star loveliness with serious dramatic ability."

Cornish hails from Australia's Hunter Valley, born in Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1982. Growing up on her family's farm, she began acting at fifteen after a modelling stint led to her professional debut on the Australian Broadcasting Company's series "Children's Hospital." Soon thereafter, she landed a co-starring role on the ABC series "Wildside," for which she won her first AFI honor in 1999.

She earned a second AFI nomination in 2003 for her guest-starring role on the ABC miniseries, "Marking Time." Other roles include "The Monkey's Mask" (2000), "Everything Goes" (2004), "Horseplay" (2003), "One Perfect Day" (2004), and the upcoming feature, "Candy," in which she stars opposite fellow Aussies Heath Ledger and Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush. She has a co-starring role in Shekhar Kapur's "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

Filmography

• Stop Loss (2008)
• The Golden Age, 2007
• Untitled Kimberly Peirce Project, 2007
• A Good Year, 2006
• Candy, 2006
• Everything Goes, 2004
• Somersault, 2004
• One Perfect Day, 2004
• Marking Time, 2003
• "White Collar Blue" (1 episode, 2003)
• Horseplay, 2003
• "Life Support", 2001
• "Outriders", 2001
• "Water Rats" (1 episode, 2000)
• The Monkey's Mask, 2000
• Close Contact, 1999
• "Wildside", 1997