Rose Judith Esther Byrne (born July 24, 1979) is an Australian actress.
Byrne was born in Sydney to Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robert Byrne, a semi-retired statistician. She has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. She is of Irish-Scottish descent.
Byrne was cast in her first film role, Dallas Doll, when she was 12 years old. Since then, Byrne has appeared in a variety of Australian television shows including Heartbreak High, Echo Point, and the film Two Hands alongside Heath Ledger. After this, she appeared in various movies like The Date, My Mother Frank, and Clara Law's The Goddess of 1967 for which she obtained the Female Volpi Cup at the Venice Festival in 2000.
Her first experience on a big-budget movie came when she played Dormé, handmaiden to Padmé Amidala, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. In 2003, she starred as Rose Mortmain in the adaption of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. In 2004, she acted in Wicker Park with Diane Kruger and Josh Hartnett. She then starred as Briseis in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy.
In 2005, she played Edith the BBC's serial Casanova, and later that year she starred in Danny Boyle's science fiction film Sunshine. Her next film was Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Boyle's 28 Days Later. Byrne appeared in the music video of Darren Hayes's single "I Miss You" and many of Alex Lloyd's music clips.
Byrne was banked #16 on FHM's Sexiest women in the world, Australian edition. (2006) She and Marie Antoinette director Sofia Coppola have both played handmaidens in the Star Wars prequels: Coppola appeared in Episode I, Byrne in Episode II. She appeared on the Australian television show Rove Live in early 2007 and was the face of Max Factor between 2004 and 2006.
