Australian
actress Rose Byrne. Source: HWT Image Library
Tiffany Bakker, The Sunday Telegraph, reports
When Rose Byrne first met six-time Academy Award-nominee Glenn Close, her co-star in the acclaimed TV series Damages, she was, to put it mildly, scared.
"Glenn is such an icon, so it was hard, initially, to separate that in my mind," Byrne says with a smile.
"I was pretty scared and nervous but that's what my character was feeling as well, so it worked well."
(Later, when I speak to Close, she gleefully sprouts: "I still kind of try to freak Rose out. I try to scare her.") Five years on, though, the women are mates, with Byrne a regular visitor to Close's upstate New York home.
"We get along well and that's not always the case when you do a job, that you become friends as well as colleagues," Byrne says.
Indeed, there's a genuine affection between the pair. Byrne calls Close "Glenny", Close returns the favour, anointing Byrne "Rosie".
When we meet at the luxurious Plaza Hotel on a suffocatingly hot New York day, Byrne is feeling wistful. Damages, where she stars as ambitious lawyer Ellen Parsons, has just wrapped up its fifth and final season.
"It's always bittersweet, you know," Byrne says of the series' end.
"It changed my life completely - professionally and personally."
She's certainly right. Since coming to notice internationally in Damages, Byrne's star has risen exponentially outside of her home country.
She has been nominated for multiple Emmys and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Ellen, while on the big screen she's starred in the blockbuster X-Men: First Class, the indie hit Adam and the horror flick Insidious.
But it was her unexpected star turns in the comedies Get Him To The Greek and last year's smash Bridesmaids that showcased her impressive comedic talents.
Coming up, she's starring in The Place Beyond The Pines opposite heart-throb Ryan Gosling and the romantic comedy I Give It A Year.
"I think people got used to me in these doomed end-of-the-world roles," says Byrne, who returns home to Sydney this week to be bridesmaid for her best friend.
"I always seem so serious onscreen. It's been nice to have been able to show a different side."
Close adds: "Rosie is just supremely talented.
"She's funny, she's smart, she's beautiful, and she can play anything."
Byrne, who's just turned 33, says: "I've gotten more confidence as I've gotten older. You know you're a hard worker and you can do the best job you can." But in the next breath, she says she still worries about where the next role is coming from.
"I feel like that doesn't really ever leave you. It's just being a freelancer. You're always like, well, OK, that's it. "There are no more jobs. I think it just comes with the territory," she says.
"There's always people coming up behind you. You can count on one hand the number of actresses regularly working over the age of 45."
Byrne says the pressure on women in Hollywood is immense. She says she's not against plastic surgery but hasn't felt the need to go down that path.
"You can understand why women do do it, though," Byrne says.
"There is such a pressure in this industry to look a certain way. It's unfortunate."
Byrne, who is single (she split with Australian actor/writer Brendan Cowell in 2010 after a seven-year relationship), says she intends to stay in New York, the city that's been her home for the past five years.
"I've really enjoyed living in the city because it feels like there's a little more diversity in terms of the people in my life. I've got friends from all walks of life," she says.
"Los Angeles is beautiful, but I suppose, being an actor you just feel that industry presence a little bit more, whereas in New York, I can feel a little bit less involved in 'Hollywood'."
Byrne says she still misses Australia (she grew up in Balmain) but not like she did.
"I miss my friends and family, and I miss just being able to have lunch with my mother, or coffee with my best friend," she says.
"I miss the people more than anything else. I used to be really homesick for more material things like coffee or food, or streets or smells but there comes a point where you just can't be homesick anymore."
For now, though, she's staring at a blank diary and she's excited.
"I've been working non-stop for the past few years, and I'm looking forward
to taking a bit of a break," Byrne says. "Just see what happens next."
She will miss Damages, the show that has helped define her career.
"It's been a big part of my life and I've loved it," Byrne says. "I'm waiting for the post-traumatic stress disorder to set in. I'm sure it will."
Damages airs on Foxtel's new Soho channel from August 23
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