EMILY BROWNING
Date of Birth: December 7, 1988
This native of Melbourne, Australia began acting in school plays and decided by the age of eight that she wanted to become a professional actress. Her first onscreen job was in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie The Echo of Thunder (1998), playing the daughter of Judy Davis' character. She shared a Young Artist Award nomination for "Best Performance in a TV Movie—Young Ensemble" with three other kid actors in the film.
She soon landed regular roles in two TV series—High Flyers (1999) and Thunderstone (2000). Her career began to heat up in 2001, as she won a part in the miniseries Blonde, acted in the TV movie The Man Who Sued God, and continued to play a semi-recurring role in the TV series Blue Heelers. The next year she won a Young Actor's Award for her work in the TV movie Halifax f.p: Playing God.
But it was her role in the American-funded horror film Ghost Ship (2002), filmed in Australia, that put Emily on the Hollywood radar. She went on to play young Caitlin Green in another American horror film, Darkness Falls (2003), and Heath Ledger's younger sister Grace in Ned Kelly (2004), which, although it was an Australian film, was released worldwide.
After doing a video audition for the role of Violet in the U.S. film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Emily was flown to Los Angeles for a callback. She won the coveted part and spent six months in L.A. filming alongside Jim Carrey as Count Olaf and American child star Liam Aiken as her brother. Unfortunately, the film did poorly at the box office, skewering the possibility of sequels. According to Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, Emily was her first choice to play Bella in the movie franchise based on her novels, but the role wound up going to Kristen Stewart. However, Emily has since starred in the horror film The Uninvited and in the girl power action flick Sucker Punch.
Emily lives in Melbourne with her parents and younger brothers Nicholas and Matthew. In her spare time she enjoys hanging out with girlfriends and shopping.