Mia Wasikowska

Actor

• Born: October 14, 1989
• Place of Birth: Canberra, Australia

Contribution: Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actor best known for her roles in the television series In Treatment (2008) and the films Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Kids Are All Right (2010), Jane Eyre (2011), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), and Club Zero (2023).

Background

Mia Wasikowska was born in Canberra, Australia, on October 14, 1989. Her father, John, was a visual artist, and her mother, Marzena, was a photographer. She grew up with an older sister and a younger brother. When Wasikowska was eight years old, her mother received an artistic grant that allowed her to bring the family to her native Poland for one year. They also used the opportunity to travel to other European countries.

Wasikowska became interested in ballet and studied it from ages nine to fourteen with the intention of becoming a professional dancer, spending up to thirty-five hours a week practicing. However, she was upset with what she considered to be ballet's obsession with having a perfect body, and when she injured her heel, she decided to quit and focus on acting instead. Wasikowska found an agent online and began auditioning without ever studying acting, but she soon obtained a role on an Australian television show. She was so successful that she dropped out of high school and instead finished her degree in Australia by correspondence.

Career

Wasikowska began her acting career with a role in the Australian medical drama All Saints in 2004 and 2005, appearing in two episodes. In 2006, she appeared in Lens Love Story and Suburban Mayhem, receiving a nomination for the Australian Film Institute (AFI) young actor award for the latter. Thanks to her success in those roles, she appeared in the films Skin, Cosette, September, and Rogue in 2007.

Wasikowska's breakout role in the United States was in HBO's psychological drama In Treatment in 2008. In the show, she plays Sophie, a gymnast who has thoughts of suicide. Based on the quality of her acting, she was nominated for a 2009 AFI international award for best actress. In 2008, she also appeared in her first American film, Defiance. In Defiance, Wasikowska plays Chaya, a young Jewish woman who hides from the Nazis in the woods during World War II. Thanks to these strong performances, she was included in Variety's 2008 list of actors to watch.

In 2009, Wasikowska played Elinor Smith, a rival of Amelia Earhart, in the film Amelia. She also appeared in That Evening Sun in the same year and was nominated for the 2010 Independent Spirit Award for best supporting female actor in that role.

One of Wasikowska's most high-profile roles came in 2010, when she played the title character in the Tim Burton adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Starring alongside well-known actors such as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, the role brought her to the attention of the mainstream media and earned her several honors, including a 2010 AFI international award for best actress, a Teen Choice Award for best fight, and an Empire Award nomination for best newcomer. Wasikowska had to film most of her scenes for the movie in front of a green screen; she later stated that she preferred working with live actors.

In 2010, Wasikowska also had a role in The Kids Are All Right, playing Joni, the daughter of a lesbian couple played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. The film's cast won a 2011 Chlotrudis Award and was nominated for similar awards by several other organizations. Wasikowska was listed as 2010's second-highest grossing actor by Forbes magazine; together, Alice in Wonderland and The Kids Are All Right grossed over a million dollars that year. Her year of success was acknowledged at the Hollywood Film Festival, which awarded her the Hollywood Breakthrough Award for actress of the year.

In 2011, Wasikowska surprised the media by turning down the lead role in the English-language adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson. Instead, she took the title role in a film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre opposite Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester. Wasikowska, who had read and enjoyed the novel, contacted director Joji Fukunaga to ask for the part. The film earned praise from critics, and Wasikowska's acting earned award nominations from the Australian Film Institute and the British Independent Film Awards.

Wasikowska next starred in Restless (2011) as Annabel Cotton, a terminally ill teenager. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant, whose movies Wasikowska had watched since childhood. That same year, Wasikowska also appeared in Albert Nobbs. Actor Glenn Close cowrote the screenplay for the film, which tells the story of a woman, played by Close, in the nineteenth century who disguises herself as a man in order to improve her life.

In 2013, Wasikowska starred as protagonist India Stoker in Stoker, a horror film about a dysfunctional family directed by Chan-wook Park. The film costars Nicole Kidman as the disturbed mother of Wasikowska's character. Wasikowska also starred in 2013's The Double with Jesse Eisenberg and Wallace Shawn; Only Lovers Left Alive, the Jim Jarmusch vampire film; and Tracks, based on Australian author Robyn Davidson's account of her 1977 trek across the continent.

Wasikowska appeared in the David Cronenberg drama Maps to the Stars in 2014 and also had the title role in Sophie Barthes's adaptation of the 1856 Gustave Flaubert novel Madam Bovary. Another collaboration with a noted director was Guillermo del Toro's horror drama Crimson Peak (2015), in which she portrayed the protagonist. In 2016, Wasikowska reprised her role as Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass, and though the film earned negative reviews and bombed at the box office, her performance was largely praised. Following that big-budget production, she took roles in a number of more independent films. These included the World War II drama The Man With the Iron Heart (2017), the Western comedy Damsel (2018) alongside Robert Pattinson, the thriller Piercing (2018), and the revenge drama Judy and Punch (2019).

Wasikowska continued her film acting career in the years that followed. She notably played Helen Hatton in the psychological crime thriller The Devil All the Time (2020), Amy in the romantic drama Bergman Island (2021), Abby Jackson in the Australian drama Blueback (2022), and Miss Novak in the dark comedy Club Zero (2023).

Impact

Wasikowska is known for taking roles that are emotionally complex and giving critically acclaimed performances. Following her appearance in In Treatment, she enjoyed a successful career as an actor and received significant media exposure in Australia, the United States, and around the world.

Personal Life

Wasikowska earned a reputation as an avid and skilled photographer in her spare time. For a few years she dated actor Jesse Eisenberg, whom she met on the set of The Double.

Bibliography

Lane, Anthony. "Mad About You." New Yorker 11 Mar. 2013: 80. Print.

Maley, Jacqueline. "Mia Wasikowska: One of the World's Most Bankable Film Stars." Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 10 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.

"Mia Wasikowska." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm1985859. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.

Miller, Julie. "Stoker's Mia Wasikowska Is the Creepiest Super-Powered Teen Girl Since Carrie." Vanity Fair. Condé Nast Digital, 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.

Portman, Jamie. "Actress Finds Role Close to Her Heart; Mia Wasikowska Happily Turned Down Blockbuster Series for Bronte's Jane Eyre." Edmonton Journal. Postmedia Network, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Aug. 2013.

West, Kevin. "O Sole Mia." W Feb. 2010: 72. Print.