Rachel Griffiths

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Rachel Griffiths
Griffiths as Brenda Chenowith from Six Feet Under
Born	June 4, 1968 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Notable roles	"Brenda Chenowith" in Six Feet Under

Rachel Griffiths (born June 4, 1968 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role as Brenda Chenowith in Six Feet Under on HBO. Today, she plays Sally Field's TV daughter and Calista Flockhart's TV sister, Sarah Walker Whedon on the hit ABC drama, Brothers & Sisters.

Griffiths was a relative unknown when cast in her breakthrough role in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding opposite Toni Collette. As Muriel's loyal friend and fellow outcast Rhonda, she earned critical acclaim and won both the Australian Film Critics Award and the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1997 Griffiths sparked a controversy after attending the opening of the Crown Casino naked and uninvited. Her stated reasoning being the protest of the apparently one-sided views taken by the media and state government towards the new casino, and inspired by the story of Lady Godiva.

Griffiths received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of real-life flautist Hilary Du Pré opposite Emily Watson as her sister, famed cellist Jacqueline "Jackie" Du Pre, in Hilary and Jackie (1998). Showing convincing range, she portrayed Johnny Depp's hysterical mother in 2001's "Blow", opposite Ray Liotta.

In 2001, Griffiths was cast as one of the leads in Six Feet Under, a drama series produced by HBO. Her performance as Brenda Chenowith earned her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards, as well as two Emmy Award nominations.

Currently, Griffiths is part of the ensemble cast of the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, opposite Sally Field and Calista Flockhart. She portrays Sarah Walker Whedon, who inherits control of the family business after her father's death.

Griffiths has proven herself to be adept at accents, notably British, American, and Welsh.

Griffiths married Australian artist Andrew Taylor, on 31 December 2002, in Melbourne (her mother's brother, a Jesuit priest, officiated at the wedding). They have two children, a son, Banjo Patrick Taylor, born November 22, 2003, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and a daughter, Adelaide Rose Taylor, born June 23, 2005, in Los Angeles, California, thus giving the younger child dual US/Australian citizenship. Her second pregnancy was written into the final season of Six Feet Under.