ACTOR BIO

When Six Feet Under went off the air in 2005, it felt like we all lost members of our own family. Lucky for us, this star of screens big and small landed in another drama-filled Sunday night TV clan on ABC’s Brothers And Sisters.

Australian actress Rachel Griffiths is perhaps most widely known to American audiences through her role as Brenda Chenowith on the hit HBO series, Six Feet Under. The role garnered her two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win. Griffiths' breakthrough role, as the brilliantly crafted Rhonda in Muriel's Wedding, won her both the Australian Film Critics Award and the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Hilary DuPre in "Hilary and Jackie." Other feature credits include "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Among Giants," "Blow," "Very Annie Mary," "Me Myself I," "The Rookie" and "Ned Kelley". She also starred in the made for television film "Plainsong."

A native of Melbourne, Griffiths graduated from Victoria College with a Bachelor of Education degree in drama and dance. She worked in the theater in Melbourne with Australia's acclaimed theatre company for young people, Wooly Jumpers Inc. She continued over the next six years working with the Melbourne and Sydney Theatre Companies, starring in "Sylvia," "The Sisters Rosensweig," "The Grapes of Wrath" and The Doll House. In 2002 she starred in David Auburn's stage play Proof for the Melbourne Theatre Company and took home the Green Room Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Griffiths directed her first short film, "Tulip," in 1999, which went on to win Best Short Film at the Toronto and Palm Springs Film Festivals. She completed her second short, "Roundabout," in 2002 to great acclaim. The film won two Best Short Film awards, one from the Australian Film Critics Circle and the other at the Melbourne Film Festival. In October Griffiths will be featured in the HBO independent film "Angel," directed by Jim McKay, and recently completed filming Larry McMurtry's miniseries Comanche Moon, for CBS/Paramount.