Toni Collette

Born:
Antonia Collette,
Nov 1, 1972,
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Has homes in Australia and Republic of Ireland.

Height: 5' 6''

Father: Bob Collette, a truck driver

Mother: Judy, a customer service representative

Two brothers

Husband: Dave Galafassi, Jan 11, 2003-present

Education: National Institute of Dramatic Arts.

Toni Collette was born in western Sydney, Australia to a truck driving father and a mother who worked for a courier service as a customer service rep. She has two younger brothers.

When the family moved to the suburbs when Toni was six years old, she was teased for being a "Westie." But she enjoyed the country life with lots of family pets and the opportunity to hang out with her brothers as a tom boy.

In high school, she acted in Godspell, and, deciding to be a professional actor, she left home to enroll in NIDA, the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. After 18 months of the three year course, she left the institute to act in her feature film debut, Spotswood, starring Anthony Hopkins. She was nominated as Best Supporting Actress by the Australian Film Institute for this role.

Her claim to fame came in the very successful, Muriel's Wedding, a film for which she gained 40 pounds in seven weeks, and won the award for Best Actress from the Australian Film Institute and a Golden Globe nomination.