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Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll. In 2000 she played a leading role in the Australian film The Goddess of 1967, which brought her a Venice Film Festival award for Best Actress. Since 2007, she has played Ellen Parsons in the cable television series Damages, which has earned her two Golden Globe Awards nominations and two Emmy Awards nominations. In 2011, she starred in the financially successful films Insidious, X-Men: First Class and Bridesmaids. Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb... MORE

Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll. In 2000 she played a leading role in the Australian film The Goddess of 1967, which brought her a Venice Film Festival award for Best Actress. Since 2007, she has played Ellen Parsons in the cable television series Damages, which has earned her two Golden Globe Awards nominations and two Emmy Awards nominations. In 2011, she starred in the financially successful films Insidious, X-Men: First Class and Bridesmaids. Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent (her grandfather was an Irish immigrant to Australia). She is the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher. She is the youngest of their four children; she has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. Both of her parents are atheists, and she describes herself as agnostic. Byrne attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School before attending Bradfield College in Crows Nest. She began taking acting classes at age eight, joining the LESS