The Stunning Transformation Of Rose Byrne

Rose Byrne has been a Hollywood mainstay for years. With roles in films like Bridesmaids, Neighbors, and X-Men: Apocalypse, Byrne has established herself as a talented and versatile actress.

The Australian-born actress made her first appearance in a Hollywood film in 2002's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and has slowly built up her resume to become one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her acting roots run far deeper than that, though: She has actually been acting for most of her life.

Between forging a successful acting career, launching a production company, and raising her children, Byrne keeps pretty busy. And yet, she makes it all look easy. It's safe to say that Byrne is crushing it in both her personal and professional life. Here's a look at the stunning transformation of Rose Byrne, beginning with her early days as a "creative spirit" in Australia to modern day as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.

From a young age, Rose Byrne was fascinated by the arts. "I'd say I've always been a creative spirit," she told Grazia. "I don't know if there was a formative moment that made me want to be an actress but probably a series of moments that led up to it. Realizing that I could do something I loved so much as a job was a real revelation to me."

While her parents didn't share her passion for creativity, they did everything they could to cultivate their daughter's talents. Byrne told Interview that she grew up in an "artistic, bohemian suburb of Sydney" where she was surrounded by creative people who provided inspiration for the budding artist.

Byrne told The Telegraph that she's grateful for her parents' support of her career. "It was all very new [to them] but they were happy for me to do it," she revealed. "It makes such a difference when that happens. I've met people whose parents weren't supportive and it's debilitating."

It may seem strange considering the career she chose, but Rose Byrne was very shy as a child. Her shyness is a big part of the reason that her parents encouraged her acting career, hoping that it would help her start to come out of her shell.

"It actually worked," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "It really did. I think that was one of the reasons my parents thought it would be so good for me. I'd encourage every kid to do it, because it's all about collaboration and imagination, and I think it's really beneficial when you're growing up."

It was a family friend who recommended that Byrne try acting, so she began taking acting classes at the Australian Theatre for Young People when she was eight. "And I just loved it, loved it, loved it," she told The Telegraph. "When you are shy, it's a great way to integrate with other people, use your imagination, play and socialize."

Rose Byrne landed her first role in the 1994 film Dallas Doll when she was just a teenager. In spite of her young age and shyness, she was not intimidated by the audition process. "I wasn't that nervous at that age," she told Daily Actor. "It was really exciting and fascinating — all these people and cameras and boxes and cords. It felt very adult, I suppose. It was an eye-opening experience at that age. I was just 13 and I was realizing that I could do this for a job."

Byrne followed up her role in Dallas Doll with a role on the Australian television show Echo Point. However, establishing her career at such a young age made Byrne "self-conscious" among her peers. "People would make fun of me and throw things at me and whatever teenagers do," Byrne told Interview of returning to school after being on Echo Point.

Byrne followed up her role in Echo Point with several other parts in Australia, including appearances on television shows Fallen Angels and Wildside.

Although she already had several acting roles under her belt by her teens, Rose Byrne still applied to college. "My parents were adamant about us all going to university ... they considered it a privilege to be able to get an education, and our duty to use our brains," she told The Telegraph.

In spite of all of her acting experience, she didn't get into drama school. "I was devastated," she said of being rejected. "For a while, I didn't know what to do." Not getting into drama school was quite a blow, but everything ended up working out for Byrne. She did end up going to a university, although instead of drama she studied English literature and gender studies at Sydney University. While she said she "found it really fascinating," she ended up dropping out to resume her acting career. She put her studies on hold to star opposite Heath Ledger in the Australian thriller comedy Two Hands.

Rose Byrne started off her American acting career in serious dramas, like the show Damages. In 2010, she made the leap to comedy, starring in Get Him To The Greek. While she had always wanted to do comedy, doing so was a big transition — not to mention a bit of a risk. "I always wanted to do comedy," she told Red magazine. "I come from a family that laughs a lot and Australians have a very healthy sense of humour. But the first American things I did were very heavy and dramatic, so it took a while to convince people I could do it."

The following year she starred alongside the hilarious Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids, the female-led comedy that definitively proved to Hollywood that comedies starring women could succeed. "It was a very conscious decision," Byrne told The Telegraph of her move to comedy. "I'm Australian — we don't take ourselves too seriously — but I really didn't know if I would have any luck. Just because you're funny in real life doesn't mean you are necessarily a funny actor; and if you're funny on screen it does not mean you're bound to be funny in real life."

While Rose Byrne wasn't noted for being outspoken early in her career, she gradually became more vocal about the causes in which she believes. In 2014, she appeared in It's On Us, a public service announcement about sexual assault on college campuses. That same year, she also took part in a women's day at the UN, telling The Guardian in a 2015 interview, "I thought it was a really hard subject to discuss that nobody really wants to."

Byrne also began to speak out about sexism in the film industry, supporting an American Civil Liberties Union investigation into gender discrimination in the industry, according to the publication. "It's not being put down to good old-fashioned misogyny, it's actually [asking] why is this quietly tolerated?" she said. "Why has this been a silent agreement for the last however many years. This is discrimination. And that's illegal. It's very interesting, long overdue and quite frankly exciting to see it being taken as seriously as it should be."

In 2015, Rose Byrne took direct action to tackle sexism in the film industry. Along with other women in her industry, Byrne founded the Dollhouse Collective, an all-female production company based in Australia. "The idea has been germinating for a while. We are close friends and we have worked together, so it's been a natural progression," said the collective in a statement (via Film Ink). "We realized we are a group of creatives and saw the opportunity to achieve more together than as individuals."

The entire experience has been a big change for Byrne. "It's definitely been challenging," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "Being on the other side of things and discovering how projects are developed, and how difficult it is to find funding — it's a whole different way of working for me, but I'm learning a lot."

Although Rose Byrne has been based in the United States for more than a decade, a part of her heart will always be in Australia. "I miss home," she admitted to The Sunday Telegraph in 2016. "It's that strange thing of getting used to being away from it and then, as a result, missing it. So when I go back, it's more emotional each time, because time has passed and everyone's older, and I'm older and have a child now. It just has a different resonance than it did when I was younger."

No matter how long she is in America, Byrne says she will keep in touch with her Australian roots. "I'm an Australian, through and through," she told the Evening Standard in 2017. "Even though I have been here for 10 years, I'm not a citizen, and I still wake up on some days and go, what am I doing here? I'm an alien."

Yet and still, Byrne loves her life in the states. "Australia is my emotional home, and always will be, I think, but New York is where all my stuff is," she told The Telegraph.

The fact that Rose Byrne doesn't take herself too seriously isn't just the secret behind her comedic success, it's also part of what keeps her grounded. While Byrne loves her career, she doesn't think that her job is particularly important. "Acting is embarrassing, absolutely," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "Just the vulnerability it requires, whether in a performance or doing interviews. It's an odd thing, and it's also a bit of a silly job."

She clarified, saying, "I mean, it's a great job, and I take it seriously and I'm passionate about it, but I know I'm not curing cancer, so you have to have some perspective on it." While Byrne is definitely underestimating the impact she has on her audience and the joy she brings her fans, her lack of self-importance is an admirable trait that makes her that much more endearing.

Without her family, Rose Byrne wouldn't rank high on the list of Hollywood's most down-to-earth celebrities. Even though she moved to another country and has become an internationally-famous celebrity, Byrne still maintains a very close relationship with her family and says they keep her ego from getting inflated.

"There is definitely a side of this business that's very heady and some people easily get swept up in it all, but my family is very down to earth," she told Red magazine. "I have two sisters and a brother — I'm the youngest of four — so that keeps me reasonably in check. In fact, I really didn't have much confidence in my twenties. I'm far more comfortable in my own skin now."

Byrne's siblings are also creative, so they have a bond that connects them beyond family. According to an interview with David Jones, Byrne's brother George is a photographer. Additionally, her sister Lucy works for the Australia Council and her other sister, Alice, is a painter.

In 2016, Rose Byrne gave birth to her first child with her partner, Bobby Canavale. The following year, the couple welcomed another son. Byrne told InStyle that meeting Cannavale and having children with him was a "profoundly emotional turning point." She continued, saying, "It's so hard to talk about without sounding like a cliché because it's so much more than that."

Having kids is a big adjustment for any parent, whether you're a movie star or not, but Byrne found her life greatly impacted by having children. "Every day, every hour, I'm like, 'What is happening?'" she told People. "I am learning on the job. I have no business telling anyone what to do. Being a mother changes everything. I feel like it informs everything I do, particularly for a job like this."

Fortunately, Byrne was able to turn to her parents for advice. "I was already becoming my parents, even before I had [a baby]," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "You know how that happens? One day, you're like, 'I've turned into my parents!'"

Rose Byrne has been with her partner Bobby Cannavale since 2012, but the two aren't legally married. Yes, they make up one of the celebrity couples who had kids out of wedlock. However, Byrne does wear two bands on her ring finger and often refers to the father of her child as her husband, according to Vanity Fair.

"He's practically my husband, so calling him that is easier," Byrne admitted to the Evening Standard in 2017. "The formality isn't a draw for me, but we'll do it one day. Once you have children, I just think, why not?"

The pair does, however, love to be together as much as they can and have even worked together on films like Adult Beginners and Annie. "I love working with Bobby," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "You know, aside from our personal relationship, he's just a fantastic actor." She joked that studios probably save money by hiring both of them. "They only have to pay for one car to pick us up, so we're helping with the budget," she said.

Rose Byrne may be an A-lister, but that doesn't mean that she's comfortable being in the spotlight. She'd prefer to keep the emphasis on her work rather than her personal life. "I'm not happy talking about myself," she told The Telegraph. "I'm happy talking about my work but I'm not really into revealing everything about me. There's not much to know about me, anyway."

Byrne doesn't have much of a social media presence, either. In a 2017 interview with InStyle, Byrne said that she was "too shy" to be on Instagram publicly. "I never did Facebook, or any of the precursors to that," she said. "Instagram was my first foray into social media. It's nice to see people, friends, doing their thing."

She did launch a public Instagram account in 2018, but doesn't post all that often. Byrne seems to be the rare celebrity who wants to stay out of the public eye as much as possible.

Rose Byrne has come a long way since the days she took acting classes to overcome her shyness. It has taken her a long time to learn how to deal with rejection, but she has gradually built up a thick skin over the years. "I used to be so destroyed when something would be cut that I'd worked hard on or that I thought worked well," she told Backstage. "Don't get me wrong; I still get upset about it when I really think it needs to be in there, but I pick my battles more carefully."

As she has gotten older, Byrne has learned how to speak up for herself. "If you don't ask the questions, you're going to be in your head about it," she said. "You've got to know so you can learn from it. I've only been vocal about it the past couple years. ... Now, I have more of an ability to communicate."

Rose Byrne may be best known to moviegoers, but she doesn't restrict herself to on-screen work. In 2014, she made her Broadway debut opposite James Earl Jones in You Can't Take It With You in an experience that was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. "It was terrifying, initially," she told The Sunday Telegraph. "My nerves were shot the first couple of weeks and I felt sick all the time, but I'm so glad I challenged myself."

It would be a few years before Byrne had another opportunity to tread the boards, but in 2020 she returned to the stage in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's production of the Greek tragedy Madea.

"It's fine!" she joked in an interview with InStyle about appearing in such a dramatic play. "It's lighthearted. After I turned 40, I thought, 'This is the kind of most ridiculous, risky thing I could do. I'm scared. I'm gonna do it. And if I fail, that's OK.' Listen to me comforting myself! But I'm going to dive in and do it. No risk, no reward."