Rose Byrne praises Australian trailblazer Heath Ledger
Rose Byrne thinks Heath Ledger was a pioneer for Australians in Hollywood.
The 42-year-old actress admits that the late movie star - who died in 2008, aged 28 - encouraged other actors and actresses to make the switch from Australia to the US.
Rose - who starred alongside Heath in the comedy crime film 'Two Hands' in 1999 - shared: "Being Australian, you’re outsiders, aliens, so you’ve got to band together. Heath was a real champion of that. He left early and started to get work here.
"He was so instrumental in helping me and a lot of people get work, and get into rooms."
Asked whether it felt like an adventure, Rose told The Independent: "It did! Just all of us driving to Joshua Tree, or staying at Heath’s [house] in Los Feliz. We were all in our late teens or early twenties, and there was such fervour to it all."
Rose has enjoyed significant success in Hollywood, starring in movies such as 'Get Him to the Greek' and 'Bridesmaids'.
But the actress - who was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney - still struggles to comprehend her own career path.
She reflected: "I still feel so Australian! To this day, I wake up and go: ‘Hold on, where am I? How did I get here?'"
Rose is currently starring in 'Physical', the comedy-drama series from Apple TV+. The show is set in San Diego in the 1980s and focuses on the wellness industry.
Reflecting on the state of the industry in 2022, Rose observed: "It exists in two ways. I think it can be genuinely fulfilling and also kind of self-serving for narcissists. It’s a very, very grey space. There’s a lot of benefits to it, but there are also a lot of charlatans.
"It’s, you know, overrun with charlatans. But that’s what makes it an interesting thing to examine."
