MX (Melbourne, Australia)
August 6, 2004 Friday

Don t I know you?

You probably know the face, yet struggle to remember the name.
However, these actors deserve accolades for the off-beat roles they
play.

TILDA SWINTON

Swinton generally appears in independent films, such as Young Adam,
Orlando, The Deep End and Adaptation. The outspoken Scot believes
that the average moviegoer isn’t sure what to do with women whose
looks are unconventional, by Hollywood standards.

She is now filming The Chronicles of Narnia.

EMILY MORTIMER

Mortimer belongs in the women’s role hall of fame for her work in
Lovely and Amazing. In Bright Young Things, she’s a party girl, and
in the musical version of Love’s Labours Lost, she’s fantastic. She
is filming The Pink Panther with Beyonce and Steve Martin.

SARAH POLLEY

Even Dawn of the Dead fans probably aren’t familiar with Polley’s
best work. She’s attracted to personal films by directors with skewed
visions. Not exactly big box office stuff, but this former child star
hasn’t made a false move since The Sweet Hereafter in 1997. She also
starred in Go, with Katie Holmes.

HOPE DAVIS

Davis raised her profile as Jack Nicholson’s annoying daughter in
About Schmidt, but is still relatively unknown.

She will soon be seen in The Weather Man, opposite Nicolas Cage,
playing a wry and down-to-earth character.

ISABELLE HUPPERT

French actor Huppert has made at least 40 films in which her
character usually has a secret.

Whether it’s the homicidal mum in Merci pour le Chocolat or the prim
nag in 8 Women, they’re almost always

upper-class.

She’s drawn to dark stories that explore the extremes of emotional
behaviour.

JUDY GREER

Greer takes the Joan Cusack roles that Cusack doesn’t want.

She has made a nice little career out of playing the ditzy, slightly
pathetic sidekick. She’s made almost 30 movies in the past six years,
playing that part in virtually all of them, most memorably in What
Women Want. She will soon be seen in The Village.

SANDRA OH

Wry, straightforward Oh made a bewitching debut as a young woman
rebelling against the Chinese traditions of her uptight family in
1994’s Double Happiness, and she hasn’t had a well-rounded role
since. It’s a common mistake for actors who make big, early splashes.
Oh has taken what she could find, including small roles in The
Princess Diaries and Under the Tuscan Sun.

ARSINEE KHANJIAN

Canadian-Armenian Khanjian had intriguing roles in the French films
Late August, Early September, Irma Vep and Fat Girl, but her fierce
intelligence is best showcased in films by her husband, director Atom
Egoyan. In Felicia’s Journey she wittily hinted at the dark side of
being a domestic goddess long before Martha Stewart’s downfall. She
also starred in The Sweet Hereafter.