Famous people from Australia
Here is a list of famous people from Australia. Curious if anybody from Australia made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.
Heath Ledger
Actor
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian actor and director. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work comprised nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, A Knight's Tale, Monster's Ball, Ned Kelly, The Brothers Grimm, Lords of Dogtown, Brokeback Mountain, Casanova, Candy, I'm Not There, The Dark Knight, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He also produced and directed music videos, and aspired to be a film director. For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and Best International Actor from the Australian Film Institute, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There, which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona.
Lleyton Hewitt
Tennis Player
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt is an Australian professional tennis player and former World No. 1. Hewitt is the youngest male ever to be ranked number one in the world, at the age of 20. His most notable career achievements include winning the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon men's singles titles, the 2000 US Open men's doubles title, and back-to-back Tennis Masters Cup titles in 2001 and 2002.
Kevin Rudd
Politician
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was twice Prime Minister of Australia, from 2007 to 2010, and again in 2013. He was the first former Prime Minister to return to the office since Robert Menzies in 1949, and only the second Labor Prime Minister to do so. Having previously served as a diplomat, and then as an official for the Queensland Government, Rudd was initially elected to the House of Representatives for Griffith in 1998. He was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In December 2006, he successfully challenged Kim Beazley to become the Leader of the Labor Party, subsequently becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Under Rudd, Labor overtook the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition led by John Howard in the polls, making a number of policy announcements on areas such as industrial relations, health, climate change, education, and the National Broadband Network. Labor won the 2007 election by a landslide, with a 23-seat swing in its favour, and Rudd was sworn in as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia on 3 December. The Rudd Government's first acts included signing the Kyoto Protocol and delivering an apology to Indigenous Australians for the Stolen Generations. The previous government's industrial relations legislation, WorkChoices, was largely dismantled, Australia's remaining Iraq War combat personnel were withdrawn, and the "Australia 2020 Summit" was held. In response to the global financial crisis, the government provided economic stimulus packages, and Australia was one of the few developed countries to avoid the late-2000s recession.
Mark Webber
Racing driver
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver. After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team. He also beat future F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso in the 2000 International Formula 3000 season. Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After his first season, Jaguar Racing took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team, Webber qualified on the front two rows of the grid several times and outperformed his teammates. His first F1 win was with Red Bull Racing at the 2009 German Grand Prix, which followed second places at the 2009 Chinese, Turkish and British Grands Prix. By the end of 2009, Webber had scored eight podiums, including another victory in Brazil. His eight podiums in 2009 compares to only two podiums in the first seven years of his career. He added ten more podiums in 2010, including victories in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. Webber finished the 2010 season in third place having led for a long period, losing out to teammate Sebastian Vettel in the final race of the season. Webber added another race victory in the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, as he once again finished third behind champion Vettel and runner-up Jenson Button. Webber partnered Vettel again in the 2012 season, outperforming him in the early season and looked to be a major title contender but fell away with no wins in the second half of the season after two in the Monaco and British Grand Prix. He finished the season in sixth position. Webber was also a long-term director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the Formula One drivers' union. On June 27 Webber announced he would be retiring from Formula One racing at the conclusion of the 2013 season and subsequently join Porsche on a long-term deal racing LMP1 Sportscars in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Rupert Murdoch
Organization leader
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an American media mogul. Murdoch became managing director of Australia's News Limited, inherited from his father, in 1952. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of global media holding company News Corporation, the world's second-largest media conglomerate, and its successors News Corp and 21st Century Fox after the conglomerate split on 28 June 2013. In the 1950s and '60s, he acquired various newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World followed closely by The Sun. He moved to New York in 1974 to expand into the US market, but retained interests in Australia and Britain. In 1981, he bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and became a naturalised US citizen in 1985. In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, he consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. His News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox, HarperCollins and The Wall Street Journal. He formed BSkyB in 1990 and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries with a net worth of over $5 billion.
Samantha Stosur
Tennis Player
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player, well known for her powerful serve, which is among the best in women's tennis. As of the 5th August, Stosur is currently ranked World No. 18 by the WTA. She is a former World No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she held for 61 weeks. Stosur is also a former World No. 4 in singles. Stosur won the 2011 U.S. Open, defeating Serena Williams in the final and becoming the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament and just the second Australian woman in history to win the US Open after Margaret Court. Stosur has won four other Grand Slam titles to date; two in women's doubles; and two in mixed doubles. She was also a finalist at the singles event at the 2010 French Open, where she lost to Francesca Schiavone.
Julian Assange
Spokesperson
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist. He is known as the editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks, which publishes submissions of secret information, news leaks and classified media from anonymous news sources and whistleblowers. Assange was a hacker as a teenager, then a computer programmer before becoming known for his work with WikiLeaks, initially started in 2006 and making public appearances around the world speaking about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism. WikiLeaks became internationally well known in 2010 when it began to publish U.S. military and diplomatic documents with assistance from its partners in the news media. Chelsea Manning has since pled guilty to supplying the cables to WikiLeaks. U.S. Air Force documents reportedly state that military personnel who make contact with WikiLeaks or "WikiLeaks supporters" are at risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy", and the United States Department of Justice reportedly has considered prosecuting Assange for several offenses. During the trial of Manning, military prosecutors presented evidence that they claim reveals that Manning and Assange collaborated to steal and publish U.S. military and diplomatic documents.
Cate Blanchett
Actor
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress who has received several accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTAs, and an Academy Award. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe awards, and earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Blanchett appeared as the elf Lady Galadriel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, Blanchett's portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator brought her numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Blanchett's other films include Babel, Notes on a Scandal, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Blanchett collaborated with director Peter Jackson again for what is to be The Hobbit trilogy.
Nick Cave
Alternative rock Artist
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor. He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1983, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles. Before that, he had fronted the group The Birthday Party in the early 1980s, a band renowned for its highly gothic, challenging lyrics and violent sound influenced by post-punk, blues and free jazz. In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman that released its debut the following year. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with religion, death, love and violence. Upon Cave's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, ARIA Awards committee chairman Ed St John said, "Nick Cave has enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of popular music. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute."
Laura Robson
Tennis Player
Laura Robson is a British tennis player, who is the current no. 1 ranked female player in the United Kingdom. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the girls' singles tournament at the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her first professional tournament in November 2008. As of 8 July 2013, Robson had a career-high rank on the WTA singles tour of 27. Her doubles tour rank at 19 August 2013 was a career high of 88. She won a silver medal playing with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics, with whom she also reached the 2010 Hopman Cup final. Robson has appeared at least once in the main draw of every Grand Slam. She is the first British woman since Samantha Smith at Wimbledon in 1998 to reach the fourth round of a major tournament, having done so at the 2012 US Open and the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2012 Guangzhou Women's Open, Robson became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1990 to reach a WTA main-tour final. She was named WTA Newcomer of the Year for 2012.
Steve Irwin
Zoologist
Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin, nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 kilometres north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane. Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship MY Steve Irwin was named in his honour.
Miranda Kerr
Supermodel
Miranda May Kerr is an Australian model. Kerr rose to prominence in 2007 as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels. She is the first Australian to participate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and also represented Australian fashion chain David Jones. In addition, Kerr has launched her own brand of organic skincare products, Kora Organics, and released a self-help book, Treasure Yourself. Kerr began modelling in the fashion industry when she was 13, starting at Chaay's Modelling Agency, and soon after winning a 1997 Australian nationwide model search hosted by Dolly magazine and Impulse fragrances. She married English actor Orlando Bloom in 2010; they have since separated.
Liam Hemsworth
Actor
Liam Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He took the role of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and as Marcus on the children's television series The Elephant Princess. In 2010, he starred in the American film The Last Song and in 2012, he starred as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games. Hemsworth's elder brothers, Luke and Chris, are also actors.
Portia de Rossi
Actor
Portia Lee James DeGeneres, known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American actress, model and philanthropist, known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development. She also portrayed Veronica Palmer on the ABC sitcom Better Off Ted and Olivia Lord on Nip/Tuck. She is the wife of American stand-up comedian, television host and actress Ellen DeGeneres.
Errol Flynn
Actor
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was an Australian actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his playboy lifestyle. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1942.
Cadel Evans
Professional Road Racing Cyclist
Cadel Lee Evans AM is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. He is the first Australian to win the Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Evans turned to full-time road cycling in 2001, and gradually progressed through the ranks. He finished second in the 2007 and 2008 Tours de France. He became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009. Finally, he won the Tour de France in 2011, riding for BMC Racing Team, after two Tours riddled with bad luck. At age 34, he was among the five oldest winners in the race's history.
Iggy Azalea
Hip hop Artist
Amethyst Amelia Kelly, better known by her stage name Iggy Azalea, is an Australian recording artist and model from Mullumbimby, New South Wales. She relocated to the United States at the age of 16, first staying in Miami, Florida and then other parts of the South, including Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. She first gained recognition after the respective music videos for her controversial songs "Pussy" and "Two Times," went viral on YouTube. On 27 September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape entitled Ignorant Art, saying she made it "with the intent to make people question and redefine old ideals". In 2012, she announced her signing to Mercury Records and the following year to Island Def Jam. Azalea went into professional modeling, when she became represented by Wilhelmina Models, in the spring of 2012; later that year she was announced the "New Face of Levi Jeans". In 2012, Azalea became the first female, non-American rapper to be featured on XXL magazine's annual "Top 10 Freshman" cover issue. On 30 July 2012, she released Glory, her debut extended play, which was executive produced by Grand Hustle label-boss and American rapper T.I.. On 11 October 2012, she released her second mixtape TrapGold, which was produced entirely by high-profile producer Diplo and 1st Down of production team FKi. The mixtape is significant for foreshadowing Azalea's new approach to music and her later work, which heavily includes electronic elements.
Baz Luhrmann
Film Director
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge!. In 2008, he released his film Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. His most recent film, a new, re-imagined version of The Great Gatsby, was released on 10 May 2013. He is also credited with the number one hit single "Everybody's Free" in UK in 1999. He is married and has two children.
Casey Stoner
Award Nominee
Casey Joel Stoner AM is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer, and a two-time MotoGP World Champion, in 2007 and 2011. Born in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Australia and raised in Southport, Queensland, Stoner raced from a young age and moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a racing career. After first competing internationally in 2002, Stoner became MotoGP World Champion in 2007 for Ducati Corse and won a second world championship title in 2011 for Repsol Honda. Prior to the 2012 French Grand Prix, Stoner announced that he would retire from Grand Prix racing at the conclusion of the 2012 season.
Chris Hemsworth
Celebrity
Chris Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Studios films Thor, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World; and as Kim Hyde in the Australian TV series Home and Away. He has also appeared in Star Trek, A Perfect Getaway, The Cabin in the Woods, Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Dawn and Rush. He will appear in the film adaptation of In the Heart of the Sea, based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Delta Goodrem
Alternative rock Artist
Delta Lea Goodrem is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and television actress. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she enrolled in dancing, acting, singing and piano classes at a young age. She began her career as a child actress, starring in various television shows and rose to prominence in 2002 in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Nina Tucker. Venturing into the music industry, Goodrem recorded an album entitled Delta through an independent label, which was never released due to legal reasons. Subsequently signing to Sony at the age of 15, she released her multi-platinum album Innocent Eyes which topped the Australian albums chart and UK Albums Chart. It became one of the highest selling albums in Australian history, with 14 million copies sold worldwide and all five of its singles— "Born to Try", "Lost Without You", "Innocent Eyes", "Not Me, Not I", and "Predictable"—reaching number one in Australia and three of them reaching the top ten in the UK. This gave her the record for becoming the first ever artist to have five Number 1 singles from a debut album. Each of her subsequent albums followed with similar commercial success. Her second studio album, Mistaken Identity, was created during her battle with cancer and became her second consequent Number 1 album. In 2007, she released Delta, her third Number 1 album. Goodrem has continued to have a string of top-ten hits, including "Out of the Blue", "Mistaken Identity", "Together We Are One", "In This Life", "Believe Again", "Sitting on Top of the World" and "Wish You Were Here". Goodrem has achieved eight Number 1 singles and three Number 1 albums in her home country. As of the late 2000s or early 2010s, she holds the Australian record for the highest-selling album of the last decade and the most Number 1 singles from a debut album. As of 2012, she is a coach on The Voice Australia.
Cody Simpson
Teen pop Artist
Cody Robert Simpson is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.
Rick Springfield
Pop rock Artist
Rick Springfield is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was a member of pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971 and then started his solo career with his début single "Speak to the Sky" reaching the top 10 in Australia. In mid-1972, he relocated to the United States. He had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the US. He received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Jessie's Girl". He followed with four more top 10 US hits, "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody". His two US top 10 albums are Working Class Dog and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet. As an actor, he portrayed Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime drama General Hospital, from 1981 to 1983 and during 2005 to 2008 and 2012, returning in 2013 for the shows 50th anniversary with son and actor Liam Springthorpe. In 2010, Springfield published his autobiography, Late, Late at Night: A Memoir.
Eric Bana
Actor
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biographical film Chopper. After a decade of roles in Australian TV shows and films, Bana gained Hollywood's attention by playing the lead role as Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee directed film Hulk. He has since played Hector in the movie Troy, the lead in Steven Spielberg's Munich, and the villain Nero in the science-fiction film Star Trek. An accomplished dramatic actor and comedian, he received Australia's highest film and television awards for his performances in Chopper, Full Frontal and Romulus, My Father. Bana has performed across a wide spectrum of leading roles in a variety of low-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers.
Rod Laver
Tennis Player
Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former professional tennis player who holds the record for most singles titles won in the history of tennis, with 200 career titles. He was ranked World No. 1 for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970 and also in 1961 and 1962. He is the only tennis player to have won the Grand Slam twice, in 1962 and 1969, and is the only male player to have done this during the open era. He also won the Pro Grand Slam in 1967. Laver won a total of 19 Major singles titles, including 11 Grand Slams and 8 Pro Slams. Rod Laver is the third player, behind Roy Emerson and Margaret Court, to win each major singles title twice in his career. He also won a total of 9 Major doubles titles including 6 Grand Slam men's doubles and 3 Grand Slam mixed doubles. He hold the all-time male records of 22 singles titles in a season and 7 consecutive years winning at least 10 singles titles per season. In addition to this he won 9 Championship Series titles. He was the first player to win 5 Championship series titles in one season and to reach 6 finals in a season. The Championship series were precursors to the current Masters 1000. Laver won and excelled on all the surfaces of his time, and was ranked as the best professional player in the world during the five-year period he was excluded from the Grand Slam tournaments. Laver is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Rolf Harris
Rock and roll Artist
Rolf Harris, AO, CBE is an Australian entertainer. He is a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter, and television personality. He has lived in the UK for more than five decades, residing in Bray, Berkshire. Harris, who was born and grew up in Perth, Western Australia, was a champion swimmer before studying art. In 1952, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he started to draw animations for television programmes. Harris soon afterwards began a musical career, initially singing and playing the piano accordion. In 1957, he wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", which later became a Top 10 hit in Australia, the UK and the United States. While performing in Canada he introduced a longstanding, popular routine around his song "Jake the Peg". Harris often uses unusual instruments in his performances: he plays the didgeridoo, is credited with the invention of a rhythmic percussion instrument, the wobble board, and is associated with the Stylophone, a small electronic keyboard instrument. During the 1960s he became a popular television personality, later presenting shows including Rolf's Cartoon Club, Animal Hospital and various programmes about serious art. In 2005 he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that was the subject of a special episode of Rolf on Art.
Shane Warne
Cricket Bowler
Shane Keith Warne is an Australian former international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet and the only one still playing at the time. He is also a cricket commentator and a professional poker player. He officially retired from all formats in July 2013. Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and took over 1000 international wickets, second to this milestone after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. Warne's 708 Test wickets was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, until it was also broken by Muralitharan on 3 December 2007. A useful lower-order batsman, Warne also scored over 3000 Test runs, and he holds the record for most Test runs without a century. His career was plagued by scandals off the field; these included a ban from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance, charges of bringing the game into disrepute by accepting money from bookmakers, and sexual indiscretions.
Donald Bradman
Cricket Player
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC, often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest Test batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 is often cited as statistically the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport. The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore. Bradman's meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he had set many records for high scoring, some of which still stand, and became Australia's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression. During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, "worth three batsmen to Australia". A controversial set of tactics, known as Bodyline, was specifically devised by the England team to curb his scoring. As a captain and administrator, Bradman was committed to attacking, entertaining cricket; he drew spectators in record numbers. He hated the constant adulation, however, and it affected how he dealt with others. The focus of attention on his individual performances strained relationships with some team-mates, administrators and journalists, who thought him aloof and wary. Following an enforced hiatus due to the Second World War, he made a dramatic comeback, captaining an Australian team known as "The Invincibles" on a record-breaking unbeaten tour of England.
Toni Collette
Actor
Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish. Collette's acting career began in the early 1990s with comedic roles in films such as Spotswood aka The Efficiency Expert and Muriel's Wedding, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Following her performances in Emma and The Boys, Collette achieved international recognition as a result of her Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Lynn Sear in The Sixth Sense. She has appeared in thrillers such as Shaft and Changing Lanes and independent comedy films like About a Boy, Connie and Carla, In Her Shoes and Little Miss Sunshine. She recently appeared in the film Hitchcock and in the 2012 film Mental. In 2009, she began playing the lead role in the television series United States of Tara, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2010. Collette currently stars as Ellen Sanders in the US television drama Hostages.
Kyrie Irving
Basketball Point guard
Kyrie Andrew Irving is an Australian-American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He attended Duke University before being selected as the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2012. Irving was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in West Orange, New Jersey.
Mia Wasikowska
Actor
Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. After starting her career in Australian television and film, she first became known to a wider audience following her critically acclaimed work on the HBO television series In Treatment. She gained worldwide prominence in 2010 after starring as Alice in Tim Burton's $1 billion-grossing Alice in Wonderland and appearing in The Kids Are All Right, for which she received the Hollywood Awards' Breakthrough Actress Award. In 2011, Wasikowska portrayed the title character in Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of Jane Eyre, and starred in Gus Van Sant's Restless and Rodrigo Garcia's Albert Nobbs. She starred in John Hillcoat's Lawless and in Park Chan-wook's Stoker.
Simon Baker
Actor
Simon Baker is an Australian actor and director. In his television acting career, he is best known for his lead role in the CBS television series The Mentalist as Patrick Jane and as Nicholas Fallin in The Guardian. In his film acting career, he is best known for the lead role of Riley Denbo in Land of the Dead and Christian Thompson in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, based on the 2003 novel of the same name.
Harry Kewell
Soccer
Harold "Harry" Kewell is an Australian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Melbourne Heart in the A-League. Internationally he has received 58 caps, and scored 17 goals, while playing for the Australian national team. A winger, also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder and as a second striker, he is often regarded within the media as "Australia's finest football export", despite his career being blighted with injury. Kewell scored a goal against Croatia which took Australia through to the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup, the Australian national team's second World Cup. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Professional Footballers' Association. Kewell also has a British passport through his father's heritage. Former Middlesbrough midfielder-turned pundit Robbie Mustoe named Kewell as one of the greatest players he had played against but questioned his consistency and attitude after his initial injuries. Former German international Michael Ballack has also highlighted Kewell's ability and inconsistency. On 12 July 2012, Harry Kewell was named Australia's greatest football player in voting by Australian fans, players and media, at a gala ceremony in Sydney.
Patrick Rafter
Tennis Player
Patrick Michael "Pat" Rafter is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the Men's Singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of play. He became the first man in the Open Era to win Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open in the same year; this achievement has been dubbed the American Summer Slam. Rafter was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2006.
Teresa Palmer
Actor
Mary Teresa Palmer is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in the suicide drama 2:37. Palmer was seen in The Grudge 2 in 2006, in December Boys, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, and in the 2008 children's fantasy Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler. She appeared in The Sorcerer's Apprentice in 2010, with Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, and her films in 2011 include a turn as an alien in the sci-fi film I Am Number Four, and playing Topher Grace's love interest in Take Me Home Tonight. In 2013, she starred in the zombie love story, Warm Bodies, and the romantic war film, Love and Honor, opposite Liam Hemsworth.
Rebel Wilson
Actor
Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson is an Australian actress, writer, entrepreneur, and stand-up comedian. She began appearing as Toula in the SBS comedy series Pizza from 2003 and made several appearances in the sketch comedy series The Wedge. In 2008, Wilson wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride. The following year, she won the Tropfest Best Actress award for her role in Bargain and made a guest appearance in City Homicide. Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson was cast as Brynn in the feature film Bridesmaids. The actress has also appeared in A Few Best Men, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Struck by Lightning, leading Variety to name her one of their "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011". Wilson also appeared as Becky in Bachelorette and starred in musical-comedy Pitch Perfect, where her role as Fat Amy earned her several award nominations. Wilson created and stars in Super Fun Night, a television comedy which began airing on the ABC network on 2 October 2013.
Lisa Gerrard
Film score Artist
Lisa Gerrard (born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry. Gerrard possesses the vocal range of a contralto, spanning from E3-F5. Her voice has been described as rich, deep, dark, mournful and unique. She also has the ability to extend upwards into the dramatic mezzo-soprano range, examples of such would be on the songs The Host of Seraphim, Elegy, Space Weaver, Come This Way and One Perfect Sunrise. Gerrard however performs more predominantly in the dramatic contralto range in her other songs, Sanvean, Sacrifice, Largo and Not Yet. Gerrard sings many of her songs, such as Now We Are Free, Come Tenderness, Serenity, The Valley of the Moon, Tempest, Pilgrimage of Lost Children, Coming Home and Sanvean in an idioglossia (an idiosyncratic language) that she has developed since the age of twelve. Since her career began in 1981, she has been involved in a wide range of projects. Gerrard received a Golden Globe Award for the music score to the film Gladiator, on which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer. In addition to singing, she is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer). Born 12 April 1961 in Melbourne, Lisa Gerrard grew up in the suburb of Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. On her upbringing, she has said she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses," and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative works. Gerrard's first foray into forming bands and creative music-making was the highly experimental Little Band scene. It was at one of these little band events that she first met Dead Can Dance cofounder Brendan Perry. Perry recalls, "It never occurred to me that we would one day collaborate musically together because at the time I thought her music was too avant garde. I particularly remember one song that she sang about finding a man in the park and asking her mother if she could bring him home to keep in her wardrobe as she attacked this chinese dulcimer with two bamboo sticks." Lisa Gerrard's first experience in composing music for a film came with the 1989 Spanish film El Niño de la Luna, directed by Agustín Villaronga. The film score was composed by Dead Can Dance and the film featured Lisa Gerrard in her first acting role. El Niño de la Luna describes the story of David, a young orphan with special powers, escaping an institution with the help of a fellow institute inmate, Georgina, played by Lisa Gerrard. Gerrard participated in a number of musical scores but came to fame as a film composer after recording The Insider in 1999, with Pieter Bourke, and Gladiator in 2000, with Hans Zimmer, which received an Academy Award nomination for best music score, although only Zimmer was nominated. It did, however, win a Golden Globe Award for both composers. Gerrard's score for the New Zealand independent film Whale Rider consisted entirely of solo material; a soundtrack album was released by 4AD. In 2005 Gerrard collaborated with Ennio Morricone for Fateless followed by a collaboration with Jeff Rona on the score for the feature film "A Thousand Roads" and the song On an Ocean for the Henry Poole Is Here score. Gerrard along with Dead Can Dance also provided several contributions to the soundtrack of Baraka, a visual journey showcasing mankind's impact on our planet. Gerrard was also invited by Denez Prigent to collaborate with him on his piece "Gortoz a ran - J'attends" (meaning "I await"), a piece that was later used in the soundtrack of Ridley Scott's film Black Hawk Down. In 2009 Lisa Gerrard wrote the score for Balibo, for which she won a Best Feature Film Score award at the 2009 APRA Screen Music Awards and an Aria Award for Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album at the 2009 Aria Awards. Gerrard finished 2009 by contributing...
Greg Norman
Golfer
Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s. He has won over 85 international tournaments in his career, including two majors: The Open Championship in 1986 and 1993. He is nicknamed The Great White Shark or sometimes simply The Shark – a reference to Norman's blond hair, size, aggressive golf style and in reflection to the native coastal animal of his birthplace.
Nick Vujicic
Preacher
Nicholas James "Nick" Vujicic is a Serbian Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. As a child, he struggled mentally and emotionally as well as physically, but eventually came to terms with his disability and, at the age of seventeen, started his own non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. Vujicic presents motivational speeches worldwide on life with a disability, on hope, and on finding meaning in life. He also speaks about his belief that God can use any willing heart to do his work and that God is big enough to overcome any disability.
Ricky Ponting
Cricket Bowler
Ricky Thomas Ponting, AO, nicknamed Punter, is an Australian former cricketer who was captain of the Australia national cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He led Australia to victory at the 2003 and 2007 cricket world cups and was also a member of the 1999 world cup winning team under Steve Waugh. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic cricket, the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League, and played in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008. He is widely considered by many to be one of the best batsmen of the modern era, along with Sachin Tendulkar of India and Brian Lara of the West Indies. On 1 December 2006, he reached the highest rating achieved by a Test batsman in the last 50 years. Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania in November 1992, when just 17 years and 337 days old, becoming the youngest Tasmanian to play in a Sheffield Shield match. However, he had to wait until 1995 before making his One Day International debut, during a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in a match against South Africa. His Test debut followed shortly after, when selected for the first Test of the 1995 home series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96. He lost his place in the national team several times in the period before early-1999, due to lack of form and discipline, before becoming One Day International captain in early-2002 and Test captain in early-2004.
John Howard
Politician
John Winston Howard, OM AC SSI, is an Australian politician who served as the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies. Howard was a member of the House of Representatives from 1974 to 2007, representing the Division of Bennelong, New South Wales. He served as Treasurer in the Fraser government from 1977 to 1983. He was Leader of the Liberal Party and Coalition Opposition from 1985 to 1989, which included the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke. He was re-elected as Leader of the Opposition in 1995. Howard led the Liberal-National coalition to victory at the 1996 federal election, defeating Paul Keating's Labor government and ending a record 13 years of Coalition opposition. The Howard Government was re-elected at the 1998, 2001 and 2004 elections, presiding over a period of strong economic growth and prosperity. Major issues for the Howard Government included taxation, industrial relations, immigration, the Iraq war, and Aboriginal relations. Howard's coalition government was defeated at the 2007 election by the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd. Howard also lost his own parliamentary seat at the election; he was the second Australian Prime Minister, after Stanley Bruce in 1929, to do so.
Chris Cayzer
Singer
Chris Cayzer is a Filipino-Australian soul, R&B and acoustic singer, actor, DJ and VJ. After deciding to switch from TV5 as an actor and performer he moved to the GMA Network. In 2012 he successfully auditioned for The X Factor Australia making it to the Top 6 in the Over 25 Category and Top 24 overall.
Brent Moloney
Australian Rules Footballer
Brent "Beamer" Moloney is an Australian rules footballer for the Brisbane Lions. He has previously played with the Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League.
Lucy Fry
Actor
Lucy Fry is an actor.
Windradyne
Deceased Person
Windradyne was an Aboriginal warrior and resistance leader of the Wiradjuri nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales, Australia; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday. Windradyne led his people in the Bathurst Wars, a resistance movement by the Indigenous Australians against the invasion of their lands by the British settlers.
Beau Waters
Australian Rules Footballer
Beau Waters is an Australian rules footballer who is the current vice-captain of the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League. Originally from the Happy Valley Football Club, South Australia, he played for the West Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League before being recruited to West Coast with the 11th pick overall in the 2003 National Draft. Waters made his senior debut in 2004, and has played a total of 103 games for the club, mainly as a defender, including the 2006 premiership. He was also in the All-Australian team in 2012, on a half-back flank.
Alison Jiear
Actor
Alison Jiear is a popular cabaret artist and musical theatre performer on the London cabaret circuit. Jiear was trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Australia.
Raphael Clarke
Australian Rules Footballer
Raphael "Fish" Clarke is an Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League from 2004 to 2012. He is the brother of Xavier Clarke, who was also a St Kilda player from 2002 until 2008.
Bill Young
Man
Bill Young is an Australian former rugby union footballer. He played rugby for the Brumbies in the international Super Rugby competition and played for Australia over 40 times. Standing at 1.88m and weighing in at 115kg, Young is a loosehead prop. He was educated at St Joseph's College Young represented Australia in the under-21s in 1995.Young made his Super 12 debut for the Brumbies in a match against the Wellington Hurricanes in a home match in Canberra in mid-season 1998. He scored his first Super Rugby try in the 2000 season, against New South Wales team, the Waratahs. That same year Young made his debut for the Wallabies in a test against France in Paris. The following season he played in 12 matches for the Brumbies, scoring two tries. The Brumbies made it to the semi-finals. The following year however he played nine tests for the Wallabies that year. Young was part of the Australian 2003 Rugby World Cup team that made it to the final in Sydney, though the Wallabies were defeated by the English in the final. In 2004 Young scored five tries in the season, and the Brumbies defeated the Crusaders in the final. The following season he celebrated his 100th Super Rugby match against the Crusaders at Jade Stadium. Young announced his retirement from rugby on 18 July 2006 to prevent further trouble with a chronic neck injury. In total he was capped 46 times for Australia and played 100 matches for the ACT Brumbies. He retired as the second most capped Wallaby prop of all time.
Ian Reed
Olympic athlete
Ian Manley Reed was a discus thrower, who represented Australia at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in the men's discus throw event.
Pat Cash
Tennis Player
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon in 1987. He won 6 titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4 in May 1988.
Mark Philippoussis
Tennis Player
Mark Anthony Philippoussis is an Australian former tennis player. He turned professional in 1994. His father is Greek, while his mother is of Italian ancestry. He has had a minor career in modelling and starred in the American reality television dating show Age of Love. He is nicknamed 'the Scud', after the Scud missile. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 8.
Emily Browning
Actor
Emily Jane Browning is an Australian film actress, singer and fashion model. After early roles in Ghost Ship and Ned Kelly, she won the 2005 AFI International Award for Best Actress for her breakthrough role as Violet Baudelaire in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. She has starred in lead roles in the horror film, The Uninvited, the action film Sucker Punch and the independent film Sleeping Beauty.
Bob Hawke
Politician
Robert James Lee Hawke AC GCL is an Australian politician who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Labor Party from 1983 to 1991. After a decade as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, he was elected to the House of Representatives as the Labor MP for Wills in 1980. Three years later, he led Labor to a landslide election victory and was sworn in as Prime Minister. He led Labor to victory at three more elections in 1984, 1987 and 1990, thus making him the most successful Labor Leader in history. Hawke was eventually replaced by Paul Keating at the end of 1991. He remains to date Labor's longest-serving Prime Minister, and is Australia's third-longest-serving Prime Minister.
Adam Gilchrist
Cricket Player
Adam Craig Gilchrist, AM, nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is a former Australian cricketer who has captained Kings XI Punjab and Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national team through his aggressive batting. He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket-keeper–batsmen in the history of the game. He holds the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket keeper in One Day International cricket and the most by an Australian in Test cricket. His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket; his century against England at Perth in December 2006 is the second-fastest century in all Test cricket. He is the only player to have hit 100 sixes in Test cricket. His 17 Test and 16 ODI centuries are the most by a wicket-keeper. He holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals and is one of only three players to have won three titles. Gilchrist is renowned for walking when he considers himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire. He made his first-class debut in 1992, his first One-Day International appearance in 1996 in India and his Test debut in 1999. During his career, he played for Australia in 96 Test matches and over 270 One-day internationals. He was Australia's vice-captain in both forms of the game, captaining the team when regular captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting were unavailable. He retired from international cricket in March 2008.
Michael Clarke
Cricket Bowler
Michael John Clarke is a professional Australian cricketer and captain of the Australian cricket team for both Test and ODI cricket. Nicknamed "Pup", he is a right-handed middle-order batsman, and an occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler. He represents New South Wales at a domestic level. In January 2011, Clarke stood down as captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team to concentrate on his Test and ODI performance. On 22 November 2012, Clarke scored a double century at the Adelaide Oval, making him the only Test batsman to ever achieve four double centuries in a calendar year. He is known for his partnerships with Mike Hussey.
Peter Singer
Philosopher
Peter Albert David Singer, AC is an Australian moral philosopher. He is currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, preference utilitarian perspective. He is known in particular for his book, Animal Liberation, a canonical text in animal rights/liberation theory. On two occasions Singer served as chair of the philosophy department at Monash University, where he founded its Centre for Human Bioethics. In 1996 he stood unsuccessfully as a Greens candidate for the Australian Senate. In 2004 he was recognised as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies, and in June 2012 was named a Companion of the Order of Australia for his services to philosophy and bioethics. He serves on the Advisory Board of Incentives for Global Health, the NGO formed to develop the Health Impact Fund proposal. He was voted one of Australia's ten most influential public intellectuals in 2006. Singer currently serves on the advisory board of Academics Stand Against Poverty.
Jessica Mauboy
Pop Artist
Jessica Hilda Mauboy is an Australian R&B and pop singer, songwriter, and actress. In 2006, Mauboy was the runner-up on the fourth season of Australian Idol, she had auditioned for the talent show in Alice Springs, Northern Territory to pursue a recording career. Mauboy subsequently signed a contract with Sony Music Australia. In February 2007, she released her debut live album, The Journey, which debuted at number four on the ARIA Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association. Later that year, she briefly became a member of all-girl pop group Young Divas, before resuming her solo career early in 2008. Mauboy released her debut studio album, Been Waiting, in November 2008, which spawned her first number-one single, "Burn", as well as the top ten hits, "Running Back" and "Because". Been Waiting became the second highest-selling Australian album of 2009, and was certified double platinum. Her second studio album, Get 'Em Girls, included the hit singles, "Saturday Night" and "Inescapable". Mauboy's third studio album, Beautiful, was released in 2013 and included her sixth top ten single, "Pop a Bottle".
Julian McMahon
Actor
Julian Dana William McMahon is an Australian actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his portrayals of Cole Turner in The WB hit series Charmed, womanizing plastic surgeon Christian Troy on the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning TV show Nip/Tuck and Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Emilie de Ravin
Actor
Emilie de Ravin is an Australian actress. She is best known for her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost. In 2012 she guest-starred as Belle on the ABC drama Once Upon a Time and became a series regular beginning in the show's second season. She was originally to play Anthony LaPaglia's daughter in the potential ABC drama, Americana. De Ravin's film credits include Santa's Slay, The Hills Have Eyes and Ball Don't Lie. She starred as Brendan Frye's heroin-addicted ex-girlfriend Emily in the neo-noir film Brick. She had a small cameo in Public Enemies and more recently starred in Remember Me. De Ravin was included on Maxim's Hot 100 list three times: in 2005, on #47, the next year on #65, and in 2008 on #68.
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
Noble person
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, RE is the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. Frederik is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, which means that at the time Frederik inherits the throne, Mary will automatically become Queen consort of Denmark. The couple met at the Slip Inn, a pub in Sydney, when the prince was visiting Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics. Their official engagement in 2003 and their marriage the following year were the subject of extensive attention from Australian and European news media, which portrayed the marriage as a modern "fairytale" romance between a prince and a commoner.
Daniel Ricciardo
Racing driver
Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One for Scuderia Toro Rosso. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009. After Mark Webber announced his retirement from Formula 1, Ricciardo was confirmed as his replacement at Red Bull for 2014. He will partner Sebastian Vettel who is the current quadruple world champion.
Shane Watson
Cricket Bowler
Shane Robert Watson is an Australian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast medium bowler. He debuted for the Australian cricket team in 2002, playing his first One Day International against South Africa. While he has become a regular member of the one-day squad, Watson has played few Test Matches for Australia, having debuted against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2005. Despite being allocated to be Australia's designated Test all-rounder, injuries have often prevented him from claiming his position in the Test team. However, from the second half of 2009, Watson acted as Australian Test opening batsman, along with Simon Katich. Watson was awarded the 2010 Allan Border Medal and again in 2011, becoming the second player to win back-to back Allan Border Medals. Watson's wife Lee, whom he married on 3 June 2010, is a Fox Sports Australia presenter. He was declared man of the series in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 for scoring a total of 249 with an average of 49.80, while taking 11 wickets with the ball. He has also been voted the man of the tournament in the IPL a record two times. According to Forbes, Watson is the highest paid cricketer outside of India, earning over US$5.9 million in 2012.
Holly Valance
Actor
Holly Rachel Candy, known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian actress, singer, and model. Valance began her career as Felicity "Flick" Scully on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. In 2002 she released her first album, Footprints, which included the single "Kiss Kiss".
Rennae Stubbs
Tennis Tournament Champion
Rennae Stubbs is a retired Australian tennis player. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. She has won several Grand Slam doubles titles and represented Australia at four successive Olympic Games; Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Stubbs has recorded more doubles triumphs than any other Australian woman—60 from 1992 to the conclusion of the 2010 WTA Tour—enjoying success with eleven different partners. She also won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles with male partners. In 2001, Stubbs won the season-ending WTA Championships with regular partner Lisa Raymond and the pair were named ITF World Champions. Stubbs is the longest-serving member of the Australia Fed Cup team, having played for 17 years since 1992, with a 28–9 win/loss record in doubles; the second highest in Australian Fed Cup Team history behind Wendy Turnbull. She retired after the 2011 Fed Cup tie with Italy. However, Stubbs suddenly came back to the WTA Tour by playing at the Miami Masters with Jill Craybas. Stubbs is openly lesbian.
Marcos Ambrose
Racing driver
Marcos Ambrose is an Australian racing driver. He drives the No. 9 DeWalt/Stanley Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Ambrose is a dual Australian V8 Supercar champion in 2003 and 2004, having spearheaded Stone Brothers Racing's rise in the sport which saw the team dominate for three years after a five-year drought for Ford teams in the championship. In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the United States to pursue racing in NASCAR, starting with the Camping World Truck Series. He moved up to the Nationwide Series in 2007, and later the Sprint Cup Series in 2008. In 2011, he earned his first Cup Series win at Watkins Glen International, becoming the first Australian driver to win in the highest level of NASCAR.
Joan Sutherland
Singer
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, DBE, AC was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina. She possessed a voice of beauty and power, combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, "supremely" pinpoint staccatos, a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century"; Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven".
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Tennis Tournament Champion
Evonne Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE is an Australian former World No. 1 female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles. Her career win-loss percentage was 81.01%. Her win-loss performance in all Grand Slam singles tournaments was 82.09%, at the French Open, 84.21%, at Wimbledon, 83.33%, at the US Open, 81.25%, and at the Australian Open, 80.39%.
Bob Hewitt
Tennis Tournament Champion
Robert "Bob" Anthony John Hewitt is a former professional male tennis player from Australia. After marrying a South African, he became a South African citizen. Hewitt's perhaps most significant accomplishment was winning all Grand Slam doubles titles, both in men's and mixed doubles and being central to South Africa's only Davis Cup title in 1974. That victory was controversial, with India boycotting the final on the orders of its government due to South Africa's apartheid policies, which were affecting the ethnic Indian community of the country. Hewitt achieved 7 titles in singles and 65 in doubles. His career prize money amounted to more than a million dollars. He was ranked World No. 6 in 1967 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph. In 1992 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In November 2012, he was indefinitely suspended from the International Tennis Hall of Fame following an investigation into multiple allegations brought forward concerning sexual misconduct involving Hewitt and minor students that he coached.
Todd Woodbridge
Tennis Tournament Champion
Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM is an Australian former tennis player. He was born in Sydney and went to school in the ACT at Lyneham High School then turned professional in 1988. He is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde and later Jonas Björkman. He is among the most successful doubles players of all time, having won 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and a further seven Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Additionally, he was a gold medalist with Woodforde at the 1996 Summer Olympics to complete a career Golden Slam. In total he has won 83 ATP doubles titles. Woodbridge reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in July 1992. In 2002, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best'.
Brett Lee
Cricket Bowler
Brett Lee is a former Australian cricketer and a Channel Nine cricket commentator. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world of cricket. In each of his first two years, he averaged less than 20 with the ball, but since then has mostly achieved figures in the early 30s. He was also known as an athletic fielder and useful lower-order batsman, with a batting average exceeding 20 in Test cricket. On 13 July 2012, Lee announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. Having declined to renew his contract with his home state side New South Wales, he continues to play T20 cricket in the IPL and Big Bash League.For the 6th season of Indian Premier League he will do double duty for Kolkata Knight Riders, taking on the role of bowing mentor in addition to his playing role.
Anne Curtis
Actor
Anne Ojales Curtis-Smith, also known as Anne Curtis-Smith or simply Anne Curtis, is a Filipino-Australian actress, model, television host, singer, fashion icon, recording artist and VJ, currently active in the Philippines. She is working under ABS-CBN. She was discovered while on vacation in the Philippines at the age of 12, which made her visit permanent.
Paul Hogan
Actor
Paul Hogan, AM is an Australian comedian and actor best known for his role as Michael "Mic" J. "Crocodile" Dundee in "Crocodile" Dundee, for which he won a Golden Globe award for his performance, and subsequent films featuring the character.
Helen Reddy
Pop Artist
Helen Reddy is an Australian American singer, actress, and activist. She is often referred to as the "Queen of 70s Pop". In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six made the Top 10 and three reached No. 1, including her signature hit "I Am Woman." She placed 25 songs on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Fifteen made the Top 10 and eight reached No. 1, six consecutively. She was the first artist to win the coveted American Music Award for "Favorite Pop/Rock Female" artist. She was the first Australian to win a Grammy Award and to have three No. 1 hits in the same year. In television, she was the first Australian to host her own one-hour weekly primetime variety show on an American network, along with several specials that were seen in over forty countries. Helen retired from live performance in 2002 and now practices as a clinical hypnotherapist and motivational speaker. In 2011, Billboard named her the No. 28 AC artist of all time. She lives in Australia. Her song "I Am Woman" played a large role in popular culture and became an anthem for Second-wave feminism. She came to be known as a "feminist poster girl" or a "feminist icon."
Rod Taylor
Actor
Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor is an Australian actor of film and television. He has appeared in over 50 films, and is well known for his leading roles in the science fiction classic The Time Machine, and in the Alfred Hitchcock horror story The Birds.
Joel Edgerton
Actor
Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in 2000s and 2010s films like Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Kinky Boots, Animal Kingdom, The Thing, Warrior, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Zero Dark Thirty and The Great Gatsby.
Germaine Greer
Author
Germaine Greer is an Australian academic and journalist, and was a major feminist voice of the mid-20th century. Greer's ideas have created controversy ever since her book The Female Eunuch became an international best-seller in 1970, turning her into a household name and bringing her both adulation and opposition. She is also the author of many other books including Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility; The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause; Shakespeare's Wife; and The Whole Woman. Greer has defined her goal as "women's liberation" as distinct from "equality with men". She asserts that women's liberation meant embracing gender differences in a positive fashion – a struggle for the freedom of women to define their own values, order their own priorities and determine their own fates. In contrast, Greer sees equality as mere assimilation and "settling" to live the lives of "unfree men". Greer's various views, not just related to feminism, have attracted much controversy throughout her career.
Radha Mitchell
Actor
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell, widely known as Radha Mitchell, is an Australian actress. She rose to prominence appearing in such films as Pitch Black, Finding Neverland, Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and The Crazies.
Robert Menzies
Politician
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, KT AK CH FAA FRS QC, was an Australian politician and the 12th Prime Minister of Australia. Serving a collective total of over 18 years, he is Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister.
Malcolm Turnbull
Politician
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Wentworth since 2004. He was the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party from 2008 to 2009, and has been the Minister for Communications since 18 September 2013. Turnbull was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He then attended Brasenose College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law. Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist, lawyer, investment banker, and venture capitalist. In 1993, he became the Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, a position he held until 2000. In September 2008, Turnbull was elected Leader of the Liberal Party, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. In November 2009, he ordered the Liberal Party to support the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposed by the Labor Government. This decision split the Liberal Party, and following a leadership challenge by Tony Abbott on 1 December, Turnbull lost the leadership by one vote.
Paul Keating
Politician
Paul John Keating is a former Australian politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Labor Party from 1991 to 1996. Keating was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1969 as the MP for Blaxland, New South Wales. He was later appointed Treasurer of Australia in the Hawke Government, which came to power in 1983. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and made Deputy Prime Minister in 1990, before successfully challenging Hawke for the Labor leadership in late 1991. He was subsequently appointed Prime Minister, and went on to lead Labor to a record fifth consecutive victory in 1993, defeating the Liberal-National Coalition led by John Hewson. The victory was achieved in spite of consistently poor opinion polling for Labor, and the effects of the early 1990s recession. After defeat by John Howard in 1996, Keating resigned from Parliament on 23 April.
Abbie Cornish
Actor
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress known for her film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.
Poppy Montgomery
Actor
Poppy Montgomery is an Australian actress. She is known for playing FBI agent Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama Without a Trace from 2002 to 2009 and for her latest television role since 2011 as Det. Carrie Wells on the CBS police drama Unforgettable.
Eron Sheean
Film Director
Eron Sheean is a film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.
William Symons
Military Person
William John Symons VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was 26 years old, and a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 8–9 August 1915, at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, Turkey, Symons was in command of a section of newly captured trenches and repelled several counter-attacks with great coolness. An enemy attack on an isolated sap early in the morning resulted in six officers becoming casualties and part of the sap being lost, but Symons retook it, shooting two Turks. The sap was then attacked from three sides and this officer managed, in the face of heavy fire, to build a barricade. On the enemy setting fire to the head cover, he extinguished it and rebuilt the barricade. His coolness and determination finally compelled the enemy to withdraw. He later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel during World War II. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia.
Gil Darnell
Actor
Gil Darnell is an actor.
Peter Djigirr
Film Actor
Peter Djigirr is an actor and film director.
Bryce Rohde
Musical Artist
Bryce Benno Rohde is an Australian jazz pianist and composer. He was strongly influenced by George Russell's musical conceptions. Rohde was born in Hobart, Tasmania. He played jazz in Adelaide early in his career, then moved to Canada in 1953. In 1954 he and two other expatriates plus an American formed the Australian Jazz Quartet/Quintet . The group recorded several albums and toured widely in the United States, then broke up in 1958 following a tour of Australia itself. Rohde led his own quartets in Australia until 1964, and moved to California in 1965. Since then he based himself out of San Francisco, leading his own ensembles at times. Among those Australian musicians with whom he worked extensively are Bruce Cale and Charlie Munro.
Giorgos Pyrpassopoulos
Actor
Giorgos Pyrpassopoulos is an actor.
Allegra Giagu
Actor
Allegra Giagu appeared in the 2012 film Anna Karenina.