Jocelyn Moorhouse c. 1991
Collection: Documentation Collection, ScreenSound Australia

Jocelyn Moorhouse (b.1960) wanted to be a novelist or playwright before shifting her aspirations to film-making. While attending the Australian Film and Television School she made her first short film, Pavane (1982), which demonstrated her flair for black comedy. In the mid-eighties she conceived a short film that would ultimately evolve into the feature Proof (1991), which won six AFIs and a special jury mention at Cannes. In 1994 she co-produced Muriel’s Wedding, directed by her husband P. J. Hogan, whom she had met at film school. In 1995 she was in Hollywood to direct How to Make an American Quilt. She co-wrote Hogan’s Unconditional Love (2000) before directing her second Hollywood feature A Thousand Acres (2001). She recently served as Executive Producer of Hogan’s Peter Pan (2003).

Australians in Hollywood
National Portrait Gallery
Commonwealth Place
14 November 2003 – 12 April 2004

Australians in Hollywood celebrates the achievements of Australian artists in the high turn over, high competition American film industry. From our pioneers of the silent era (Louise Lovely and Annette Kellerman) to the Oscar-winning stars of the so-called “Australian invasion” today, this exhibition showcases over 80 Australian actors and technicians who’ve cut it in Hollywood.

When Nicole Kidman accepted her Oscar earlier this year, she joined Russell Crowe, Geoffrey Rush and Mel Gibson among fellow Australian Oscar winners. She also became the latest in a long line that stretches back to cameraman Damien Parer collecting Australia’s first Oscar in 1942 for his wartime documentary Kokoda Front Line.  In the years since, Australians have won Academy Awards for acting, direction, costume design, music, animation, special effects and other important technical achievements. 

Australians in Hollywood features the current crop of stars including Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Rachel Griffiths and Geoffrey Rush, as well as those behind-the-camera: Bruce Beresford, Gillian Armstrong, George Miller and Peter Weir, telling the often fascinating stories behind their success on the international stage.

The exhibition also reaches back into cinema’s classic past looking at the swashbuckling Tasmanian, the Australian James Bond, the notorious swimmer and the glamorous faux Australian.

Australians in Hollywood is curated by the National Portrait Gallery and is proudly sponsored by ActewAGL.