Pia Miranda
Encyclopedia
Pia Miranda is an Australian, multi-award-winning actress whose career was launched with her successful 1999 role in the feature film Looking for Alibrandi
, an Australian film based on the novel by Melina Marchetta
.
in Melbourne, Victoria, studying Drama, majoring in acting.
After the completion of her Degree in Drama, Miranda began a Bachelor of Arts degree at Victoria University, Australia
, majoring in theatre, chosen because of its strong content in the subject. Soon after this, Miranda found herself playing Karen Oldman on the Australian soap Neighbours
, from 1998 to 1999. At this time, Miranda was also starring in the ABC
television series Bondi Banquet, playing Jo Tognetti. This was the starting point for Miranda's future success within the Australian film and television industry, quickly being chosen for the role of Josephine Alibrandi in the hugely successful Australian movie Looking for Alibrandi
, directed by Kate Woods
in 1999.
The movie was based on the very popular novel written by Melina Marchetta
in 1992, where seventeen-year-old Josephine Alibrandi deals with the stresses of Year Twelve
, her illegitimacy, the reunion with her father, new-found companionship, the death of her close friend and life as a third-generation migrant in contemporary Australian society. Pia Miranda co-starred with fellow prominent Australian actors Kick Gurry
, Anthony LaPaglia
, Greta Scacchi
, Elana Cotta and Matthew Newton
. The movie received critical acclaim, with Pia Miranda receiving the Australian Film Institute
award in 2000 for Best Actress for her performance.
In 2002, Pia Miranda played a small role in the US movie, Queen of the Damned
, although her scene was cut from the film as it appeared on the DVD. Also in 2002, Pia Miranda starred in The Doppelgangers. The movie was part of a project where eight award-winning Australian filmmakers were given a short film script by celebrated writer Brendan Cowell. Filmmakers had to name their own film and characters and adhere to a set of rules, such as shooting on digital cameras and making no dialogue changes. The project had limited success.
Following The Doppelgangers, Pia Miranda starred in another Australian film Garage Days
, playing Tanya. The coming-of-age comedy revolved around a young Sydney band trying to gain a foothold in the competitive pub rock
scene. The movie was well received within Australia and is available on DVD. In 2003, Pia Miranda played the role of Leanne Ferris in Travelling Light, about two sisters growing up in Adelaide
in the early 1970s. Following this, Pia also starred in Right Here Right Now in 2004, her most recent acting role.
Though Pia Miranda is best known as a film actress, she has also featured in some of Australia's leading television series. She was a recurring guest star on the long-running drama All Saints
in 1998, and the popular Australian drama The Secret Life of Us
, playing Talia. Miranda has also been featured in The Glass House
, Grass Roots and the Australian talk show The Panel.
She has also worked as a celebrity artist for A Midwinter Night’s Dream, a ticketed charity auction of art with pillow cases as the medium and inspired by the childhood dreams of artists and celebrities, to raise money for War Child Australia
. Pia was also a judge for the 2005 Project Greenlight
competition, with fellow actors such as Sam Worthington
. Pia's sister, Nicole Miranda, starred in the Australian film Moving Out with Vince Collosimo.
Is also the main character in the film clip, Teenager of the Year – Lo-Tel.
, at the Elvis Presley chapel in Las Vegas. She and her husband welcomed a daughter (Lily) in March 2010.
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a 1999 Australian film written by Melina Marchetta based on the novel of the same name. The film sets in the 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and starring Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character, Anthony LaPaglia as her...
, an Australian film based on the novel by Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. She is the middle child of three daughters. Melina is best known as the author of Looking For Alibrandi. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004.- Biography :Melina Marchettaborn in Sydney on 25...
.
Film and television career
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Pia Miranda is of Italian descent and spent the majority of her early life travelling throughout Australia with her family, attending a large number of schools. After completing her high school certificate, Miranda enrolled at La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
in Melbourne, Victoria, studying Drama, majoring in acting.
After the completion of her Degree in Drama, Miranda began a Bachelor of Arts degree at Victoria University, Australia
Victoria University, Australia
Victoria University is a multi-sector tertiary institution based in Melbourne, Australia with 10 campuses.VU offers qualifications in higher education, vocational education , and short courses...
, majoring in theatre, chosen because of its strong content in the subject. Soon after this, Miranda found herself playing Karen Oldman on the Australian soap Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, from 1998 to 1999. At this time, Miranda was also starring in the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
television series Bondi Banquet, playing Jo Tognetti. This was the starting point for Miranda's future success within the Australian film and television industry, quickly being chosen for the role of Josephine Alibrandi in the hugely successful Australian movie Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a 1999 Australian film written by Melina Marchetta based on the novel of the same name. The film sets in the 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and starring Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character, Anthony LaPaglia as her...
, directed by Kate Woods
Kate Woods
Kate Woods is an Australian film and television director.She has worked on the series G.P., Phoenix, Police Rescue, Changi, Escape from Jupiter Heartland to the American series Crossing Jordan, Without a Trace, Bones, NCIS: Los Angeles, Private Practice and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.Woods...
in 1999.
The movie was based on the very popular novel written by Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. She is the middle child of three daughters. Melina is best known as the author of Looking For Alibrandi. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004.- Biography :Melina Marchettaborn in Sydney on 25...
in 1992, where seventeen-year-old Josephine Alibrandi deals with the stresses of Year Twelve
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
, her illegitimacy, the reunion with her father, new-found companionship, the death of her close friend and life as a third-generation migrant in contemporary Australian society. Pia Miranda co-starred with fellow prominent Australian actors Kick Gurry
Kick Gurry
Christopher "Kick" Gurry an Australian actor born in Melbourne, Australia.-Early life:Gurry got his nickname when his brother could not say Christopher so he said Kicker...
, Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...
, Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
, Elana Cotta and Matthew Newton
Matthew Newton
Matthew Newton is an Australian stage and screen actor. Born in Melbourne, he is the son of television personalities, Bert and Patti Newton, brother of Lauren Newton, brother-in-law of Matt Welsh and uncle to Sam Albert and Eva Eunice Newton Welsh.-Acting:Newton has performed in Australia and...
. The movie received critical acclaim, with Pia Miranda receiving the Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
award in 2000 for Best Actress for her performance.
In 2002, Pia Miranda played a small role in the US movie, Queen of the Damned
Queen of the Damned (film)
Queen of the Damned is a 2002 film adaptation of the third novel of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, The Queen of the Damned, although the film contains many plot elements from the latter novel's predecessor, The Vampire Lestat. It stars Aaliyah as the vampire queen Akasha, and Stuart...
, although her scene was cut from the film as it appeared on the DVD. Also in 2002, Pia Miranda starred in The Doppelgangers. The movie was part of a project where eight award-winning Australian filmmakers were given a short film script by celebrated writer Brendan Cowell. Filmmakers had to name their own film and characters and adhere to a set of rules, such as shooting on digital cameras and making no dialogue changes. The project had limited success.
Following The Doppelgangers, Pia Miranda starred in another Australian film Garage Days
Garage Days
Garage Days is a 2002 Australian film directed by Alex Proyas and written by Proyas, Dave Warner and Michael Udesky. The Garage Days soundtrack includes the song "Garage Days" featuring Katie Noonan, David McCormack and Andrew Lancaster.-Plot:...
, playing Tanya. The coming-of-age comedy revolved around a young Sydney band trying to gain a foothold in the competitive pub rock
Pub rock (Australia)
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and still influencing contemporary Australian music today....
scene. The movie was well received within Australia and is available on DVD. In 2003, Pia Miranda played the role of Leanne Ferris in Travelling Light, about two sisters growing up in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in the early 1970s. Following this, Pia also starred in Right Here Right Now in 2004, her most recent acting role.
Though Pia Miranda is best known as a film actress, she has also featured in some of Australia's leading television series. She was a recurring guest star on the long-running drama All Saints
All Saints (TV series)
All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009...
in 1998, and the popular Australian drama The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
, playing Talia. Miranda has also been featured in The Glass House
The Glass House
The Glass House may refer to:*The Glass House , a 2001 film starring Leelee Sobieski and Diane Lane*The Good Mother , a sequel also known as Glass House: The Good Mother*The Glass House , an Australian TV series...
, Grass Roots and the Australian talk show The Panel.
She has also worked as a celebrity artist for A Midwinter Night’s Dream, a ticketed charity auction of art with pillow cases as the medium and inspired by the childhood dreams of artists and celebrities, to raise money for War Child Australia
War Child (charity)
War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...
. Pia was also a judge for the 2005 Project Greenlight
Project Greenlight
Project Greenlight was a contest and television series focusing on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. It was created by Alex Keledjian, developed by Eli Holzman and produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sean Bailey, and Chris Moore through their production...
competition, with fellow actors such as Sam Worthington
Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry J. "Sam" Worthington is an English born, Australian actor. After almost a decade of roles in Australian TV shows and films, Worthington gained Hollywood's attention by playing Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation and the lead role, Jake Sully, in James Cameron's science...
. Pia's sister, Nicole Miranda, starred in the Australian film Moving Out with Vince Collosimo.
Is also the main character in the film clip, Teenager of the Year – Lo-Tel.
Personal life
In March 2001, Miranda married long-time partner Luke Hannigan, lead singer of the Australian band Lo-TelLo-Tel
Lo-Tel was a pop rock band based in Sydney, Australia. They received commercial success and are best known for their single "Teenager of the Year" in 2000...
, at the Elvis Presley chapel in Las Vegas. She and her husband welcomed a daughter (Lily) in March 2010.
Actress
- Three Blind MiceThree Blind Mice (film)Three Blind Mice is a 2008 feature film written, directed by and starring Matthew Newton. It is the second film directed by Matthew Newton and premiered at Sydney Film Festival in 2008. To date it has screened at over fourteen international and Australian festivals...
(2008) - The Tender HookThe Tender HookThe Tender Hook is a 2008 Australian film noir starring Hugo Weaving, Rose Byrne and Matthew Le Nevez.The film tells the story of a love triangle set in a stylised version of Sydney’s criminal/boxing underworld in the 1920s. The story is about Iris’ rise to the apex of a love/power triangle that...
(2008) .... Daisy - The Secret Life of UsThe Secret Life of UsThe Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
- "The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Part 2" (2004) TV Episode .... Talia
- "The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Part 1" (2004) TV Episode .... Talia
- "Let the Burning Begin" (2003) TV Episode .... Talia
- "Outside the Loop" (2003) TV Episode .... Talia
- "Only the Brave, or the Dumb" (2003) TV Episode .... Talia (2 more)
- Right Here Right NowRight Here Right NowRight Here, Right Now or Right Here Right Now may refer to:*"Right Here, Right Now" , a 1991 song by Jesus Jones*"Right Here, Right Now" , a 1999 song by Fatboy Slim...
(2004) .... Mads - Travelling Light (2003) .... Leanne Ferris
- Grass Roots
- "Youth" (2003) TV Episode .... Ruth Levine
- The Doppelgangers (2002) .... Cornell (Kite)
- Garage DaysGarage DaysGarage Days is a 2002 Australian film directed by Alex Proyas and written by Proyas, Dave Warner and Michael Udesky. The Garage Days soundtrack includes the song "Garage Days" featuring Katie Noonan, David McCormack and Andrew Lancaster.-Plot:...
(2002) .... Tanya - Queen of the Damned (2002) .... Jesse's Roommate ... aka Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned (USA: complete title)
- All SaintsAll Saints (TV series)All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009...
- "Duty Bound" (2000) TV Episode .... Brittany Finlay
- "Bosom of the Family" (2000) TV Episode .... Brittany Finlay
- "Another Place, Another Time" (2000) TV Episode .... Brittany Finlay
- "The Cost of Living" (2000) TV Episode .... Brittany Finlay
- "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" (2000) TV Episode .... Brittany Finlay
- Looking for AlibrandiLooking for AlibrandiLooking for Alibrandi is a 1999 Australian film written by Melina Marchetta based on the novel of the same name. The film sets in the 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and starring Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character, Anthony LaPaglia as her...
(1999) .... Josie Alibrandi - Bondi Banquet (1999) TV Series .... Jo Tognetti
- NeighboursNeighboursNeighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
(1985) TV Series .... Karen Oldman (1998–1999)
Herself
- The Glass HouseThe Glass HouseThe Glass House may refer to:*The Glass House , a 2001 film starring Leelee Sobieski and Diane Lane*The Good Mother , a sequel also known as Glass House: The Good Mother*The Glass House , an Australian TV series...
- Episode #2.32 (2002) TV Episode .... Herself
- The Panel
- Episode #3.35 (2000) TV Episode .... Herself
- Episode #3.10 (2000) TV Episode .... Herself
- The Big Schmooze
- Episode #1.1 (2000) TV Episode .... Herself
- The Chaser's War on EverythingThe Chaser's War on EverythingThe Chaser's War on Everything is an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television station ABC1. It has won an AFI Award. The cast perform sketches mocking social and political issues, and often feature comedic publicity stunts...
- Episode #1.9 (2006) TV Episode .... Herself
- Good News WeekGood News WeekGood News Week is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that initially aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and resumed on 11 February 2008 to 9 May 2011. The show aired first on ABC TV before it was bought by Network Ten in 1999...
- Episode #1.6 (2008) TV Episode .... Herself