Australian Movie Stars' Reunion Quiz

Answer: Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett was born in Melbourne in 1969; Mel Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York State in 1956; Nicole Kidman was born in Hawaii in 1967; and Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1964.
Blanchett's father was an American who met his wife when in Melbourne with the US Navy.
Gibson received an honorary Order of Australia as he was ineligible to receive a "full" award as he only has American and Irish citizenship.
Kidman was born to two Australian parents who were in Hawaii on educational scholarships at the time.
Russell Crowe has lived most of his life in Australia but has not been granted Australian citizenship. There was speculation that he applied in 2001 and 2005 but was refused both times.

Answer: Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gibson was born to an American father and an Irish mother (His maternal grandmother was Australian). Both Gibson's Christian names are in honour of Irish Saints. St Mel was an Irish fifth century saint. Colm-Cille was a sixth century Irish man who later became a saint. The Anglicised form of the name is St Columba.

Answer: Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman won a Tony for "The Boy From Oz", a tribute to another great Australian troubadour, Peter Allen. Jackman was also nominated for an Best Actor Oscar in "Les Miserables" (2013). {He won a Golden Globe for the same role]. Despite this recognition, Jackman is best known for his role as Wolverine in the "X-Men" movie franchise and for his role in "Van Helsing" (2004).

He has hosted the Tony Awards several times and hosted the Academy Awards in 2009.

Answer: Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, born in Perth in 1979, earned his international breakthrough in two movies in 1999: the American teen drama "Ten Things I Hate About You" and the Australian crime drama "Two Hands". He went on to star in "The Patriot" (2000) with Mel Gibson, "Monster's Ball" (2001) with Billy Bob Thornton, "The Four Feathers" (2002) and "The Lords of Dogtown" (2005).

He received critical acclaim for his role in "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005 in which he was nominated for an Oscar. He went one better in 2007 when he stole the show from Christian Bale by playing The Joker in "The Dark Knight".

He died unexpectedly from prescription drug intoxication in January 2008 before he could accept his Oscar for best supporting actor. He left behind a daughter, Matilda Rose (born 2005) with whom he shared with his partner Michelle Williams.

They ended their relationship not long before Ledger's death.

Answer: Peter Finch

Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was born in London in 1916. His parents were Alicia and George Finch, the latter born in Orange NSW. However, George was not Peter's biological father and his parents divorced when this piece of information came to light. George sought and was granted custody of his son. Aged ten, Peter was sent to Sydney to live with his uncle.

In Sydney he finished his schooling and went to work as a copyboy for one of Sydney's newspapers. In 1933 he joined a repertory company, made his debut in a short film in 1935, and his feature length debut in 1937 in a role in "Dad and Dave Go to Town".

He served in the Australian Army in 1941 in the Middle East and North Africa and returned to the footlights in Australia after the war.

He left Australia for London in 1948 at the invitation of Laurence Olivier. He built a solid reputation in the British film industry, winning an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (1971). His Oscar win as Best Actor in "Network" (1976) was thoroughly deserved but, like Ledger, he died (of a heart attack in the Beverley Hills Hotel, aged 60) before he could accept his award. Finch was married three times and had four children.

Answer: Simon Baker

"LA Confidential" (1997) was a 1950s film-noir about corruption in the LAPD. It was a critically acclaimed blockbuster and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning two (This was also the year "Titanic" (1997) was nominated). All the actors listed played in the movie with Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger (Lynn Bracken) and Danny Devito being the bankable stars. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were relatively unknown at the time of this movie but this movie opened doors for them. Perhaps the career highlight for Pearce was "Memento" (2000), a critically acclaimed thriller where most of the story is told backwards as the protagonist had lost his memory. Crowe went on to garner three Oscar nominations for best actor in three years, winning one in 2000 for "Gladiator". Simon Baker, the blonde headed one, best known for playing the lead in "The Mentalist" (commenced 2008) had a small but pivotal role in "LA Confidential".

It was only his second feature film road, but like Crowe and Pearce, the role opened doors for him.

Answer: Muriel's Wedding (1996)

Toni Collette was acting proficiently long before she hit the boards. At eleven, she faked appendicitis so convincingly, surgeons removed it before the scam came to light. She was born in Sydney in 1972 and the Australian public sat up and took notice when she starred in the title role of "Muriel's Wedding" (1994). Roles and accolades followed, including an Academy Award nomination for her role in "The Sixth Sense" (1999).

She has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe with "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006) and the TV Series the "United States of Tara" (2008-2011).

She has won numerous Australian Film Industry Awards for Best Actress but perhaps her most acclaimed role, where she won an AFI Award, has been as the lead in the "Japanese Story" (2006), a Cannes Film Festival nominee that nevertheless was seen by very few outside of Australia.

Answer: The Matrix

Hugo Weaving is an Australian actor who was born in Nigeria in 1960. He lived in Nigeria, England, Australia (Melbourne), South Africa, and England before returning to Australia where he finished his schooling in Sydney and subsequently graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1981.

Whilst he was well known in Australia, with such hits as the TV series as "Bodyline" (1984), (his first major role); "The Bangkok Hilton" (1989); and the movie, "Proof" (1991), he first received international attention for "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994).

His recognition has a star was guaranteed with "The Matrix" (1999-2003) series of movies (without Cate Blanchett) and the "Fellowship of the Rings" movie series (2001-2003).

Answer: Avatar

Samuel "Sam" Henry John Worthington was born in England in 1976 but moved with his family and settled in Perth, Western Australia when he was six months old. His father gave him a little money when he left school to go to Cairns on the opposing side of the country and told him to "work his way home".

He got as far as Sydney where, whilst working as a bricklayer, he was accepted into NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). He found roles in low budget Australian films from 2000-2004 but the public took notice when he won an Australian Film Award for Best Actor with the lead in "Somersault" (2004).

This brought international recognition as well, perhaps being exemplified by his audition for the role of James Bond which eventually went to Daniel Craig.

In 2009 he completed two blockbusters as lead: "Avatar" and "Terminator Salvation". Other notable roles followed in movies such as "Man On A Ledge" (2012) and as Alex Mason, the "lead actor" in the "Call of Duty - Blacks Ops" series of video games (2010-2012). Worthington married Australian model Lara Bingle in 2014.

Answer: Paul Hogan

Paul Hogan made a comedy career out of being the typical Australian stereotype. However it wasn't an act - the character was the person. Hogan was born in the quintessential Australian town of Lightning Ridge in 1940. He was a rigger (not a painter) on the Sydney Harbour Bridge when he realised he had a penchant for making people laugh.

In 1971, he appeared on "A Current Affair", a national public affairs program and "New Faces" a TV talent show. From there Hogan was given his own TV comedy show, "The Paul Hogan Show" which ran for 60 episodes from 1973. Starring in television cigarette commercials in the 70s (before they were banned) and promoting Australian tourism also increased his popularity.

However when he wrote and starred in "Crocodile Dundee" (1985), his international arrival as a mega-star arrived.

He followed with a sequel two years later. His popularity dipped a little when he left his wife Noeline for his "Crocodile Dundee" co-star, Linda Kozlowski, but not for long. He received the Australian of the Year award in 1985 and won an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for his contribution to entertainment and Australian tourism.