Mary Rose Byrne was born on July 24, 1979, in Balmain, Sydney, Australia. Her mother, Jane, worked as a school administrator, and her father, Robin Byrne, was a statistician and market researcher. She is of Irish and Scottish descent. Byrne attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School before studying at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and later at the University of Sydney.
Byrne began acting in Australian television and film in the early 1990s. Her early roles included appearances in the television series Dallas Downs (1993) and Echo Point (1995). She gained wider recognition in Australia for her role in the film Two Hands (1999), which earned her an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award nomination.
Byrne’s breakthrough role came with her performance in the Australian film The Goddess of 1967 (2000), for which she won the Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup for Best Actress. This led to more international roles, including her Hollywood debut in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002).
Byrne has starred in a variety of commercially and critically successful films, showcasing her versatility as an actress. Some of her most notable film roles include: