Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto is an Australian actress who played the role of Éowyn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She will reprise the role in the upcoming animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
Her career in Hollywood launched in 2000 with the movie What Lies Beneath, which starred Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.
==The Lord of the Rings==
Miranda Otto was given the part of Éowyn of Rohan, niece of King Théoden, in The Lord of the Rings after Alison Doody turned it down due to giving birth. Otto spent six months filming her scenes. She was required to learn horseback riding and sword fighting for the part. She made her first appearance in the second movie, The Two Towers, at Edoras, and would have the most screen time of female characters in the trilogy.
In some of the fight choreography, Otto took real blows at enemy stuntmen with her sword, because Peter Jackson thought the fake blows were not real enough. In The Return of the King's extended edition DVDs, one documentary notes how Otto earned the respect and admiration of the stunt actors for the intense effort in fight scenes.
In The Two Towers and The Return of the King, Otto did many scenes with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) which she describes as some of the most emotional. Her character in the movies has no committed love interests, but perhaps a strong admiration for Aragorn—however, in the theatrical release of the films, her character gives Faramir, played by David Wenham, a few suggestive glances at the end of The Return of the King, falling short of the kiss and romantic conversation their characters share in the books. David Wenham and Miranda Otto had previously played lovers in an Australian radio play; Wenham recalled one scene in which they could not complete a bathtub love-scene because neither actor could stop laughing.
In May 2020, Miranda Otto reunited with many of the chief cast of the films over Zoom, in Josh Gad's "One Zoom to Rule Them All".
===Documentary appearances===
Otto appears in the following features of the extended edition of the trilogy.
*Part Four: The Battle for Middle-earth Begins  >  Warriors of the Third Age
*Part Five: The War of the Ring  >  Designing and Building Middle-earth  >  Costume Design
*Part Six: The Passing of an Age  >  Cameras in Middle-earth
==Personal life==
Otto is the daughter of prolific Australian actor Barry Otto, and sister of actress Gracie Otto. She had been very passionate about ballet as a child, then in later years decided against studying a medical career to finally pursue acting. She graduated from Australian theatrical school NIDA.
She married Peter O'Brien in 2003, and they have one daughter, Darcey, with whom Otto was pregnant while filming War of the Worlds (2005).
== Trivia ==
*Otto appeared in the 1997 film True Love and Chaos, which also featured Hugo Weaving.
*She appeared in the 2010 film South Solitary, which also featured Marton Csokas.
*She appeared in the 2011-2020 TV series Homeland, which also featured Nazanin Boniadi.
*She appeared in the 2013 film The Turning alongside Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.
*She appeared in the 2014 film I, Frankenstein, which also featured Bruce Spence.
== External links ==
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==References==
Category:The Lord of the Rings films actors
Category:Australian actors
Category:Voice actors
Category:Voice actors in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
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