Abbie Cornish has more than a sucker punch in store for moviegoers—she’s delivering a knockout blow with a string of attention-getting roles. After charming critics in indie fare like Bright Star, the 28-year-old actress from Down Under is poised to conquer Hollywood, and for compelling reasons: She’s beautiful, she’s talented—and she knows how to handle a high-powered weapon.
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On when she knew she’d found her calling: “The very first time I had an acting gig, which was on the Australian soap opera Children’s Hospital. Toward the end of the first day, I was having the best time being in an environment full of people working on this one thing and having the opportunity to dress up and be a part of something. I was amazed at what it was like to step through the television onto the other side and look at the inner workings of it. I was only 15, and I remember calling my mum and telling her how much I loved it. I said, “Do you think I can keep doing this?” And she said, “If you want to do it.” The second moment was when I did Somersault, my first lead role in a feature film. The experience of making that movie from start to end—I’d never experienced anything like it.”
On the pleasures of splitting her time between LA and her native Australia:
"Los Angeles has become a second home to me. I feel comfortable here. There’s so much to do in the city, and I love the outdoors—hiking, surfing, running along the beach. I really do love LA for what it is—regardless of the industry—as a place. I grew up on a farm, and when I go home to Australia, my mum lives by the ocean and my dad still lives on the farm, so I’ve got the best of both worlds. It’s such a relaxing place. I go back home, and my skin and my hair change color, and my mood changes.”
On finding both her inner and outer badass on the set of the upcoming action-fantasy thriller Sucker Punch, out this month:
“We trained in mixed martial arts, with guns and swords. We all were given a particular fighting style for our character, and we were really strong and bold and aggressive. I had an M4 and a shotgun, and a broadsword. I absolutely loved it all. The guns surprised all of us girls. I don’t think we thought we were going to love the guns as much as we did. They had this massive gun called a SAW [squad automatic weapon], and all of the girls had to have a go on that. The bullets fire out so fast and hard, it makes you scream as you shoot! It’s like therapy. We used to call it the therapy gun.”
