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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Toni Collette

1999 (printed 2022)
Polly Borland

from the series ‘Australians’
type C photograph on paper, edition 1/10 (image: 39.4 cm x 49.8 cm, sheet: 54.5 cm x 65.0 cm)
Image not available (NC)

Toni Collette (b. 1972), actor, producer, singer and songwriter, spent much of her childhood in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown and left school at 16 to join the Australian Theatre for Young People. She started studying at NIDA in 1991, but left after eighteen months for a role in a Sydney Theatre Company production of Uncle Vanya in 1992. That year, having performed in further productions for the STC and Belvoir Street, she made her feature film debut in Spotswood. She got her breakthrough film role playing the lead in Muriel's Wedding (1994), for which she won a Best Actress AACTA and a Golden Globe nomination. She won further AACTAs for her performances in Lilian's Story (1996), The Boys (1998) and Japanese Story (2003). At the same time she'd made her first international film forays in Emma (1996) and Clockwatchers (1997), cementing these successes with projects including The Sixth Sense (1999), The Hours (2002), About a Boy (2002), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Enough Said (2013) and The Way, Way Back (2013). In addition, she established a reputation as a Broadway performer, and played the lead in the television series United States of Tara, for which she won Emmy and Golden Globe Best Actress awards in 2009. Her numerous subsequent credits include the films Jasper Jones (2017) and Nightmare Alley (2021) and the Netflix series Unbelievable (2019).

Purchased 2022

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Polly Borland (age 40 in 1999)

Toni Collette (age 27 in 1999)

Subject professions

Performing arts

© National Portrait Gallery 2023
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency