Biography

Anna beat out over 300 other hopefuls from the US and 40 from Australia for the role of Olivia Dunham in the FOX series Fringe (2008). Even prior to seeing her audition for Fringe, J.J. Abrams already knew she was the right person for the role when he saw her audition tape for an Australian show.

She graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a degree in Performing Arts (Acting) in 2001.

Grew up in Gold Coast, Queensland. Went to Sydney at 17.

Her paternal aunt is writer Anna Maria Torv Murdoch Mann (Anna Murdoch), who was married for 31 years to billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Doing Motion Capture for PlayStation 3 game Heavenly Sword at WETA Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. Plays 'Nariko' in the game.

I don't feel like I've hit my stride. So I wonder what the moment will be when I get to be who I want to be.

It doesn't necessarily matter what your answer is to the question: What is art? So long as you have one.

I didn't know much about video games. There are some awfully violent ones. But Heavenly Sword (2007) is different. I've had huge conversations with a friend who made it. I think what he wants to do is to make the player care. Yes, there's killing. But the character I play in "Heavenly Sword", "Nariko", is ultimately protecting her family and this runaway girl. It's a beautiful game. It's beyond a video game. The landscape is to protect and to care. My friend is working toward a world where you get an emotion out of the people who are playing it. See if you can make them cry if they couldn't save the people who they were trying to protect. This isn't "Pac-Man".

Sometimes there will be a line in the script and I just can't imagine saying it. I'll ask an American and they'll say, "Oh, yeah. That's how we say it." We just say things differently in Australia - like torch. I'd ask, "Can I have the torch?" It seems to fall flat when I say, "Can I have the flashlight?"

That sex scene in The Pacific (2010)? You don't get that on Fringe (2008), do you? I don't think anyone finds them easy. It's not that I'm embarrassed about my boobs. It's just that some part of you really doesn't want that out there. At the same time, you want to get good at it. In the moment, what you're really thinking is, Shit, I need a mint.