iVillage Entertainment

Over the last decade or so, Hollywood has seen an Australian invasion numerous gorgeous, talented women from Oz like Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Watts. These Aussie imports arrived in La La Land, succeeded on the big screen and shot to superstardom. But Frances O'Connor, who starred in big budget flicks like Timeline and AI: Artificial Intelligence and was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe for her role in PBS's Madame Bovary, has managed to fly under the radar. And that's just the way she likes it.

Born in England, O'Connor moved to Perth, Australia, at the age of two with her nuclear physicist father and pianist mother. She had a strict Roman Catholic upbringing and attended convent school before graduating from Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts and landing a part in the Aussie TV show Halifax: f.p. In 1996, O'Connor made her movie debut in Love and Other Catastrophes and went on to costar with Blanchett in Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997) and then-newcomer Kate Hudson in About Adam (2000). Hollywood finally took notice when she was selected by director Steven Spielberg to play a lead role in AI opposite Jude Law.

O'Connor is known to be press-shy and keep mum about her personal life (she's rumored to be living with a Scottish beau in London), but she opens up about her newest project: playing a courageous suffragist activist, Lucy Burns, in the HBO film Iron Jawed Angels. "She's a red-headed Brooklyn gal," explains O'Connor, "smart, well-educated and likes an adventure."

The adventure begins in 1912 Philadelphia when Lucy and her fellow women's movement friend Alice Paul, played by Hilary Swank, decide to band together to win women the right to vote. Selflessly, these women put their lives at risk to lead the suffrage movement.

"It's a heroes' story in a lot of ways about these two rebels and how they changed things," explains O'Connor. "The most inspiring thing is the conviction of these women at all costs they keep fighting for what they believe. I think we're all taught to go for what we want in life, but there always comes a point where suddenly it seems hard. A lot of us probably myself included back off because it just seems insurmountable. But these women keep going, and they suffered incredibly because of it. It's one of the great untold American stories."

Although this is a period piece, O'Connor jokes that there are some advantages to playing women who were ahead of their time. "The great thing is that [we didn't have to wear] corsets," says O'Connor. "Lucy and Alice were modern girls. [But] Angelica [Huston, who plays Carrie Chapman Catt] had to wear one, so she's a little more cranky than we are," she laughs.

O'Connor hopes that this story of strong, successful women, represented by strong, successful women like Swank, Huston, Julia Ormond and Molly Parker appeals to women today because, to a lesser degree, women still struggle with equality issues. "There's still so many double standards in the workplace for men and women like equal pay that are being skated over. [Today's] women are so busy getting on with things that they don't actually take the time to think, This is what we need to do."

Instead, O'Connor feels women have become too consumed with less important, superficial things. "As soon as contraception came through and there were equal rights for women and women got in the workplace, then the emphasis changed to how women look," O'Connor continues. "That's become a preoccupation for a lot of women and it fills a lot of mind space that, perhaps, we're not using for other things like focusing on what we want because we're always thinking, I am not good enough."

So O'Connor hopes Lucy will be a good role model for audiences, which, she thinks, is hard to come by in Hollywood today. "Often you get a role and it's the romantic lead and your job is to be attractive," she muses. "But here we're all attractive, we've got major objectives and we're just going for it. So it was really quite fun."

A new movie, a career on the rise it seems like a shy girl from Oz is also following Lucy's lead and is just going for it!