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Emily Browning on being picky about roles: ‘I’ve probably screwed myself over’
From reaching stardom at 16, then knocking back big auditions, the Melbourne-born actor has etched out a career without the trappings of fame.
When actor Emily Browning looks back on her eight-year-old self and ponders why she may have been the victim of bullying at school, she comes to this conclusion: “I was a bit like Lisa Simpson.”
Why would a likeness to the adorable animated icon make her a target? “I was one of those kids who was a nerd, but not a quiet nerd. An outspoken nerd,” she says.
“Because I was outspoken, people assumed I was full of myself.” The bullying was so relentless Browning eventually changed schools. It proved to be a fortuitous move.
Raised just outside Melbourne, she wound up at a progressive school where her confident personality (“a little baby-actress-pain-in-the-ass”, as she puts it) was rightfully seen as an asset, and she was encouraged to appear in plays.
It was a parent of one of her school friends who first spotted her precocious talent and suggested she audition for a TV drama. At the tender age of eight, Browning scored her first role in the television film The Echo of Thunder (1998). Next came parts in the ABC’s Something in the Air, Seven’s Blue Heelers, the 2002 horror flick Ghost Ship and the 2003 film Ned Kelly, alongside Heath Ledger.
Then in 2004, aged 16, Browning appeared as Violet Baudelaire in the film adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. What came next was instant stardom.
“It was really overwhelming,” Browning says, looking back at that whirlwind time. “I had a different management team then, and they were pushing for me to be on Nickelodeon and Disney. Thankfully, I had the foresight at that age to know what kind of career I didn’t want to have.”
Not only did Browning decide she didn’t want to be the next Selena Gomez, she questioned whether she wanted to pursue acting at all.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that was fun.’ But I had a sense that I was too sensitive to handle the industry. I was very aware of the fact that it was really emotionally taxing. So after that, I actually kind of quit acting for a while because I wanted to get back in Australia, finish high school, just be a regular kid.”
“I had a sense that I was too sensitive to handle the industry. I was very aware of the fact that it was really emotionally taxing.”
Although her parents had been supportive of her acting career, she thinks they were “quietly relieved” when she returned home. But the move required Browning to return to her suburban Melbourne high school, now as a Hollywood star. How did that go down with her fellow students?
“High school was interesting, because at that point people knew that I was on TV and in movies, so there were definitely a lot of people who were not particularly stoked about that,” she says. “But I also had a really great group of friends in high school who are my friends to this day. So it was not too bad.”
It’s the challenges of high school and female friendships that are at the core of her latest project, Class of ’07, an eight-part series launching on Amazon Prime Video this week. Created by Australian writer and director Kacie Anning, it’s a high-concept comedy which follows Zoe Miller (Browning) who accidentally crashes her 10-year high school reunion. As she throws herself into partying with her former school mates (and enemies), she chooses not to let them know about the apocalyptic wave just beyond the doors.
Emily Browning’s role in the Class of ’07 is the first time she’s tried her hand at comedy.
Described as “Lord of the Flies in cocktail dresses”, it’s a hilarious and insightful look into the complexities of female friendships and the lasting effects they have when made during those formative teenage years, themes that Browning can relate to personally.
“My female friendships have been so much more dramatic, and heartbreaking at times, than my romantic relationships,” she says. “I loved being able to explore that.
“I feel like it’s very common to see the drama of a romantic relationship, but to see just the drama of all these women and how they interact, to me it had a lot to say about female friendship – especially those relationships at school and how people grow up and how maybe they don’t change.”
For Browning, by the time she finished her real-life high school journey, she’d found herself drawn back into acting. “I was like, ‘You know what, that was really fun.’ I started acting again and it kind of just kept going from there.”
She went on to star in the 2011 films Sleeping Beauty and Sucker Punch. Then, from 2017 to 2021, she appeared in the TV series American Gods and had a recurring role in the Showtime drama The Affair (2018-19). As a result, she’s been based in LA for the past 10 years. As she puts it, “I sort of just ended up staying here. There wasn’t ever really a decision. It just kind of happened. And now I’ve built my whole life here.”
Browning’s second stint in Hollywood has also come with the same uneasiness about fame she felt when she was first there.Credit: Rebekah Campbell/Headpress
Browning lives with her partner, writer and director Eddie O’Keefe, whom she met on a film 10 years ago. “We were friends for a few years before we started seeing each other,” she says. “He’s from the Midwest. I’ve noticed that Midwesterners are the Americans who are the most similar to Australians. They’re very self-deprecating, kind of naturally friendly. There’s no pretence.”
It’s clear that finding a life in LA that reminds Browning of her Australian roots has been important. “I’ve found my people here and found parts of the city that have nothing to do with Hollywood, which feel a lot more like home. The neighbourhood I’m in right now reminds me of Melbourne. It’s a lot more chill. And there aren’t many actors around, which is really nice.”
“I knew very early on that I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t really want to be famous. I saw what it did to people.”
But Browning’s second stint in Hollywood has also come with the same uneasiness about fame she felt when she was first there. “I knew very early on that I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t really want to be famous. I saw what it did to people. I was like, ‘I’m the kind of person this could ruin.’ ”
So how has she managed to balance being a working actor with not being a celebrity? “It has been a lot to do with the projects I’ve chosen not to do,” says Browning, who famously turned down the chance to audition for arguably one of the biggest roles of the mid-noughties: Bella Swan in Twilight. “Maybe my pickiness has been, in some ways, really helpful for my career.
“I’ve probably screwed myself over a few times. But again, it was this awareness of just being a little too sensitive. I needed downtime to work on myself and figure myself out.
“Working so much as a kid, I matured really quickly, but it also hindered the growing-up process. I feel like a late bloomer; I’m 34 now and I’ve only just started to feel like an adult. Child actors don’t have the best track record for being adults!
“I’m now at a point where I feel very comfortable in myself. I know how to protect myself and take care of myself. I’m at a place where I feel pretty good about my decisions. I’m more interested in longevity than having a breakout.”
Emily Browning (right) with her Class of ’07 co-star, Megan Smart.
Browning’s role in Class of ’07 is the first time she has tackled comedy. But within the first few minutes of the opening scene (involving a defecating dove and Browning’s open mouth), it’s obvious she has natural comedic talent.
“That was actually my audition scene, which was truly terrifying,” she says, laughing. “I remember saying to Kacie, before we did the scene, ‘So the bit at the end, where the bird, you know … you don’t want me to mime that, do you?’ And she was like, ‘Everyone I cast in this show, I need them to feel comfortable being a dickhead.’ ”
Even though she nailed the audition, Browning’s fears were only amplified when she arrived on set. “I was terrified, especially because all the other girls are so naturally funny. A lot of them have comedy backgrounds, but even the ones who don’t are just funny.”
Browning is clearly the most accomplished actor in the cast, but she found her experience a hindrance rather than an advantage. “Having done mostly dramatic stuff, I’ve always tried not to make a fool of myself. But Kacie again was like, ‘You have to be willing to make a fool of yourself.’ It felt like going to clown college.
“For the first couple of days, I was so bad at it. There was just this wall up where I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m so afraid of looking stupid.’ Then I realised that I should be trying to be stupid. It was really freeing and I would love to do more.”
And she’s clearly picked up a knack for comedy. When asked what she thinks happened to those girls who once bullied her at primary school, Browning responds, “I’m sure they grew up to be lovely women.”
Class of ’07 is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from March 17.
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