Ladies In Black actor Angourie Rice’s success before 18th birthday

She has just done her HSC and is planning her 18th birthday — but unlike most other girls her age, Angourie Rice is also celebrating a best lead actress gong at Australia’s premier awards for her performance in Bruce Beresford’s Ladies In Black.

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She has just done her HSC and is planning her 18th birthday — but unlike most other girls her age, Angourie Rice is also celebrating a best lead actress gong at Australia’s premier awards.

The teen won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts accolade over established stars including Abbey Lee Kershaw, Rooney Mara and Kate Mulvany, for her performance in Bruce Beresford’s Ladies In Black.

But now, it’s all about a quiet Christmas and her milestone birthday on New Year’s Day.

“I can’t wait to just see my dog and chill out … it’s my birthday, it’s Christmas, it’s New Year — all that fun stuff,” she tells BW Magazine.

Angourie Rice recently starred in Australian film Ladies In Black. Picture: Richard Dobson

“(For my 18th birthday) I’m going to have a dress-up party with my friend, we’re having it together.”

Despite her young age, Rice already has a career many aspiring actors would be envious of.

Born to a director father and playwright mother, Rice signed with her first agent at age six and has worked alongside Hollywood A-listers such as Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys and Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst in The Beguiled.

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But she is adamant that no one treats her differently because of her star status — and she never considered giving up her education.

“I feel so lucky that I get to have this amazing education,” she says with a maturity that seems far beyond her 17 years.

“It was definitely tough. There were a lot of tears, a lot of laughs and a lot of tests that I could have done a lot better on had I been at home.

“As my high school education has gone on my career has gotten more serious and intense … (but) all of my friends became friends with me before all of that. It’s really nice that I have friends who still hopefully really like me.

Angourie Rice (middle) with Julia Ormond (left) and Rachael Taylor (right) in Ladies In Black. Picture: Sony Pictures

“Thankfully I’ve never experienced people being really nasty to me about (my career).”

But being both a teenage girl and a female actor, there are certain pressures.

“I think all young girls struggle about appearance and body image and feeling comfortable in a social setting … but I think I feel a certain kind of pressure,” she says.

“Luckily I’m very close to my parents and my sister and they have helped me through everything and I owe it all to them.”

Her family and friends also help her keep her private and professional life separated — even when it’s hard.

“It feels very strange to keep two parts of my life completely separate but I think it’s good for me,” she says.

“What’s really important to me is friends, family and doing what I love so I feel very lucky.”

Like many students who have just finished their final high school exams, Rice too is deciding on her future. But while many her age take a gap year to travel before university, she hopes to be working.

“I would like to go to university, not in the next one to two years I think but I would like to go to university,” she says.

“I’d like to continue working if I can get work, but at the moment I’m so looking forward to hanging with my family and my dog.”

Rachael Taylor (right) as Fay and Angourie Rice as Lisa in a scene from Australian film Ladies In Black. Picture: Sony Pictures

The desire to keep doing what she loves is understandable for a girl who has the stage and screen in her blood.

Dad Jeremy has been a director and dialogue coach for both TV and the theatre and works with youth arts groups. Mum Kate is an award-winning playwright, who wrote Sweetest Things, and former actor.

Even younger sister Kalliope tried out acting, signing with the same agent.

“She (my agent) was like, ‘I’ll represent you and your sister and it’ll be so much fun’,” Rice says.

“My sister stopped because she didn’t like it. But I loved it and kept going.”

Rice is careful to not reveal too much about her future projects but she does share that they won’t all be acting: “My whole career, I have loved every second of it … now that I finished school I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I have to start all these projects, I have to make myself busy’ … so I think I need to chill for a second.”

* Ladies In Black will be released on 4k, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital home entertainment this Wednesday. To celebrate, selected costumes and props will be on display at Nutcote Cottage in Neutral Bay.

Originally published as Ladies In Black actor Angourie Rice’s success before 18th birthday