A graduate of the Victoria College with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Drama and Dance in 1990, Griffiths has worked widely in theatre for the Melbourne and Sydney theatre companies. In 1993 Griffiths co-starred in the original "Feds" telefeature with Sigrid Thornton, and the ABC television series "Secrets" in the leading role of Sarah Foster, before making "Muriel's Wedding". In 1995 Griffiths filmed supporting roles in Mark Joffe's "Cosi", Peter Duncan's AFI nominated "Children of the Revolution", Michael Winterbottom's "Jude" with Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet in the UK, and the leading role in John Hillcoat's "To Have and to Hold".
Griffiths won the Australian Film Critics Circle Award in 1995. Griffiths was reunited with P.J Hogan on "My Best Friend's Wedding", her first American feature, starring Julia Roberts. Griffiths returned to the UK to work on "My Son The Fanatic".
Since completing work on AMY, Griffiths worked with Pete Postlethwaite on Marc Evans' feature "Among Giants". Griffiths followed this with David McCaffrey's "Divorcing Jack", a film based on the popular novel of the same name, shot in Ireland with David Thewlis. In 1998 Griffiths worked on "Hilary and Jackie", the biographical feature on the life of the cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, played by Emily Watson, with Griffiths playing her sister. It was for this role that Rachel Griffiths was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.
Rachel played Shelly in "Never Better" and played Annie Mary in "Pavarotti in Dad's Room". She completed "Blow" for director Ted Demme, co-starring with Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and Ray Liotta. She was also seen starring as Brenda Chenowith in "Six Feet Under" (2001-05), an HBO series directed by "American Beauty"'s screenwriter Alan Ball, and as Sarah Whedon in "Brothers & Sisters" (2006-08, TV series). Griffiths played the libidinous Inez Scull in the 2008 TV mini-series "Comanche Moon".
As a writer and director, her credits include "Tulip" (1998) and "Roundabout" (2002). She married artist Andrew Taylor on New Year's Eve, 2002. Their son, Banjo Patrick Taylor, was born in 2003.
Credits:
- 2006: Step Up
2003: Ned Kelly
2002: The Hard Word, The Rookie
2001: Blow, Blow Dry
1999: Me Myself I
1998: Hilary and Jackie, Amy, Divorcing Jack, Among Giants
1997: My Son the Fanatic, My Best Friend's Wedding, Welcome to Woop Woop
1996: To Have and to Hold, Jude, Children of the Revolution, Cosi
1995: Small Treasures
1994: Muriel's Wedding
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 1998: HILARY AND JACKIE- 1 nomination