Biography

Rebel Wilson

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Overview

Born
March 2 · Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birth name
Melanie Elizabeth Bownds
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Biography

Rebel's career started on the Sydney stages in the early 2000's where she often wrote and produced her own work. This led to various television shows in Australia where she quickly became the most prominent female voice in Australian comedy. In 2008, Rebel wrote, produced and starred in her own musical television series Bogan Pride for SBS. In 2010 Rebel moved to the US with her role in the cult classic Bridesmaids. Rebel is perhaps most known internationally for playing the role of 'Fat Amy' in the Pitch Perfect trilogy, which are the highest-grossing musical comedy films of all time. Rebel's other feature credits include the Academy Award-winning Jojo Rabbit, Isn't It Romantic, How To Be Single, and The Hustle. In 2022 she starred in the hit cheer leading comedy Senior Year on Netflix which was watched by over 89 million unique Netflix accounts in its first ten days of release internationally. This year Rebel's memoir Rebel Rising instantly became a New York Times (US), Sunday Times (UK) and Australian best-seller. Rebel is an alumni and now patron of The Australian Theatre for Young People whose home base in Sydney is called 'The Rebel Theatre', named after her. The inaugural production in this theatre was a workshop production of The Deb which originated out of Wilson's annual scholarship program that aims to mentor emerging young Australian talent. Rebel has now turned The Deb into a feature film which marks her directorial debut. She also co-wrote and produced the film, is a contributing songwriter and co-stars as the town's villainous hairdresser 'Janette.' Rebel will next be seen in the action comedy Bride Hard with recent Oscar winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph, directed by Simon West.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rebel Wilson

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Self-verified on IMDbPro

Gender / Gender identity
Female

Trademarks

Usually plays brash but likable characters with a sarcastic sense of humor
Australian accent
Curvaceous figure

Trivia

Has a law degree from the prestigious University of New South Wales, graduating in 2009.
She became an American citizen on March 2, 2022.
In September 2021, she donated $1 million to the Australian Theatre for Young People, where she trained acting twenty years ago. The money went straight to its new location in Walsh Bay, where it will be called The Rebel Theatre in her honor.
She was somewhat of a loner when she was still attending high school. As she would spend her lunchtime in the library studying all by herself. All that hard work paid off in the end, though, as she scored a 99.3% on her Higher School Certificate, which is a pre-University study that students in Australia take during their senior year in high school.
In the past, stress of her fame and emotional eating caused her to take in about 3,000 calories a day. In addition, she suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which contributed to her rapid weight gain. In 2020, she set a personal goal to lose about 60 pounds by November of the same year, which she successfully achieved.

Quotes

My family keeps me pretty grounded. Like if I try anything diva, they're like, "Oh shut up. Go and do the dishwasher."
It took people who have the power to say yes to pull the trigger for me. Since then, I think it's been easier; I'm not like anybody else out there, with my skills and abilities and looks.
[on improvising dialogue] There's a line about crystal meth that I didn't even remember saying. When I saw it in the final cut, I thought, Wow, that was a pretty good line!
I love talking in an American accent. Even though it hurts my face after a few hours.
Even when I'm playing someone named Fat Amy, it's all about confidence and attitude.