Rebel Wilson Biography

Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, writer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, she began appearing as Toula on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) comedy series Pizza and the sketch comedy series The Wedge. In 2008, Wilson wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride. The following year, she won the Tropfest best actress award for her role in Bargain and made a guest appearance in City Homicide. Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson was cast as Brynn in the feature film Bridesmaids.

Wilson also appeared in A Few Best Men, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Struck by Lightning, leading Variety to name her one of their "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011". She also appeared as Becky in Bachelorette and starred in the musical films Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 as Fat Amy, a role that earned her several award nominations and wins including the MTV Best Breakthrough Performance Award and a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress. She then created and starred in Super Fun Night, a television comedy that aired for one season on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Early life and education

Wilson was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her mother is a professional dog handler. Wilson grew up in the suburbs of Kenthurst, Parramatta and Castle Hill. She attended Tara Anglican School for Girls. She completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997, including second place in the state in food technology.

Wilson has three siblings; sisters Liberty and Annachi and a brother, Ryot. Liberty and Ryot appeared on the first season of The Amazing Race Australia in 2011, where they were the first team eliminated. Wilson has stated that her great-aunt was Lillian Bounds, who was married to Walt Disney until his death in 1966. Despite Wilson standing by this belief in court, it continues to be disputed by genealogist Dale Sheldon.

Wilson's first career choice was mathematics. She told The Sydney Morning Herald, "I was very academic at high school and was always good with numbers." She attended the University of New South Wales, graduating in 2009 with Bachelor of Arts (Theatre and Performance Studies) and Bachelor of Laws degrees. A former Rotary International Youth Ambassador for Australia, she was based in South Africa for one year, where she contracted malaria. She has spoken of the malaria causing hallucinations where she saw herself as an actress who had won an Oscar, convincing her to pursue an acting career.

Career

Early career (2002-10)

Wilson studied at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). In 2003 she moved to New York after winning the ATYP International scholarship, which was funded by Nicole Kidman. While she was in New York, Wilson trained with The Second City. She appeared with the Sydney Theatre Company and performed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. She first came to the public's attention in 2002 with her stage musical The Westie Monologues, which she wrote, starred in and produced in Sydney. Her follow-up stage productions, which she wrote, produced and starred in include Spunks and Confessions of an Exchange Student.

In Australia, Wilson is most known for her roles as Toula on the SBS comedy series Pizza and as various characters including Lucy, Fat Mandi and Karla Bangs on the sketch comedy series The Wedge. She played an Australian Idol mad schoolgirl in a series of Telstra advertisements shown during Australian Idol from 2004 to 2005. She also had roles in the feature films Fat Pizza and Ghost Rider.

In 2008, Wilson created, wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series Bogan Pride on SBS One and also starred in the improvisational Nine Network series Monster House. In 2009 Wilson won the Tropfest Best Actress award for her role in the film Bargain. She has made appearances on the improvisational comedy show Thank God You're Here and the comedy game show Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. She performed stand-up on the television special The Breast Darn Show In Town and guest starred in the Seven Network drama City Homicide and performed improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.

Move to Hollywood (2011-present)

After moving to the United States, Wilson signed to talent and literary agents William Morris Endeavor. Wilson's next film role came in the Judd Apatow film, Bridesmaids, in which she played Brynn, the sister of Matt Lucas' character. The role was written especially for her. Wilson then appeared in the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement and on the Comedy Central series, Workaholics. She co-hosted the 2010 ARIA Music Awards and performed at the inaugural Variety"?s Power of Comedy event in Los Angeles with Lucas and Russell Brand. In early 2011, Wilson filmed A Few Best Men at Fox Studios Australia. She also filmed a role in Small Apartments. Wilson was named one of Variety magazine's "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011". In 2012, Wilson had a role in the ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, as Janice, and co-starred in the indie film Struck By Lightning.

On 19 August 2011, Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter reported that Wilson had replaced Casey Wilson in Bachelorette. In 2012, Wilson voiced a character in Ice Age: Continental Drift and played Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. For the latter role, she received critical acclaim and earned various award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society and Best Actress in a Comedy from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. She won the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and shared the Best Musical Moment award with her Pitch Perfect co-stars. Wilson was also nominated for Best Female Performance. Wilson later won the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy award for Pitch Perfect at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. She had also been nominated for Choice Comedian at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.

In January 2012, Michael Ausiello of TVLine announced that Wilson would be writing and starring in Super Fun Night, a comedy that follows three friends on a quest to have fun every Friday night. The pilot was picked up by CBS and Conan O'Brien became one of the executive producers. The pilot was later turned down by CBS, but the ABC network picked up the project. A series was ordered and the show began broadcasting on 2 October 2013. The series was cancelled after one season. Wilson played Robin Peck in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain (2013). She hosted the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on 14 April 2013.

In March 2014, the American satellite television network DISH launched a marketing campaign for its Hopper DVR featuring Wilson as the voice of the eponymous computer animated kangaroo. Wilson reprised her role in the sequel Pitch Perfect 2 in 2015, and will also star in 2017's Pitch Perfect 3 with Anna Kendrick. She also made a cameo in the television comedy Pompidou. Wilson joined the voice cast for Kung Fu Panda 3, however in September 2015, she was replaced with Kate Hudson. Wilson next appeared in the ensemble comedy How to Be Single, released in February 2016. Nigel M Smith of The Guardian wrote "Wilson is the standout, nailing every pratfall she's dealt, but How to Be Single doesn't make strong use of her character". Wilson also appeared in the action comedy Grimsby. On 14 February 2016, Wilson presented the nominations for the Best Supporting Actor category at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Wilson is one of sixty celebrities making a cameo in the upcoming Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

Wilson appeared as Ursula, the sea witch, in an all-star concert version of The Little Mermaid at The Hollywood Bowl on 3 June, 4 June, and 6 June 2016. She made her West End debut in the musical Guys and Dolls in the role of Miss Adelaide from 28 June to 21 August 2016. She received positive reviews.

Upcoming films

Wilson will appear in a remake of Private Benjamin. She has also been cast in The Social Life alongside Amanda Seyfried. In August 2016, it was confirmed Wilson would star in a remake of the 1988 comedy film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The film, titled Nasty Women, will also star Anne Hathaway, while Wilson is co-producing. Wilson will also star in the comedy Isn't It Romantic, due for release in 2019.

Media controversy

In May 2015, Australian magazine Woman's Day published a story claiming that Wilson had been misleading about her birth name, age, and upbringing. Wilson had previously said in interviews that she was raised by dog-training 'bogan' parents in the 'ghetto' of Sydney, spent a year in Zimbabwe, climbed into a cage with a leopard, got caught in a shoot-out and then struck down by a severe strain of malaria from a 'mozzie' in Mozambique where, from her intensive care bed, she envisioned herself winning an Oscar and rapping her acceptance speech. Her age was also incorrectly given as 29, which she would later admit was something she chose not to correct. Woman's Day called all of this into question and claimed that Wilson had, on the contrary, a "very normal, upper-middle-class upbringing" and "added a touch of 'fantasy' to the life she led before becoming a household name." The story was picked up by several other publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, People Magazine, The Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post. Most notably, Wilson's true birth date was confirmed through business records filed with the ASIC, which were obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald.

On 16 May 2016, Wilson said print and online articles in Woman's Day, the Australian Women's Weekly, NW and OK! magazine made her out to be a serial liar. According to a defamation writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Wilson said her reputation and credit has suffered and she had been humiliated and embarrassed. She also sued for special damages, claiming she missed out on roles and other ones were terminated because of the articles. On 15 June 2017, a six-person jury ruled in Wilson's favour, finding that publisher Bauer Media Group had indeed wrongly painted the actress as a serial liar, and that publishing the articles was likely to have caused harm to her career.

On 13 September 2017, Wilson was awarded $4.5 AUD million in damages. Wilson's lawyer Richard Leder, said "Today's verdict is a significant record "? it's about four times the highest previous verdict in a defamation case in Australia". In June 2017, Wilson tweeted "Any dollars I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs".

Personal life

In July 2011, Wilson became a spokesperson for weight loss and nutrition company Jenny Craig in Australia. In January 2012, Wilson told The Daily Telegraph that she had lost since signing up to the program.

Wilson asserted that the producers of Pitch Perfect had refused to let her lose any more weight during filming, as her contract stated she must stay the same size. She said that once her film commitments were over, she would start her diet again to reach her target weight of . In February 2013, she confirmed that she had ended her agreement with Jenny Craig the previous year.

Wilson and her Bridesmaids co-star Matt Lucas lived together in West Hollywood, from September 2012, until 2015. They remain good friends.

In July 2015, Wilson stated her support for stricter American gun laws following the 2015 Lafayette shooting, stating, "I don't like getting political but America you really have to follow Australia's example re gun laws. I don't remember a mass shooting in Australia since they overhauled the gun laws. It seems like every week in America there's a shooting. I just want people to be safe, especially people that are doing one of my favorite things in the world"?going out to the movies 2 have fun."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Fat Pizza	Toula
2007	Ghost Rider	Girl in Alley
2009	Bargain!	Linda
2011	Bridesmaids	Brynn
	A Few Best Men	Daphne Ramme
2012	Bachelorette	Becky Archer
	Small Apartments	Rocky
	This Means War		Cameo
	Struck by Lightning	Malerie Baggs
	What to Expect When You're Expecting	Janice
	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Raz	Voice
	Pitch Perfect	Fat Amy
2013	Pain & Gain	Robin Peck
2014	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Tilly
2015	Pitch Perfect 2	Fat Amy
2016	How to Be Single	Robin
	Grimsby	Dawn Grobham
	Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie	Flight attendant	Cameo
2017	Pitch Perfect 3	Fat Amy	Post-production
2019	Isn't It Romantic		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003-2007	Pizza	Toula	Recurring cast; Seasons 3-5, Pizza World and Pizza World Record
2006-2007	The Wedge	Various characters	Series regular; 47 episodes
2007-2009	Thank God You're Here	Herself/Various characters	Episodes: "3.04", "3.09", "4.03" & "4.09"
2008	Bogan Pride	Jennie Cragg	Series regular; 6 episodes
2008	Monster House	Penelope Webb	Series regular; 10 episodes
2009	Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation	Generation Y Guest	Episode: "Series 1, Episode 3"
2009	City Homicide	Sarah Gilbert	Episode: "Dead Weight"
2009	The Breast Darn Show in Town	Herself	Comedy gala
2010	Rules of Engagement	Sara	Episode: "Les-bro"
2011	Workaholics	Big Money Hustla	Episode: "Straight Up Juggahos"
2013	Can of Worms	Herself	Episode: "Season 3, Episode 2"
2013	2013 MTV Movie Awards	Host
2013-2014	Super Fun Night	Kimmie Boubier	Creator, Lead role; 17 episodes
2015	Pompidou	Fancy Dress Contestant	Episode: "Hoarder"
2016	The Big Music Quiz	Herself	Episodes 2 & 8
2016	Travel Man	Herself	Episode: Christmas Special

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games	Raz	Voice

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	The Little Mermaid	Ursula	3-6 June, The Hollywood Bowl
	Guys and Dolls	Adelaide	28 June - 21 August, West End

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2009	Tropfest	Best Actress	Bargain!
2011	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble	Bridesmaids
2012	Detroit Film Critics Society	Breakthrough Performance	Pitch Perfect
	San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actress
2013	Critics' Choice Awards	Best Actress in a Comedy
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Breakthrough Performance
		Best Musical Moment
		Best Female Performance
	Online Film & Television Association Award	Breakthrough Performance
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Comedy
		Choice Movie: Hissy Fit (shared with Anna Camp, Hana Mae Lee and Brittany Snow
		Choice Comedian
2014	People's Choice Awards	People's Choice Awards for Favorite Actress in a TV Series	Super Fun Night
	Young Hollywood Awards	Cuz You're Funny
2015	MTV Movie Awards	Best Ensemble	Pitch Perfect 2
		Best Kiss (shared with Adam DeVine)
		Best Comedic Performance
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress: Comedy
		Choice Movie: Liplock (shared with Adam DeVine)
2017	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Comedic Movie Actress	How to Be Single