A winner in the 2009 Women of Style Awards, actress Toni Collette talks to Jessica Rowe about babies, the big screen and being a homebody. Toni Collette is one of our biggest stars—though you’d never know it. The 39-year-old likes nothing more than hanging out in her trackie-dacks, on the couch, with her family of four—husband and musician Dave Galafassi, daughter Sage, four, and son Arlo, 18 months. But there’s no denying acting is in the DNA of Collette, who these days finds herself drawn to playing mother figures, women who are flawed, raw and honest. In her latest performance, she becomes the gutsy and ballsy Shaz; the film, Mental, is a “dramedy”, written and directed by PJ Hogan, who brought Collette to the world’s attention with his 1994 film, Muriel’s Wedding. And just as with those beloved Heslops of Porpoise Spit, the family dynamic in Mental is a little, well, twisted. The complete interview with Toni Collette can be read over at InStyle’s website.

The “Mental” promotion is in full force with several new interviews being broadcast on Australian television. Two, from Sunrise on 7 and The Age, have been added to the video archive. A first clip from the film, in which Shaz teaches the Moochmore girls about the Australian history – and how to deal with bullies, has been added as well, alongside a compilation of television spots to release the Australian release. All clips can be found in the video archive.

As reported, Australia’s 60 Minutes has profiled Toni Collette on its current episode with a very nice interview, scenes from “Mental” and a trip down the memory lane with director P.J. Hogan at a screening of “Muriel’s Wedding”. The profile can be watched in the video archive, captures have been added to the image library.

This Sunday, the Australian edition of 60 Minutes will feature of profile on Toni Collette to promote the Australian release of “Mental”. She’s a chick from the ‘burbs – a down-to-earth Aussie sheila who’s risen to the top in Hollywood.Toni Collette got her start in that wonderfully odd little Australian movie “Muriel’s Wedding”. Her role as the dumpy, wedding-obsessed Muriel from Porpoise Spit set her on the road to international stardom. Of course, it didn’t hurt that she also happened to be blessed with bucket loads of talent. In the eighteen years since, Toni has won a Golden Globe and an Emmy as well as been nominated for an Oscar. Now she’s come full circle playing Shaz in the new Australian Film “Mental.” It’s another quirky local comedy. And it’s taken her back to the place she loves best – home.

Here’s a new in-depth article on Toni and the upcoming Australian release of “Mental” by The Age Life & Style. From working-class Sydney to Sunset Boulevard is quite a journey, but Toni Collette has made it look easy. Amanda Hooton meets the instinctive actor and hands-on mother who has taken the “t” out of can’t. You can tell Toni Collette is a celebrity because of her hair. It’s blonde (art, not nature) and thick, and it has an excellent kink in it, swinging over her forehead and brushing her cheekbone. Even when celebrities shave their heads – as Collette has done on more than one occasion – you just know the great hair is there, waiting to spring forth again upon an astonished world. Apart from the hair, Toni Collette has turquoise eyes with thick, dark lashes, long teeth, a great figure (including quite a big bottom), and is far friendlier than I expected. Back in the ’90s, she seemed anxious and uncertain, often arriving late to interviews and sounding spiky and defensive. These days, however, she’s famous enough to do hardly any publicity, and perhaps this makes it easier for her to be calm with the journalists she does meet. And given that I manage to fling iced water all over the hotel lounge the moment we meet, and then burp loudly while she’s trying to answer a question a few minutes later, she’s actually under no obligation to be calm at all. But she is. “Burp it up,” she says cheerfully, pointing one long finger, with a short, purple-painted nail, towards my enormous stomach (I blame pregnancy for both aberrations). “Kids are the greatest, greatest thing,” she says. “You love them so much, you just want to …” She mimes a great big bite, as if eating a hamburger. Collette has two children – daughter Sage, 4, and son Arlo, 1 – and she arrived on the set of her latest film, Mental, last June, when Arlo was only nine weeks old. The complete article can be read here.

Screencaptures of Toni’s guest appearance as the Premier of New South Wales in ABC’s “Rake” have been added to the gallery. This was a very funny and racy performance, of which I hope we will see more in the coming episodes.

Here’s a quick catch-up with the episode: Cleaver’s (Richard Roxburgh) affair with the Premier (Toni Collette) proves to be costly when her husband, Attorney-General Cal McGregor (Damien Garvey) begins a campaign of harassment against him. And not only is David Potter (Matt Day) suing him for defamation, but, after the clown punch-up at seven-year-old Max’s birthday party, he’s lost Barney (Russell Dykstra) as a friend and colleague as well. Additionally, three video clips from the episode have been added to the video archive.