Gia Carides

Widely acknowledged as one of Australia's most accomplished young actors, Gia Carides has has a career that skyrocketed following her turn as the loud and pushy Liz in Baz Luhrmann's hit movie "Strictly Ballroom" (1992). Though blonde for "Ballroom," this attractive, smokey-voiced brunette began as an ingenue in the genre pic "Midnight Spares" (1982) and appeared in the chronicle of the champion Australian racehorse "Phar Lap" (1983), credited as Georgia Carr. She performed sex acts on her coke-dealer brother in exchange for drugs in "Bliss" (1985) and was convincing as a rookie cop in "Backlash" (1986). For the latter, she and co-star Trevor Darling turned to improvisation to fully realize their parts, contributing so much in the process that they both earned screenwriting credits.

Carides teamed with her significant other, fellow Aussie Anthony LaPaglia, in "Paperback Romance" (1994), playing Sophie, a disabled erotic writer whose inadvertent readings aloud turn-on a handsome jeweler (LaPaglia) and plunge them together with Rebecca Gibney into a triangle that unfortunately does not generate the requisite dramatic tension. "Brilliant Lies" (1996) reunited the two, but this time as antagonists with Carides accusing former employer LaPaglia of sexual harassment and unfair dismissal in this Australian courtroom drama. She also portrayed Cashmere McCloud, the president's former mistress (please, no comparisons to Gennifer Flowers) in Mike Nichols' film adaptation of the best-seller "Primary Colors" (1998).