Due to filming commitments on Hunted, Melissa wasn’t able to be in Australia to collect the award, so her Slap co-star Anthony Hayes accepted the award on her behalf, delivering a very amusing speech in which he claimed to have been the inspiration behind her win!

If you want to see clips from the ceremony, you can check them out on the Yahoo! TV website.

Tweeting about the win, Melissa confirmed “Am so happy! Thank you to all for my win as Rosie in the slap! My outstanding actress award will be sent to Perth to my mum and dad’s house!”

And for those of you who haven’t yet caught The Slap, you can now own it for yourselves – it’s on DVD in most countries. Go and get yourself a copy now!

Melissa George left her suburban Perth home at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career in Sydney scoring early success as a regular on the TV soap series Home and Away. Now 35, she lives in New York and has an international film and TV career.

While Melissa knows something about her father’s side of the family there are a number of gaps in her mother’s ancestral story. Melissa has a sense of a number of secrets being held back, of things not talked about, even a sense of some shame. Her journey takes her first to Rottnest Island to investigate a case of suspected abuse of a prisoner in a colonial gaol.

Along another branch of her maternal family tree, Melissa seeks to uncover the truth behind the arrival of two of her great grandparents in Australia as child migrants. In both cases there are family myths of who was, and who wasn’t, an orphan. Melissa discovers the truth, learning how these myths have masked the grim reality of a tragic tale of heartbreak and abandonment.

You can find out all about the series, as well as watching clips after it’s aired, on the SBS website.

You can view pictures of the red carpet in the gallery but we thought we’d round up a few of the nicest mentions Melissa got in the fashion press here…

The first red carpet hit from Victoria Beckham has arrived. Oh yes, Melissa George is wearing a gown by the British designer, who showed in New York earlier today. Melissa’s dress looks amazing – it’s floor-length, black and covered in twinkling embellishments. The actress has topped it off with a colourpopping bright pink lip. Bravo!”
- Grazia Daily

“One of the best on the red carpet.”
- Daily Glow

“Miss George ruled the fashion stakes!”
- SAFM

“Melissa George looked sensational on the red carpet”, “It’s good to see her enjoying herself on the red carpet and fully committing to the sexy temptress role she adopted for this event.”
- Red Carpet Fashion

“Melissa George emulated Angelina Jolie’s popular wet look style at the SAG Awards, in a long-sleeved gown by Victoria Beckham.”
- The Daily Mail

“Actress Melissa George wowed onlookers in a gothic-inspired sequin Victoria Beckham gown”
- The Daily Mirror

“Melissa George dazzled onlookers on the BAFTAs red carpet in liquid-like black sequinned gown by Victoria Beckham. But it wasn’t just her fashion that had us straring in awe. From the tonged curls at the front of the hair and the smoky eyes to the bright pop of fuchsia colour on the lips, we love this look Charles Worthington shared: ‘Melissa George looks amazing here. This polished beauty look was perfect with the shimmering dress. I love the super-glossy sheen in her hair, the neat chignon at the nape of the neck, and two or three defined curls at the front. This looks makes a big statement. Beautiful!”
- Marie Claire

“Melissa George went for all out drama for her BAFTA red carpet appearance in a liquid leather look Victoria Beckham gown and a 20s style curled up-do.”
- Instyle

“Melissa George wore a gorgeous black, sequined number – complete with a flowing dramatic train, no less. The hair is also impeccable!”
- My Fashion Life

“Australian actress Melissa George stunned in a long-sleeved, black sequined gown from Victoria Beckham. Unlike many long-sleeved gowns without a back, George left everything to the imagination; even the train of a few feet didn’t show her shoes”.
- AllMedia New York

“Melissa George rocked a dicso-glam look choosing a fuchsia lip, set off by a soft smoky eye and sparkling sequin black ”
- Elle UK

“Melissa looked stunning in a Victoria Beckham sequinned dress, I love her chignon hairstyle and soft waves at the front. If you have layers in your hair, this is perfect. The pink lip completes this fab look.”
- Hair Romance

The series starts on March 27th, and if you didn’t already guess from her Australian roots, Melissa does of course end up in the UK for part of the search – though I probably shouldn’t tell you much more than that.

Keep an eye on the official website over at SBS for more details, but we’ll keep you posted closer to the time so you can make sure to catch the show…

There are a lot fewer sharp cuts than in American cinema and European films aren’t edited purely to get the story moving along. European cinema feels more relaxed, it makes you listen and observe life. The films allow audiences to witness moments they might usually skip over.

As an actress, it’s also a more pleasurable experience when you’re working on a shot that’s being filmed in full, rather than having to do short takes.

Often in French movies they show a classically beautiful woman in a situation where she doesn’t belong. In Belle de Jour [1967] the director [Luis Bu'uel] pushed the boundaries of immorality by making it look beautiful. Catherine Deneuve is an example of the all time classically beautiful French actress and in Belle de Jour her character chooses to become a prostitute. It seems almost a normal thing to do because she looks so perfect.

I draw on a lot of Spanish and Italian cinema in my work. I’m very influenced by Fellini films and I marvel at the freedom in the way he portrayed his actresses.

With European films it’s not the editing that gets the performance. The actors have to sustain the entire movie with their characterisation. Right now I’m obsessed with the Spanish film Sex and Luc’a [2001] and I know Julian Schnabel is American but I also love his film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which is French. The way everything was shot through the man’s eyelashes as if we were seeing it from his own eyes is something I’ll never forget.

In European cinema it’s all about the wide, anamorphic lens which represents how life actually is. There’s never a crane shot which zooms in just for the sake of it. European cinema is more realistic. It’s as if the films are shot as life evolves.

Source: The Telegraph

After a three year stint on the soap, she left Summer Bay and was cast in Alex Proyas’ cult film DARK CITY, also having a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s THE LIMEY. Melissa George then found herself in David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE as well as JJ Abrams’ series ALIAS. Since then Melissa has starred in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR remake, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, HBO’S IN TREATMENT and a stint on GREY’S ANATOMY.

Today see’s the UK release of A LONELY PLACE TO DIE. In it, Melissa plays ‘Alison’, one of five mountaineers hiking in the Scottish Highlands. Finding a young Serbian girl buried alive, the mountaineers face the dangerous highland terrain as well as becoming caught in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the girl’s kidnappers.

Directed by Julian Gilbey (RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER), the cast also features Sean Harris (SAXON), Eamonn Walker (HBO’s OZ), Ed Speleers (ERAGON), Alec Newman (CASUALTY) and Karel Roden (HELLBOY).

THN were lucky enough to snag some time with Melissa to talk about the new film.

- Your role in A LONELY PLACE TO DIE looks physically demanding and quite tough. How did you cope with shooting the film?

It was more than a human being could take in a life time. You do takes twenty to thirty times. So that difficult scene climbing, in life you do once, I have to do twenty times for ten hours a day, for four months. We climbed Ben Nevis and it took us three hours to get up there. We were shooting for two hours and then we’d walk our way back down. I’m not doing any more rock climbing I have to announce. My arms got so built I developed wrist muscles.

- There are some impressive stunts in the film, did you perform any yourself?

I did all of the stunts myself, except the big fall through the trees, although that was one of the best stunts to watch. Julian [Gilbey, Director] would just put me up there, and that was it. I would have to hold on for dear life. In one scene, which is incidentally the shot the poster, the rope actually ran out. I don’t know if they did it on purpose, or what tricks were up their sleeve to get a performance out of me, but it was pretty scary.

I had to dive under at one point and it just got colder. By the time I’d gotten so far down to the bottom of this Scottish river, there were trout, salmon and I don’t know what else down there, I couldn’t see a thing. I was getting on top of rocks, diving in, and Julian was just standing there in the boat, dry.

- Over the past few years you’ve been involved in a number of horror films, often playing the’last girl’ character. Strong, independent types. Is that a kind of role you enjoy?

It’s not really about genre for me. IN TREATMENT, for example, was again a woman that’s still standing at the end, but it’s mainly two people talking in one room, and it’s HBO. I tend to not look at genre, but if the script portrays the woman in a good light. I don’t mind being knocked around [laughs], but as long as she comes out standing, and if she doesn’t, as long as she had a good journey. So that’s one thing I always try to do justice for, is the women. For an actress it’s not easy to find good roles.

When they were casting about ten years ago for LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER, it was out of Angelina [Jolie] and I. I had five screen tests and she came in last minute and got it, but that’s Angelina and she’s great. I always thought that when I get the opportunity to be an action woman, I’m going to take it. A LONELY PLACE TO DIE comes along and I took it.

I do love making these [action] movies, because they are very creative, they’re high impact. Everyone’s like “Come on, let’s get in there and lets be dangerous.” I do like the danger, to live on the edge a little bit. I’m very urban, I live in New York, I’m very sort of lady-like and I spend most of my year not really doing these kinds of movies.

- You’ve worked with some renowned directors like Steven Soderbergh and David Lynch, what projects have you next got planned?

There’s so many coming up, it’s going to be a great year. I’ve gone through a lot of changes and I’m finally a place where I’m very happy, let’s just bring on the good directors! Did you know I’ve invented something that’s one of the highest selling products in the U.S right now? It’s called Hemming My Way, I named it myself. I’ve got a team of engineers and a staff of about forty. It’s like an adhesive snap, so you can snap up your jeans for flats and unsnap them for heels. It’s all about New York [laughs], getting to your meeting in your flats, and out in your heels. It’s doing so well, after three years of hell, it’s finally doing ok, so it’s lovely to have that.

I’m also working with a professor at NYU right now on my second product. When I was in the Highlands, I would be jumping into Scottish rivers, put my big coat on, then there would be a cord coming out of the trailer with my laptop, and I’d be doing deals and dealing with prototypes and all of that sort of stuff. It’s exciting. Oprah loves it, we’re allowed to mention her on QVC.

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is out now in cinemas.

Source: TheHollywoodNews.com