Abbie Cornish, also known by her rap name Dusk, is an Australian actress and rapper. Following her lead performance in 2004's Somersault, Cornish is best known for her film roles as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star, Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch, Lindy in Limitless and for her work with writer/director Martin McDonagh in Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. For the latter, Cornish won her first Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast. In 2018, she portrayed Cathy Mueller in the first season of Amazon Video series Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski.
Cornish began modelling at age 13 after reaching the finals of a Dolly Magazine competition. In 1999, Cornish was awarded the Australian Film Institute Young Actor's Award for her role in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television showWildside and was offered her first role in a feature film, The Monkey's Mask. In 2004, Cornish appeared in the award-winning short film Everything Goes with Hugo Weaving. She received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress at the FCCA and IF Awards and Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2005 Miami International Film Festival for her role in Somersault. Cornish received critical acclaim for her role in Candy, opposite Heath Ledger. She has also starred in A Good Year, and Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss. In April 2010, Cornish was cast in Limitless, the film adaptation of the novelThe Dark Fields, directed by Neil Burger and also starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. Cornish narrated Zack Snyder's film Sucker Punch, in which she played one of the protagonists. Cornish played the role of Wally in Madonna's film W.E., about Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. She replaced Emily Blunt in the independent film The Girl. It premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2012. She starred alongside Woody Harrelson and Colin Farrell in Seven Psychopaths, released in 2012. Cornish co-starred in the 2014 RoboCop reboot. She played Clara Murphy, the wife of protagonist Alex Murphy. In 2015, she played Agent Katherine Cowles in Solace, a mysterythriller film directed by Afonso Poyart with central performances by Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. In 2016, she filmed The Girl Who Invented Kissing with Luke Wilson. In 2019, she will star in the Australian television miniseries Secret Bridesmaids' Business along with Katie McGrath and Georgina Haig.
Music
Cornish is a rapper, singer and songwriter. She has been rapping under the name MC Dusk since 2000 and was part of an Australian hip hop group from the age of 18 to 22. In 2015, Cornish supported American rapper Nas on his Australian tour. The same year, she released two new tracks on SoundCloud: "Evolve" featuring Jane Tyrrell and "Way Back Home", which was produced by Suffa from Hilltop Hoods.