"What kind of person marries someone they don't know?"
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 5:17PM 
You did.
I want to win. All my life I've wanted to win.
Me too.
Dear Toni Collette,
I have loved you in everything I've seen you in. I can't think of an example where I didn't. You wowed in The Sixth Sense, in Little Miss Sunshine, in Japanese Story (oh my god so good in Japanese Story), in In Her Shoes, in three seasons of The United States of Tara, in your brief but better than everyone else scenes in The Hours... I could go on and on. I offer up this list as an apology for the fact that even though you've been so wonderful so many times over my first and last thought is always gonna be Muriel "Mariel Van Arckle" Heslop. I hope you don't mind. Have a happy birthday!
Sincerely, JA from MNPP
(PS - Here are some pictures of Daniel Lapaine in his speedo in case that hint of him above stirred your need for that like it did mine.)
Birthday, Toni Collette
Reader Comments (13)
I've always loved that she got an Oscar nomination for The Sixth Sense, even though it pushed out poor Cameron Diaz.
Collette's so good that even under the schmaltz of In Her Shoes I was sad when she didn't get a nomination of any sorts anywhere for her work in it.
hear hear about JAPANESE STORY -- she is just such a riveting actress, whether she's working drama, comedy or just stuck in thankless roles (what the hell, fright night?)
You're terrible, Muriel.
I love Toni, who also was fabulous in About a Boy, Dirty Deeds, etc. Now that U.S. of Tara is off the air, hope we get to see more of her on the big screen.
She's perhaps the most consistent actress out there. Always so good, even if the film doesn't deserve it (or, she makes us think the movie deserves it). Very much looking forward to "Mental", her new film with PJ Hogan!
I've loved Toni since I first saw Muriel's Wedding umpteen years ago. I would see the worst movie if she were in it.
agree with everything in the post
Ditto what everyone has already said about the glorious Ms. Collette. She makes everything she's in better than it should be. I wish I could have seen her in "The Wild Party" when it ran on Broadway because her performance looks phenomenal in YouTube clips. Make a musical for Pete's sake, Toni!
I saw Daniel Lapaine once in London (he's married to a wonderful British TV actress, Fay Ripley), and said too loudly to my brother something along the lines of "ZOMFG, it's Muriel husband." He heard and did not look impressed.
Toni Collette is incredible. Every moment of Japanese Story is just incredible, and the way the narrative just stops moving like that. Very few actresses could carry a film like that, and for me is one of the all-time great performances of the decade.
Also a huge fan of United States of Tara, especially its final series when it pretty much eschewed all comedy and went straight for the drama. Any show that manages to gather together Toni Collette, Rosemarie DeWitt (does anyone do sibling rivalry/affection better?!) and Viola Davis as a guest star is doing something right.
Ditto to everything here. She's so good, and so unshowy about herself, even when she's doing something "showy" like Tara (which could have gone wrong in so many ways), that I sometimes forget how much I do love her. (I love me some Kidman, but Colette definitely lacks Kidman's "look at me!" vibe.)
And a definite YES to the Japanese story. I need to revisit that one.
Shoot, I'd just settle for a CD of great showtunes sung by Toni. A lot of lesser talents have one, why not her?
Just checked to see and Japanese Story is on Netflix Instant.
I love Toni. Sometimes I feel so alone in my Toni loving, especially since she won't make a great film and reward us for our time!
C'mon Toni... make something great!