Mia Wasikowska on Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre, and In Treatment | Screen Tests | W Magazine

In this Screen Tests interview, actress Mia Wasikowska discusses her nomadic childhood, her intense ballet training as a girl and how her film career took off thanks to Google search. Mia Wasikowska, with her almost spectral elegance and innate grace, is somehow the love child of Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. This otherworldly quality made her the perfect actress to portray out-of-time heroines like Alice (in Wonderland) and, most recently, the title character in the new Jane Eyre. Though 21, the Australian actress is convincing as a modern teen in The Kids Are All Right and the upcoming Restless, directed by Gus Van Sant. She often has a faraway, slightly unknowable look in her eye: Wasikowska and her characters seem to have secrets, which fuel the mystery of both. What was the first movie that made a big impression on you? I think it was Bambi. I remember being traumatized by the experience—I was so upset when the mum died in the movie. There were a few films that got me interested in acting and cinema. I’m Polish, but I grew up in Australia. My mom used to have a lot of European cinema playing in the house, so I’d catch bits and pieces of films. I really, really loved Krzysztof Kieslowski’s films, especially Blue and Red. Do you speak Polish? A little bit but not very well. When I was eight years old, we lived in Poland for a year. I was just there about three weeks ago—it definitely seems very familiar. I am at home there, but I feel like I could live anywh