Melissa George vs. Radha Mitchell
Battle of the Down Under Debutantes

Australia has spawned so many brilliant, iconic actresses that you have to wonder whether the whole continent is like a big prep school full of drama geeks. Among the seniors in the girls' school -- under the watchful eye of Headmistress Judy Davis -- are class president Nicole Kidman (who's only a senior now because she was somehow allowed to skip two grades) and vice-president Cate Blanchett. In the junior class, there are field hockey captain Toni Collette; head cheerleader Naomi Watts (which everyone knows she only got because she sucks up to Nic all the time); and yearbook editor Rachel Griffiths (currently suspended for getting caught smoking on school grounds). Poppy Montgomery and Miranda Otto are ranked first and second in the sophomore class, and spend every recess braiding each other's hair. And way down in the freshman class -- so green yet that no one can guess what they'll be like as upperclasswomen -- are Radha Mitchell and Melissa George. Also complicating their status in the gigantic Juilliard that is Australia is the fact that no one can tell George and Mitchell apart.

Seriously. First, physically -- both are cute, petite blondes with pert little mouths and limpid eyes. The one difference (and it's pretty subtle) is that Mitchell has a touch of what we in the biz call "caveman forehead" -- a sloping brow that gives a slightly Neanderthal cast to her otherwise perfectly attractive face.

Mitchell and George are twins professionally as well. George appeared in Dark City; Mitchell was in Pitch Black. George was in the well-regarded indies The Limey and Mulholland Drive; Mitchell was in the well-regarded indies Everything Put Together and High Art. Both have played lesbians -- George in a recurring role on Friends, and Mitchell in the aforementioned High Art. George's high-concept flop in 2003 was Down With Love; Mitchell's high-concept flop in 2003 was Phone Booth. George was in a movie called Sugar & Spice; Mitchell was in a TV series called Sugar & Spice.

So which of our Aussie schoolgirls is going to take the stronger report card into her sophomore year? This is a close one. George has had a couple of recent career coups: getting herself cut from the original, unaired pilot of the hugely hyped and now universally panned U.S. version of Coupling. She really dodged a bullet there; Rena Sofer may not emerge from its inevitable cancellation unscathed. George's other smooth move of late has been to land on the Emmy-nominated, critically beloved spy drama Alias -- and in no less enviable a role than that of Mrs. Michael "Sad-Eyed, French-Speaking Hunk" Vaughn, which means that if she ever needs a Method refresher on the status of their on-screen marriage, she can just pull Michael Vartan aside and force him to make out with her. Not that we would do something that unprofessional, were we in her position. Okay, we totally would. Even if it got us fired, it would be completely worth it.

But Mitchell's not exactly been skiving off class herself. Yeah, admittedly, getting cast in a Woody Allen movie doesn't carry as much prestige as it used to back in the day -- if Jason Biggs can do something, how hard can it be? -- but her next movie will be J.M. Barrie's Neverland, opposite 2003's biggest comeback king, the suddenly buzz-tastic Johnny Depp. Starring opposite Depp has worked out pretty well recently for Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes; in this particular matchup, the cachet of being able to write "Mrs. Fictional Johnny Depp" on her Trapper Keeper may just get her elected president of her sophomore class.

Advantage: Mitchell