Natalie Jane Imbruglia (/ɪmˈbruːliə/ im-BROO-lee-ə, Italian: [imˈbruʎʎa]; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress.

Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera Neighbours.

[1][2] Her debut album, Left of the Middle (1997), was a commercial success — earning multi-platinum certifications in the US, the UK and Australia, and selling seven million copies worldwide.

Subsequent albums, including White Lilies Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005), were both met with commercial declines, but received gold certifications by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Among other philanthropic work, Imbruglia served as a longtime spokesperson for Virgin Unite and campaigns to raise awareness of obstetric fistula.

[13][14][15] Imbruglia grew up in Berkeley Vale, New South Wales and attended Mater Dei College.

She secured a role as Beth Brennan on the Australian soap opera Neighbours where she shared a house with Ben Mitchell who played the part of Cameron Hudson.

"Torn" finally made its debut in the United States in January 1998 when a radio station, Los Angeles KROQ, who sensed the buzz and popularity of the song in international markets, started playing an import version of the song, which was quickly followed by other stations.

[20] "Torn" debuted at the Top 40 on Billboard Radio Songs Chart on 14 February 1998 and finally reached number one spot on 16 May 1998 and stayed at the summit for eleven consecutive weeks.

The rule was changed due to the public and industry outcry in late-1998, and the song made its appearance on the chart for two weeks, and peaked at number 42.

[24] Imbruglia's next album, White Lilies Island, in 2001, was named after where she lived beside the River Thames at Windsor.

"Beauty on the Fire", the final single, barely entered charts worldwide, and did not make the top 50 in Australia.

The album, briefly notorious in the Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal, sold 1 million but did not repeat the success of Left of the Middle.

In 2003, she appeared in the spy parody film Johnny English, playing Rowan Atkinson's love interest, Lorna Campbell, in a Bond girl–style role.

The decision was later changed to the title track "Counting Down the Days", with stations asked to play the album version, because the radio mix was not finished.

Imbruglia made a small European tour, her first since Left of the Middle, in late October and November.

[27] Songs were co-written with Ben Hillier, Dave McCracken, her then-husband Daniel Johns, Gary Clark, Jamie Hartman, Paul Harris, Shep Solomon and Chris Martin of Coldplay.

Following the disappointing reaction on the Australian charts, the official UK launch of the album, and the single, was delayed, then cancelled.

[30] After the failure of Come to Life, Imbruglia took a six-year hiatus from music, shifting her focus back to acting.

In April 2014, Imbruglia made her stage debut in a UK production of Things We Do For Love, at the Theatre Royal, Bath.

[32][33] On 3 December 2014, Imbruglia signed with Sony Masterworks and planned to make her first album in five years, covering famous songs by a range of male artists.

[39] Imbruglia signed to BMG in July 2019, her original record label from 1997 to 2007, with plans to release an album of new material sometime in 2020.

[42][43] The official video for "Build It Better" was directed by Amy Becker-Burnett, with choreography by Gregory Haney and Alex Sarmiento.

[55] In June 2010, Imbruglia appeared on the original British version of the show, where she was a guest judge for the Birmingham auditions on its seventh series.

[58] In 1999, Imbruglia met Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns backstage at his band's concert in London.

They started dating after meeting again at the ARIA awards after-party at the Gazebo Hotel in Sydney in October of the same year.

[70] Imbruglia is an ambassador for Virgin Unite, supporting campaigns to end poverty and to bring attention to obstetric fistula.