Aussie actress Radha Mitchell to star in A&E pilot

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In her first U.S. series role, Australian actress Radha Mitchell ("Surrogates") has signed to star in A&E's drama pilot "The Quickening."

She would play a homicide detective assigned to a desk job after it is discovered that she suffers from a bipolar disorder.

"Her illness makes her brilliant as a detective but makes her personal life hell," A&E senior vp drama programing Tana Nugent Jamieson said. "So she is teetering on and off her medications."

Filming on the pilot, written by Jennifer Salt ("Nip/Tuck"), will start next month in Los Angeles.

Mitchell made her U.S. feature debut in the 1998 lesbian drama "High Art." She has appeared in only one U.S. TV project, NBC's 2001 miniseries "Uprising."

(Editing by DGoodman at Reuters)