She's the next Cate Blanchett. At 27, Abbie Cornish is earning lofty praise like this from critics thanks to her dazzling turn in, "Bright Star."

That buzz might still be news to North American moviegoers, even as "Bright Star" rolls into theatres on September 25. To them, the Aussie actress' big claim to fame is making Maxim's hot list and dating Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon's ex-husband.

Don't let those stats fool you.

As Fanny Brawne, the strong-willed fashionista loved by 19th-century English poet John Keats, Cornish stole the show at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Ditto at the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival.

It's not surprising.

The five-foot-eight beauty is, as they say in the biz, the whole package. Looks, talent, smarts, skill...Cornish has it all, and a touch of youthful Nicole Kidman about her face that only adds to her allure.

"Abbie had the kind of vitality and outward qualities that we wanted Fanny to have," director Jane Campion ("The Piano") told reporters during TIFF.

"We were going to look in England and America and consider names that might help us with the financing of the film. But, I was just so impressed with Abbie in the film 'Somersault'," said Campion.

Cornish scored her first major role in 2004's "Somersault." In it, she plays Heidi, a sexually-curious, heartbreaking teen who runs away from home.

Other noteworthy credits included 2008's "Stop-Loss" and 2006's "Candy," in which Cornish appeared opposite Heath Ledger as a substance abuser.

Thanks to the rapturously tragic "Bright Star," however, Cornish has catapulted herself onto Hollywood's "it girl" list.

"The experience of making this movie was so all-consuming. It was hard to leave behind," Cornish told a select group of reporters at TIFF.

Though Campion frumps Cornish up somewhat for this part, the star's amber eyes, creamy-skinned beauty and bravery of spirit in this role melt Keats' heart faster than he can pull out his quill pen and start writing.

Cornish is a poetic muse with punch

The pair's connection in real life was intense and short-lived. Keats was 23 when he met the spunky girl next door. His unlikely lady love was just 18.

Keats' muse permeated his thoughts and work right up until his tragic death at 25 from tuberculosis.

Thanks to Campion, that passionate connection and longing between the two rings true with surprising modernity in "Bright Star."

"I think anyone who has ever lost someone understands that moment," says Cornish as she straightens a dress strap falling off her exquisite shoulders.

"Even though Fanny and Keats lived in 1818, that doesn't make them a totally different species. They're still human beings."

Their all-too-human foibles leap to life thanks Cornish and co-star Ben Whishaw ("Perfume," "I'm Not There").

Confined by the times they live in, a girl of Fanny's class must marry a man with means. Ailing and impoverished, Keats cannot cross that social barrier no matter how much he and Fanny desire it.

The ironies of the era, however, are nicely played out by Keats' writing pal, Charles Brown ("Away We Go's" Paul Schneider). The pompous Scot can knock up his maid and proudly show off their child when it arrives. No such luck for Keats and Fanny.

"What this movie comes down to for me is our souls. To connect with what it is to be human," says Cornish, who will appear next in the 2011 action film "Sucker Punch."

The upcoming film follows a young girl in the 1950s who is about to be lobotomized. It's a far cry from the lyrical, still beauty Cornish leaves behind in "Bright Star." But, the electric experience with Campion, she says, is one that still stays with her.

"I knew this thing would Jane would be awesome," says Cornish as she brushes a blonde lock from those killer amber eyes.

"I saw 'The Piano' years ago and fell in love with it. But, something that is really rare is when you read a script and you imagine the film in your head and it actually comes out exactly the same. That happened with 'Somersault.' It happened again on this film with Jane."