Margot Elise Robbie (born 2 July 1990 in Dalby, Queensland) is an Australian actress and producer. She is known for her work in blockbusters and independent films alike, and was ranked as one of the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes in 2019.
Robbie started off in Australian indie films before joining the cast of Neighbours in 2008, serving as a regular on the show (promoted up from the original plans of her character being a guest role) until 2011. She then moved to the United States, where she starred in the short-lived flight attendant drama Pan Am and had her breakthrough in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, for which she gained critical acclaim. Further recognition came from her portrayal of the first live-action film version of perennial DC Comics Ensemble Dark Horse Harley Quinn in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with David Ayer's Suicide Squad.
She received her first Academy Award nomination (for Best Actress) for her lead role as figure skater Tonya Harding in 2017's I, Tonya, with her performance as a Fox News employee in 2019's Bombshell bringing her second nomination (for Best Supporting Actress). Additional noted roles of hers from the late 2010s onward have included Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Queen Elizabeth I in Mary, Queen of Scots, and Barbie in the namesake 2023 film.
Robbie and her husband, filmmaker Tom Ackerley, co-founded the production company LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014. Through the company, they have produced several films Robbie has starred in, namely I, Tonya and Barbie, as well as additional films (Promising Young Woman) and series (Dollface, Maid). Robbie also hosted the premiere of Saturday Night Live's 42nd season.
Selected filmography:
- Neighbours (2008 — 2011) as Donna Freedman
- Pan Am (2011 — 2012) as Laura Cameron
- About Time (2013) as Charlotte
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) as Naomi Lapaglia Belfort
- Z for Zachariah (2015) as Ann Burden
- Focus (2015) as Jess Barrett
- The Big Short (2015) as herself (cameo)
- Suite Française (2015) as Céline
- Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) as Tanya Vanderpol
- The Legend of Tarzan (2016) as Jane Porter
- DC Extended Universe as Harley Quinn:
- Suicide Squad (2016)
- Birds of Prey (2020)
- The Suicide Squad (2021)
- Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) as Daphne de Sélincourt
- I, Tonya (2017) as Tonya Harding
- Peter Rabbit (2018) as Flopsy (voice)
- Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021)
- Terminal (2018) as Annie / Bonnie
- Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018) as Audrey (cameo)
- Mary, Queen of Scots (2018) as Queen Elizabeth I
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) as Sharon Tate
- Bombshell (2019) as Kayla Popisil
- Dreamland (2019) as Alison Wells
- Amsterdam (2022) as Valerie Voze
- Babylon (2022) as Nellie LaRoy
- Asteroid City (2023) as Steenbeck's wife / The Actress
- Barbie (2023) as Barbie
Tropes in her works:
- Adam Westing:
- She parodies her status as a sex symbol in her cameo in The Big Short, where she seductively explains complex financial terms while in a bubble bath.
- Said sex symbol status is also parodied in one memorable Saturday Night Live sketch, "The Librarian," which features
some of the most stunning glamour shots of Robbie
◊. It also quickly spirals into Nightmare Fuel Fan Disservice. Watch the skit for yourself, at your own risk.
- Dye Hard: She's naturally brunette but became a blonde when she realised Everyone Loves Blondes in the film industry.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- For her role as Harley Quinn, she trained for six months in boxing, gymnastics, aerial silk training and various weapons training. She also learned to hold her breath for six minutes underwater. And she performed most of her stunts in high heels.
- Defied when she was asked to lose weight for The Legend of Tarzan. She did however change her hair from blonde to red.
- To prepare I, Tonya, she endured a four-month training regiment that included waking up at 5:30 am and practicing skating three times a week.
- Fake American: Since moving to America, she has only played Americans. Even Jane Porter in The Legend of Tarzan - who was written to be American in the original novels but is often English in adaptations. She gets to be Australian in The Big Short - where she's playing herself.
- Fake Brit: She can do a good English accent, as she demonstrated when playing Keira Knightley in a Saturday Night Live sketch, and later as Elizabeth I in Mary, Queen of Scots (2018).
- Femme Fatale: Often plays roles of this nature, such as in The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus, and Suicide Squad.
- Leg Focus: The Wolf of Wall Street did a rather memorable fixation◊ on her legs, as did the role of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. The Suicide Squad sees her outright kill a man with her legs.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- In The Wolf of Wall Street (in which she did full frontal nudity at her own request), Focus, and Suicide Squad.
- In The Big Short, she is one of several celebrities who make a cameo appearance as themselves to break from the movie and explain complicated financial concepts to the audience. Her cameo involves her sipping champagne in a bubble bath.
- Her character in Babylon (2022) is an aspiring actress who dresses in Stripperific outfits and is prone to dancing provocatively. Her in-universe career also relies on her sex appeal.
- No Stunt Double: Has done quite a few stunts without a double in all of her DCEU features to date, including a particularly elaborate stunt in The Suicide Squad where Harley kills a henchman while chained in mid-air and steals a key from the body using her feet. Director James Gunn was disappointed when he discovered that Robbie's face was obscured in much of the footage, making it look like a stunt double had taken over, and made sure to get the word out that it really was her doing the work.Gunn: She's like a human Swiss army knife.
- Playing Against Type: Her serious roles that do not involve her being the Ms. Fanservice.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: She portrayed two characters with a penchant for going barefoot, namely Sharon Tate from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Valerie Voze from Amsterdam.
- Star-Making Role: The one-two punch of The Wolf of Wall Street and Suicide Squad (2016). Her role as Naomi in the former catapulted her career outside of Australia. Aside from being noticed for her beauty, critics took note of her charismatic performance that blended comedy and drama very well. Her role as Harley Quinn in the latter boosted her fame even further. Despite the movie being panned, Margot got high praise for her work. Barbie firmly established her position on the A-list.
- What Could Have Been:
- Her first audition after moving to LA was for the 2011 reboot of Charlie's Angels, but the network instead wanted her for Pan Am.
- She auditioned for the role of Sue Storm in Fant4stic, but it went to Kate Mara instead. Considering what happened during the making of it and how poorly it was received, it's safe to say she doesn't regret missing out on it.
- She was the first choice to star in Ghost in the Shell (2017), but turned it down for Suicide Squad (2016), and Scarlett Johansson was cast instead.
- She was offered and turned down the role of Sam in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — the role which got Emma Stone a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
- In 2020, she signed on to star in an upcoming spinoff of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, only for it to be cancelled in November 2022.
