MARGOT ROBBIE
- AUSTRALIAN ACTRESS -
G'day folks,
Margot Robbie is an Australian actress best known for
her roles in 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' 'Suicide Squad' and 'I, Tonya.' Last
night was the first time I’ve ever seen her interviewed on Australian
television, and I must say I was most impressed by her articulation. Wow, she
is not only eye candy, but also sharp
and smart, and certainly not cocky. Margot
Elise Robbie is also a film producer. In 2017, Time magazine named her as one
of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Forbes featured her in
their 30 Under 30 list.
Who Is Margot Robbie?
Following in the footsteps
of her Australian countrywomen Nicole
Kidman and Cate
Blanchett, Margot Robbie took the film world by storm, first in Martin
Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), along with
memorable roles in The Big Short (2015) and Suicide Squad
(2016). In 2017 she starred as the controversial figure skater Tonya
Harding in the biopic I, Tonya.
Hollywood Breakthrough: 'Wolf of Wall Street'
Few remember her debut
film, the Australian-made I.C.U., a serial killer thriller shot when she
was 17 and released in 2009. Richard Curtis’ time-travel rom-com About Time
(2013), with Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel
McAdams, made more of a splash. But it was her role as Naomi, Leonardo
DiCaprio’s Brooklyn bombshell wife and “the Duchess of Bay Ridge,”
in Martin Scorsese’s fact-based epic of financial flim-flammery The Wolf of
Wall Street (2013) that turned heads.
She also got attention for
her small but standout role playing herself in The Big Short in
2015. The comedic scene involved her explaining mortgage-backed securities
and subprime loans all the while floating in a tub of bubbles with champagne in
hand.
More Margot Robbie Movies: From 'Focus' to 'Suicide
Squad'
Robbie co-starred with Will
Smith in Focus (2015), as con artists who steal each other’s
hearts. That same year she also starred in the sci-fi drama Z for Zachariah
before re-teaming with Smith in the comics-based smash Suicide
Squad (2016), with Robbie punkily attired as fan fave Harley Quinn, the
psycho psychiatrist who is muse to Jared
Leto’s Joker. She told The Washington Post that diving into a
vat of “gluggy paint stuff” to bleach Harley’s skin in one scene was “the most
unpleasant thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” and her spiky accoutrement
wasn’t exactly comfortable either. She plans to reprise her popular
characterization in a spinoff, Gotham City Sirens, which she’ll also
produce.
In 2016 Robbie also starred
as Jane in The Legend of Tarzan and the following year, the wife of
Winnie the Pooh author A.A.
Milne in the historical drama Goodbye Christopher Robin.
Playing Tonya Harding in 'I, Tonya'
A three-year-old toddler
when the 1994 Winter Olympics were held, Robbie had no idea who Harding was, or
what the infamous “whacking incident” involving Nancy Kerrigan was all about.
As co-producer of the black comedy I, Tonya (2017), Robbie
dove headlong into the part, recreating her every gesture as closely as
possible. She did meet Harding, though limited their time together to a couple
of hours — “otherwise I might have too much empathy for her,” she said after
its premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.
While Harding’s famous
triple axel was recreated digitally, Robbie performed some of the skating
routines on her own accord, and impressed enough with her overall performance
to earn Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.
Growing Up in Australia's Gold Coast
Robbie was born in Dalby,
Queensland, Australia on July 2, 1990 and grew up in Gold Coast, a city 500
miles north of Sydney. Her mother, a physiotherapist, raised her and her three
siblings after her parents divorced. Her father is a farmer. She told Vanity
Fair that she thought she might be a magician, but an interest in drama in
high school led her to Melbourne and a kids’ show, The Elephant Princess,
co-starring the up-and-coming Liam
Hemsworth.
Early Career: Australian Soap Opera 'Neighbours'
Robbie has been
professionally acting since her teens. Before she left for Hollywood,
Australian audiences knew her from the TV soap opera Neighbours, which
began airing five years before her birth. Fearing she failed her audition, she
decided to vacation in Canada, but had to return quickly when she found out she
had won the part of the vivacious Donna Freedman in 2008. Donna’s kiss with a
female friend stirred controversy, though she remained a viewer favorite and
was nominated for several awards. She left Neighbours in 2010 (in a
“boring old happy ending”) but her first American TV show, Pan Am
(2011), crash-landed after one season.
Personal Life
Robbie met assistant
director Tom Ackerley on the World War II-set drama Suite Francaise
(2014). The two began dating and eventually got married in December 2016 and
moved to Los Angeles.
Clancy's comment: Go, Margot!
I'm ...
