Margot Robbie has come a very long way since her days playing fiery teenager Donna Freedman in Neighbours.
Since then, the Aussie star, 32, has become one of film’s most in-demand leading ladies, starring in blockbusters such as Bombshell, The Suicide Squad and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. So it’s hard to believe that only 10 years ago she was still finding her feet in Tinseltown.
Sitting down to chat at central London’s BAFTA headquarters, she recalls her journey from soap actress to global megastar – and what a trip it’s been.
Margot was just 17 when she landed the role of Donna in the legendary Aussie soap – and she feels only pride for her Ramsay Street beginnings.
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Getty Images for BAFTA)“I attribute so much of who and what I am now to being on Neighbours,” she says. “I didn’t go to film school or drama school – I wish that I had – but I learnt on the job. I did three years, some of the greatest years of my life. It was like they were my university years and my last day on Neighbours was like graduating.”
Margot also famously joined Ramsay Street veterans Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce for its final episode.
“Everyone on that show I was really close with, and not just because I spent that amount of time with them, but because I was 17 when I started living in Melbourne,” she says. “To me, that was the Big Smoke. I didn’t know anyone.”
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Fremantle Media/REX/Shutterstock)As well as helping her develop as an actress, her cast mates taught her valuable life lessons off-screen, too.
“Toadie [Ryan Moloney] taught me how to do my taxes,” she said. “And Susan Kennedy [Jackie Woodburne] showed me how to roast a chicken.”
After 300 episodes, Margot felt her time on the soap had run its course and she set her sights on cracking Hollywood.
She asked her soap bosses to kill her character off “in a big spectacular death”, but they refused, telling her they’d keep the door open in case “it doesn’t work out in America”.
That, she reveals, gave her just the incentive she needed to succeed.
“I was like, ‘I love you all, but I’m gonna make it in America, I promise you. You don’t need to keep my job free!’” she says.
Two years after leaving Melbourne, Margot made her feature film debut in Richard Curtis’s romantic comedy About Time, alongside Rachel McAdams.
That same year saw Margot draw the attention of several big-name directors, including Martin Scorsese, who cast her as Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf Of Wall Street, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I know this sounds silly now, knowing how big the movie became, but at the time I was like, ‘No one’s gonna notice me in this film. It doesn’t matter what I do in this film because they’re gonna focus on Leo and I’ll just slip under the radar,’” she says.
The role meant filming her first-ever nude scene aged just 22. Understandably, it wasn’t the easiest experience and Margot confesses she “had a couple of shots of tequila before shooting because I was very nervous”.
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Paramount Pictures)Working with Taxi Driver legend Scorsese was a huge learning experience, and after The Wolf Of Wall Street became a hit, Margot found herself as one of the most in- demand actresses in Hollywood.
In 2014, she started her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, alongside her British husband, film producer Tom Ackerley, 32, who she married in Byron Bay, Australia, in December 2016.
The hit biopic I, Tonya was LuckyChap’s first major production and focused on the life of controversial American figure skater Tonya Harding. Margot received Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her performance as Tonya.
As her career continued to flourish, ambitious Margot wrote a letter to Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino, begging him to cast her in one of his movies.
“I always knew that being on a Quentin Tarantino set was a bucket-list thing for me,” she says. “And I didn’t really feel that I was good enough until I saw I, Tonya. It was the first time I thought, ‘OK, I’m good enough to reach out to him.’”
In 2019, Margot’s wish was granted when Tarantino cast her as the late Sharon Tate in his comedy-drama Once Upon A Time In Hollywood alongside her old Wolf Of Wall Street pal Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Jaap Buitendijk)Image:
Warner Bros Pictures)Another learning curve came that same year when Margot landed a role in the drama Bombshell, alongside Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman.
So, does she think movies such as Bombshell have helped to shed light on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry?
“I think it’s a big ship to turn around. But it’s definitely moving in the right direction, I feel,” says Margot.
Next year the actress will star in the Barbie movie, in which she plays the iconic doll opposite Ryan Gosling’s Ken, and it’s clear she can’t quite believe her own luck.
“So many times I feel like it’s a ridiculous way to make a living,” she laughs. “We’re getting paid to do this. It’s ridiculous and wonderful.”
Margot was speaking at BAFTA: A Life In Pictures With Margot Robbie supported by TCL.#