Margot Robbie was born on July 2, 1990, in Dalby, Queensland, to Doug Robbie, a former landowner and sugarcane entrepreneur, and Sarie Kessler, a physical therapist. She is one of four children, with older siblings Anya and Lachlan, and a younger brother, Cameron. Her parents separated when she was five years old. Raised mainly by their mother, the Margot Robbie children had limited involvement with their father. Most of her childhood was spent on her grandparents’ farm in Currumbin Valley, located in the Gold Coast hinterlands. As a kid, she frequently staged performances for her family.

Her mother enrolled her in a circus program, where she excelled in trapeze and earned a certificate in the skill by age eight. Robbie attended Somerset College, where she focused on drama. During her teenage years, she worked multiple jobs, including bartending, house cleaning, and making sandwiches at Subway. After finishing high school, and with some commercial work and indie thrillers under her belt, she moved to Melbourne to pursue acting professionally.

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Margot Robbie was next seen in Richard Curtis’ 2013 romantic comedy About Time, alongside Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams. The film revolves around a young man who discovers he can travel through time and attempts to alter his past to create a better future. To portray Gleeson’s elusive teenage crush, Robbie spoke with a British accent. The movie achieved moderate financial success.

That same year marked Margot Robbie’s breakout role, playing Naomi Lapaglia—the wife of lead character Jordan Belfort—in Martin Scorsese’s biographical dark comedy The Wolf of Wall Street. During her audition, Margot Robbie spontaneously slapped co-star Leonardo DiCaprio during an argument scene, which helped secure her the role. Both the film and her performance earned critical acclaim, with particular praise for her convincing Brooklyn accent.

Critic Sasha Stone described her portrayal as “Scorsese’s most striking blonde discovery since Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull. Robbie is sharp, hilarious, and dominates every scene.” The Wolf of Wall Street was a commercial hit, earning $392 million globally and becoming Scorsese’s top-grossing movie at the time. Robbie received a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer.

She next starred in Craig Zobel’s post-apocalyptic drama Z for Zachariah, opposite Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor, marking her first role as the central character. Loosely adapted from Robert C. O’Brien’s novel of the same title, the movie centers on Ann Burden (played by Robbie), who becomes entangled in an intense romantic triangle with two other apparent survivors of a catastrophe that has nearly eradicated humanity. For the role, Robbie dyed her hair a darker shade and adopted an Appalachian dialect.[36] The film garnered favorable reviews, and Margot Robbie’s performance was especially well-received. Drew McWeeny of HitFix declared that “Robbie’s work here confirms her as one of the strongest talents of her generation.”[37][38] Her fourth appearance in 2015 was a brief but memorable role in Adam McKay’s comedy-drama The Big Short, where she breaks the fourth wall to explain subprime mortgages while lounging in a bathtub. The film achieved both critical acclaim and box office success, and years later, Robbie’s scene resurfaced in popular discussions during the GameStop short squeeze, as her explanation helped illustrate what was unfolding in financial markets.[39]

2016–2018: Rise to Global Fame

In 2016, Margot Robbie teamed up again with directors Ficarra and Requa for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle, in which she portrayed a British journalist alongside Tina Fey and Martin Freeman.[40][41] Later that year, she starred as Jane Porter in David Yates’ action-adventure The Legend of Tarzan. Determined to avoid playing a helpless character, Robbie insisted on portraying Jane as strong and capable, rejecting the stereotypical damsel in distress image seen in earlier versions of the story.[42] Although the movie received mostly negative reviews,[43] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times commended Margot Robbie for “holding her own” amidst a male-dominated cast that included Alexander Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson.[44]

Margot Robbie made history as the first actress to portray Harley Quinn in a live-action film when she joined David Ayer’s 2016 superhero movie Suicide Squad, alongside a star-studded cast including Will Smith, Jared Leto, and Viola Davis. Despite not having read the comics before taking the role, she felt a strong obligation to portray the iconic villainess authentically and to meet fan expectations.[45] To prepare for the part, Margot Robbie went six months of intensive training that included gymnastics, boxing, aerial silks, and learning to hold her breath underwater for up to five minutes. She performed most of her own stunts.[46] Suicide Squad became a major box office hit, ranking as the tenth highest-grossing movie of 2016 with a worldwide gross of $746.8 million. Robbie’s portrayal was widely considered the film’s standout element.[47] Writing for Time, Stephanie Zacharek praised Robbie as “an irresistibly watchable actress, charming in nearly every sense,” even while criticizing the character’s design,[48] and The Atlantic’s Christopher Orr called her performance “truly outstanding.”[49] At the People’s Choice Awards, she received the award for Favorite Action Movie Actress and also won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie.[50][51] In October 2016, she hosted the 42nd season premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, appearing in several sketches including a spoof of Ivanka Trump.[52] The episode drew the show’s highest premiere ratings in eight years.[53]

Robbie reunited with Domhnall Gleeson in the 2017 biopic Goodbye Christopher Robin, directed by Simon Curtis. The film chronicles the life of Winnie-the-Pooh author A. A. Milne and his family. Although both the film and Robbie’s performance received lukewarm reactions from critics, it failed to perform well at the box office.[54][55]

Following this, she starred in Craig Zobel’s post-apocalyptic drama Z for Zachariah, acting alongside Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It marked her first lead role. Loosely adapted from Robert C. O’Brien’s novel of the same title, the story centers on Ann Burden (played by Robbie), who becomes entangled in a tense romantic triangle with two other survivors after a catastrophic event devastates much of humanity. To prepare for the role, Robbie dyed her hair brunette and practiced an Appalachian dialect. The film earned favorable reviews, and her performance was especially well-received, with Drew McWeeny from HitFix stating that her work confirmed her as one of the top young actresses of her generation. Her fourth project of 2015 was a brief appearance in Adam McKay’s comedy-drama The Big Short, where she famously breaks the fourth wall to explain subprime mortgages while sitting in a bathtub. The film was both a critical and box office hit. Years later, during the GameStop stock surge, her cameo resurfaced in relevance, as it helped viewers understand the financial situation.

Robbie kicked off 2018 by voicing Flopsy Rabbit in Peter Rabbit, an animated comedy directed by Will Gluck and inspired by Beatrix Potter’s beloved book series. The film turned out to be a commercial hit, earning $351.3 million globally on a $50 million budget. Her following two projects that year—the neo-noir thriller Terminal and the comedy-horror Slaughterhouse Rulez—failed both critically and financially. Robbie’s final appearance of 2018 came in the historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, helmed by Josie Rourke. The movie starred Saoirse Ronan in the lead role, with Robbie portraying her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, and focused on the 1569 political and personal tensions between the two monarchs. Initially, Robbie had declined the part, admitting she was “terrified” of not measuring up to past portrayals of the Queen. Each filming day began with a three-hour makeup session, where she had prosthetics, fake boils, and blisters applied. Although the film drew criticism for its script and historical inaccuracies, the performances by Ronan and Robbie received acclaim. Yolanda Machado of TheWrap commented, “All hail Ronan and Robbie for embodying two famously layered figures and commanding the screen. Ronan’s passionate Mary and Robbie’s nuanced Elizabeth are nothing short of regal.” Robbie’s role earned her nominations for both a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.