1990-present

Who Is Margot Robbie?

Margot Robbie is an Academy Award–nominated actor known for her roles as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and controversial figure skater Tonya Harding in the biopic I, Tonya. Following in the footsteps of her Australian countrywomen Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett, Robbie first took the film world by storm in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street. More recently, she portrayed actor Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and earned a supporting Oscar nod for her role in Bombshell. This July, Robbie headlines the Greta Gerwig–directed Barbie movie.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Margot Elise Robbie
BORN: July 2, 1990
BIRTHPLACE: Dalby, Queensland, Australia
SPOUSE: Tom Ackerley (2016-present)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer

Childhood and Early Career on ‘Neighbours’

Margot Elise 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, Sarie Kessler, is a physiotherapist who raised her and her three siblings after her parents divorced. Her father is Doug Robbie.

Robbie 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. She 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”), and her first American TV show, Pan Am (2011), crash-landed after one season.

Hollywood Breakthrough: ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘Focus’

margot robbie smiles at the camera, she wears a red dress and several earrings, leonardo dicaprio is to her left and stares straight ahead in profile

Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie attend a 2014 premiere of The Wolf of Wall Street. Robbie’s role as the wife of DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort helped launch her mainstream career.
Getty Images

Few remember Robbie’s debut film, the Australian-made I.C.U., a serial killer thriller shot when she was 17 and released in 2009. Her part in 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 based-on-a-true-story epic of financial flim-flammery The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) that turned heads.

Robbie 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.

That year also saw her first lead roles. Robbie co-starred opposite Will Smith in Focus, playing con artists who steal each other’s hearts. She also starred in the sci-fi drama Z for Zachariah.

Harley Quinn in ‘Suicide Squad’

One of Robbie’s most notable roles is as the punkily attired fan fave Harley Quinn. She first appeared in the role in the comics-based smash Suicide Squad (2016). Harley Quinn is the psycho psychiatrist who is a muse to Jared Leto’s Joker. Robbie 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.

Robbie planned to reprise her popular characterization of Harley Quinn in Gotham City Sirens, though that project was shelved in favor of another spin-off Birds of Prey, which co-starred Ewan McGregor and hit theaters in February 2020. Robbie again portrayed Harley Quinn in 2021’s The Suicide Squad.

More Movies: ‘The Legend of Tarzan,’ ‘Once Upon a Time,’ and ‘Bombshell’

Also in 2016, Robbie starred as Jane in The Legend of Tarzan, with Alexander Skarsgard, and the following year she played the wife of Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne in the historical drama Goodbye Christopher Robin.

Robbie then landed in another high-profile project by portraying actor Sharon Tate, a real-life victim of the notorious Charles Manson–orchestrated murders of 1969, alongside

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 feature Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.

Late in 2019, Robbie enjoyed an even more prominent role in Bombshell, a retelling of the sexual harassment allegations that rocked Fox News under the oversight of former CEO Roger Ailes. Although her character of Kayla Pospisil was a fictional composite—unlike the portrayals of Megyn Kelly by Charlize Theron and Gretchen Carlson by Nicole Kidman—Robbie brought her “Christian millennial” character to life with a nuanced performance, impressing enough to earn Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations Best Supporting Actress.

Playing Tonya Harding in ‘I, Tonya’

tonya harding and margot robbie smile at the camera while sitting at a table filled with glasses and other items, both women wear black dresses and have shoulder length blonde hair

Tonya Harding and Margot Robbie attend the 2018 Golden Globe Awards.
Getty Images

A 3-year-old toddler when the 1994 Winter Olympics were held, Robbie had no idea who figure skater Tonya Harding was or what the infamous “whacking incident” involving competitor Nancy Kerrigan was all about. But Robbie dove headlong into her starring role as Harding for 2017’s darkly comedic biopic I, Tonya, recreating her every gesture as closely as possible. She did meet Harding, though limited their time together to a couple of hours prior to the completion of filming—“otherwise I might have too much empathy for her,” she said after its premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

READ More:   How to Mince Garlic

For the movie, Harding’s famous triple axel was recreated digitally, but 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.

The movie was also the first release for Robbie’s Los Angeles–based production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, which she founded with her husband and two friends years earlier. Since its 2014 beginnings, the company’s goal has been to place a focal point on female-led stories in movies and television, which LuckyChap has accomplished with films like I, Tonya, Birds of Prey, Promising Young Woman (2020), and shows like Hulu’s Dollface.

Recent Movies: ‘Amsterdam,’ ‘Babylon,’ and ‘Asteroid City’

In recent years, Robbie’s star power has continued to shine. After reprising her role as Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey (2020) and The Suicide Squad (2021), the actor moved on to 2022’s Amsterdam. In the period piece set during World War I, Robbie plays Valerie Voze, a nurse who helps two injured soldiers played by Christian Bale and John David Washington. The film loosely follows a conspiracy plot to remove President Franklin D. Roosevelt from office and replace him with a dictator.

That same year saw the release of Babylon, in which Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy and other characters try to live out their dreams of achieving Hollywood fame and stardom in the 1920s. In the rapidly evolving film industry, Nellie struggles to adapt and succumbs to vices that include drug use and gambling, which jeopardize her it girl status and career. The role earned Robbie her third Golden Globe nomination and second for Best Actress.

Robbie was also among the star-studded cast in Wes Anderson’s 2023 Asteroid City, which offers a meta-story-within-a-story plot that takes place in a 1950s desert town. Other cast members included Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, and Maya Hawke.

‘Barbie’

margot robbie looks to the right of the camera while smiling, she stands on a pink carpet in front of a barbie movie backdrop while wearing a black sparkly dress, bicep length gloves and black high heels

Margot Robbie attends the Barbiepremiere in a black evening gown inspired by the 1960s “Solo in the Spotlight” Barbie doll.
Getty Images

In 2019, Warner Bros. and Mattel announced Robbie would take on the role of Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie live-action movie. Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment is also co-producing the project.

During the press tour leading up to the film’s July 21, 2023 release, Robbie wore some of Barbie’s most iconic looks throughout the years, including 1990s “Enchanted Evening” doll, 1960s “Solo in the Spotlight” doll, the 1992 “Totally Hair” doll, and a dress inspired by the 1959 Black and White swimsuit Barbie.

The internet collectively obsessed over the opening shot in a Barbie trailer that showed a pair of feet—soon revealed to be Robbie’s—sliding out of heeled sandals and not losing the tip-toe arched stance of an actual Barbie doll’s feet. Robbie, who is 5-foot-6, has previously mentioned that having “big feet” can be embarrassing when she can’t find heels in her size but recently said she’s “really flattered that people are excited about my feet.”

In the movie, Robbie’s Barbie has an existential crisis that takes her away from Barbie Land and brings her to the real world. Ryan Gosling co-stars as Ken, while other Hollywood heavyweights, like Simu Liu, play different iterations of the Ken doll. Issa Rae, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, and Michael Cera also appear in the film.

Husband

margot robbie and tom ackerley smiles at the camera while standing together, she wears a pink polka dotted top, he wears a cream colored sweater

Margot Robbie and husband Tom Ackerley in June 2023
Getty Images

Robbie met assistant director Tom Ackerley on the World War II drama Suite Francaise (2014). The two began dating and eventually got married in December 2016. They don’t have any children.

Net Worth

Robbie’s net worth shot up significantly in 2023 thanks to the actor’s starring role in Barbie. According to Variety, Robbie’s salary for the role was $12.5 million, boosting her total net worth to an estimated $40 million.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us!

Headshot of Biography.com Editors

Biography.com Editors
Staff Editorial Team and Contributors

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

Headshot of Daisy Hernandez

Daisy Hernandez
Freelance writer
Daisy Hernandez is a reporter, editor, and content creator with a background in print and digital media and has written for Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, and Bicycling magazines. She loves to cook, frequently testing out new recipes on friends and family, and is a big fan of prehistoric science, travel, Halloween, trivia, and dogs. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter.