Australia is famous for a lot of things, unusual animals, a vibrant culture, great beer, and hard-hitting sports like Footy, but the antipodean island nation is sometimes neglected for its outstanding contributions to global talent! A very large number of world-famous music acts, actors, and entertainers, far too many to list, hail from Down Under, but many people in America and Europe don’t realise that’s where they came from, sometimes even claiming them for their own!
Every year millions of Australian fans flock to see their favourite acts from home and abroad perform live in the country’s major venues, with event ticketing companies like Queen of Tickets working around the clock to keep up with the demand! Or, they line up around the block at the cinema to see new films that feature their beloved stars. Today we are going to focus in on one of our favourite Aussie movie stars, the amazing Margot Robbie!
Margot Elise Robbie was born on 2 July 1990 in Dalby, Queensland, to sugarcane tycoon Doug Robbie, and physiotherapist Sarie Kessler. At age 5 her parents separated and she was raised by her single mother on a Currumbin Valley farm owned by her grandparents. Margot was, rather unsurprisingly, an active and vivacious child who delighted friends and family by putting on impromptu shows in their home.
Seeing her daughter’s unbridled talent, Margot’s mother enrolled her in circus school where she mastered the trapeze. She studied drama in high school, then took small parts in TV commercials and independent thriller films. When she was seventeen years old Margot headed to Melbourne to seek a career as a professional actor. After several small roles, in June 2008 she was given a part in the television soap opera Neighbours, for which she received two Logie Award nominations.
In 2011 she packed up and left for America, hoping to hit Hollywood big time. Her gambit paid off, and Margot began to get work in TV, then in movies beginning with the romantic science fiction comedy It’s About Time. Robbie’s big breakthrough came in 2013 with a starring role in Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy hit The Wolf of Wall Street, and Margot’s performance received rave reviews.
Margot’s career continued to flourish and she appeared in a wide range of parts, but her next really big hit would prove to be the role of super-villains Harley Quinn, the former lover of Batman Arch-enemy the Joker, and a cult favourite of comic book and animation fans, who she vowed she would please with her take on the quirky character! Her avid dedication to the part worked wonders, and she is attributed with leading Suicide Squad to commercial success as the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2016! It wasn’t just delighted comic fans who approved, Margot won the Favourite Action Movie Actress award At the annual People’s Choice Awards ceremony, along with the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie!
More success followed, and her appearance as another pop culture icon, the famed All-American girl doll in 2023’s Barbie led the film to gross of over US$1.4 billion and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture!
Margot Robbie continues to make Australia’s movie fans proud!
