If you’ve seen “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Suicide Squad” or more recently the Oscar-nominated “I, Tonya,” then you know that 27-year-old Margot Robbie’s talent is made for the big screen.
But despite her striking on-camera performances, Robbie recently revealed to British Vogue that her family didn’t always support her career.
“My family has no connection to the entertainment industry whatsoever, so when I started acting, everyone was like, ‘That’s fun, but when are you going to actually get a real job?'” she says. “And that went on for years.”
But Robbie continued to pursue her passion.
She tells The Hollywood Reporter that at 17 years old she landed the role of a bisexual teen in the Australian soap opera “Neighbours” after hounding the casting director with calls. After her third year on the show, she moved to Los Angeles, signed a contract with the talent management company Management 360 and landed a role on the ABC drama “Pan Am.”
Although the show was cancelled after one season, Robbie’s performance opened the door for other opportunities, including a role in “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
From there, she says she started “chasing the roles that people didn’t want to give” her, including a 19-year-old farm girl in the 2015 independent film “Z for Zachariah.” Initially, Robbie says she was told that she lacked the box-office clout needed to get an indie film made.
But when actress Amanda Seyfried dropped out, Robbie went back to the financiers to convince them that the upcoming release of “The Wolf of Wall Street” would give her more credibility. She says she also wanted to show the world that she could play more than the promiscuous wife roles she had played before.
“I knew I needed to adjust people’s perception of me right then because otherwise I was going to be given [this one kind of thing],” she tells THR.
Since then, Robbie has used her talent and persistence to land prominent roles in films like the 2015 thriller “Focus,” the 2016 drama “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and the upcoming drama “Mary Queen of Scots.”
Her most recent role as figure skater Tonya Harding in “I, Tonya” came about when Robbie reached out to writer Steven Rogers from an actress and producer standpoint under her company LuckyChap Entertainment. She founded the company in 2014 with her husband, Tom Ackerley, and a few close friends.
Her performance in the film has not only made her one of Hollywood’s most talked about young actresses, but scored her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
While her career has certainly proven that acting can be a “real job,” Robbie admits that her family remains nonplussed by her fame and fortune.
“They’re impressed for like five seconds,” she tells British Vogue. “And then they’re, ‘So anyway, the dog threw up today.'”
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