Vanessa Kirby

Vanessa Kirby (birthname: Vanessa Nuala Kirby) is perhaps best known for her expressive portrayal of Princess Margaret in Peter Morgan’s series for Netflix, The Crown (2016-2018), and she has been nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her lead performance in director Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman (2020), co-starring Shia LaBeouf, Molly Parker, Sarah Snook, Benny Safdie, and Ellen Burstyn.

After an early phase to a serious acting career alternating between quality television drama (including a 2011 miniseries version of Great Expectations) and a range of distinguished theater performances (including Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Miller productions at the Octagon Theatre, multiple productions at the Royal National Theatre, the Young Vic, and the Royal Court Theatre), Kirby gradually gained more work in movies, starting notably with writer-director John Boorman’s Queen and Country, his sequel to 1987’s Hope and Glory, and co-starring Callum Turner, David Thewlis, and Richard E. Grant, and premiering at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors Fortnight.

After supporting roles in the sci-fi box-office disaster, Jupiter Ascending (2015), and in writer-director Graham Henman’s indie British film, Bone in the Throat (2015), with Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Graves, Vanessa Kirby was cast in her first Hollywood studio movie, the adventure Everest (2015), directed by Baltasar Kormákur and starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, and Emily Watson, and grossing $203 million worldwide.

Kirby portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the poorly received John Logan-written drama about editor Maxwell Perkins and author Thomas Wolfe, Genius (2016), starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce, and Dominic West, followed by a leap into genre movies with the little-seen British sci-fi thriller, Kill Command (2016) and a supporting role in the well-received Jojo Moyes romantic drama, Me Before You (2016), starring Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, and Charles Dance, earning ten times expenses with a global take of $208 million.

Vanessa Kirby’s movie profile expanded considerably with her appearance as Alann/White Widow in writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018), starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris, Anglea Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin, grossing $791 million worldwide. Kirby revived her role in the double-movie sequel to Fallout, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning (2023 and 2024), both also written and directed by McQuarrie.

Kirby’s work with European directors continued with Agnieszka Holland in Poland/Ukraine/U.K.-produced true-life thriller, Mr. Jones (2019), with James Norton and Peter Sarsgaard. Kirby jumped into Hollywood blockbuster moviemaking with the top female role in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), co-starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Cliff Curtis, and Helen Mirren, scoring a strong global box office take of $760 million.

Kirby came off of this hit with her prestigious triumph in Pieces of a Woman, followed by a stunning performance in director Mona Fastvold’s expressive American period drama, The World to Come (2020), based on Jim Shepard’s novel and starring Katherine Waterston, Christopher Abbott, and Casey Affleck, winning the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Vanessa Kirby had reached star status by the time she performed in writer-director Adam Leon’s intimate independent film, Italian Studies (2021), premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Kirby joined the ensemble of Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, and Anthony Hopkins for writer-director Florian Zeller’s screen version of his 2018 play, The Son (2022), premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

In one of her biggest serious roles to date, Kirby was cast as Josephine (replacing Jodie Comer) in Ridley Scott’s production for Apple Studios of Napoleon (date to be announced), starring Joaquin Phoenix and Tahar Rahim. Kirby was a lead in writer-director Brady Corbet’s biopic on architect Laszlo Toth, The Brutalist (date to be announced), co-starring Joel Edgerton, Sebastian Stan, Mark Rylance, Marion Cottilard, Alessandro Nivola, Stacy Martin, and Isaach de Bankolé.