Vanessa Kirby

Born in Wimbledon (London) on April 18, 1988, Vanessa Nuala Kirby –her full name– has as parents Jane Kirby, editor of “Country Living” magazine, and Roger Kirby, a prestigious urologist, who has been a fan of theater ever since. very small. “A fan of Shakespeare, he had dragged me and my two brothers to see so many plays, and I was always bored,” she recalls. Until when she was 11 years old she took them to see Vanessa Redgrave and her brother, Corin Redgrave ., leading the cast of “The Cherry Garden”. “That night was different. He felt that he was in that garden with them. I was sucked into the magic.” She decided to join the theater group at the elitist school where she studied. “Acting made me feel safe from constant harassment from my peers,” she explains.

At seventeen he tried unsuccessfully to enter some acting academies. He decided to take a year off to travel, and later studied English at the University of Exeter. Although Vanessa Kirby finally managed to get admitted to the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in her hometown after graduating, she ultimately gave up the position to dedicate herself to acting in the theater, as she had just received offers to three papers in a row.

Over the course of a decade, Vanessa Kirby carved out enormous prestige for herself on the stage, although from time to time she shot a series or feature films such as A Matter of Time , where Joanna, a friend of Mary ( Rachel McAdams ), Everest , was in the one that gave life to the real mountaineer Sandy Hill, Jupiter Ascending , in which she was the best ally of Mila Kunis , the protagonist, and The Book Publisher , where she embroidered Zelda Fitzgerald. She established herself when she was signed to give life to Princess Margarita, in The Crown , the well-known Netflix series.

“The casting was disastrous,” confesses Peter Morgan , creator of the series. “She had slathered on suntan lotion with little skill, his palms had turned dark, and he was sweating. But despite the chaotic impression he caused me, the honesty, electricity and magnetism that he gave off, and the courage and crudeness with which he exposed himself prevailed. It became clear to me that this woman was going to be magic.” The first two seasons of her consecrated her internationally. “The role seemed like a gift to me,” says the star, who for this work she won the BAFTA for Supporting Actress on Television in 2018.

Just in case someone had thought of pigeonholing her for the monarchical series, Vanessa Kirby completely changed register with Mission Impossible: Fallout , becoming the great revelation of the film, the enigmatic White Widow. She has reprized the character in the subsequent two sequels, and has continued in the action arena as the lead female performer in Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw . “I enjoy this genre because physically these movies require discipline and as an actress, the job is to not judge the characters, have fun and empathize. You flip a different switch inside of you to play those kinds of movies and I like to push my body to the limit with the action,” she says.

Although she has not yet gone down the aisle, Vanessa Kirby had a three-year romance with fellow actor Christian Cooke . When they broke up, she was joined by Douglas Booth , whom she met while filming the BBC miniseries Great Expectations , and later by Callum Turner , who was cast with her in Queen and Country .

She dazzled as an unbalanced woman after losing her baby in childbirth, in Fragments of a Woman , with whom Vanessa Kirbywon the Volpi Cup for best actress in Venice. “I prepared a lot for the role because I am not a mother, but I discovered that those who have suffered something like this prefer not to talk about the loss of a child. I was immensely grateful that some of them shared their story with me, a complete stranger, to whom they explained how one survives that trauma, in order to continue with their lives. It is one of the most painful human experiences”, comments the interpreter. She impresses the delivery sequence shot, which lasts almost half an hour, which she repeated four times on set. She has earned nominations for the Golden Globe and the Oscar for best leading actress, for this film.