2023 is a good year to be Margot Robbie. For one, the Aussie actor is starring in what may be the biggest hit of her career: “Barbie.” Greta Gerwig’s irreverent take on the iconic Mattel doll line is lighting the box office on fire — with the potential to cross the $1 billion line worldwide. But this year also marks another milestone for Robbie. In December, she’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the Martin Scorsese movie that made her a star.
Robbie didn’t exactly become famous overnight, though it felt like that for some American audiences in 2013. The then 22 year old was already well known in her native Australia for her regular part in iconic soap opera “Neighbours,” which she booked in 2008 when she was just 18. But for those outside Australia, audiences whose only (unlikely) exposure to Robbie was the failed ABC “Mad Men” coattail chaser “Pan Am,” her brash and hilarious performance in “The Wolf of Wall Street” was a proper star-is-born moment. Robbie more than held her own against an established great, Leonardo DiCaprio, and delivered the kind of acting turn that promises many great roles to come.
Since then, Robbie has acted consistently, although the films she’s chosen haven’t always lived up to her abilities. Much of Robbie’s career has been spent in the trenches of the DC Extended Universe, which makes you wonder what great work she could have been doing outside of the franchise — although it’s hard to begrudge her, given how definitive her hyperactive take on comic book favorite Harley Quinn feels. Then there’s the less than spectacular films she did great work in, from misfires like “Bombshell” to little remembered flops like “The Legend of Tarzan” to recent disasters, such as “Amsterdam.”
Robbie’s best work has often come in smaller roles, or in good but flawed films. She only has brief appearances in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Asteroid City,” but she runs away with both films as an unquestionable highlight. Conversely, she’s at the center of “Babylon” and “I, Tonya,” two divisive movies, but even their detractors wouldn’t deny the greatness of Robbie’s performances.
What makes Robbie a good actor? For one, you can’t deny her inherent magnetism; it’s hard to take your eyes off her when she’s onscreen. But beyond the obvious movie star quality, Robbie has a willingness to go big, as seen in her hammy performances in “Babylon” or as Harley Quinn, that doesn’t detract from her ability to play subtle, quieter moments. More than anything, there’s a disarming earnestness and joy to Robbie that shines through in her best work: from the sweet Sharon Tate in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…” to her curious and frustrated “Barbie,” Robbie’s characters wear their hearts on their sleeves, and make it easy for the audience to root for her in the process.
In honor of “Barbie,” IndieWire rounded up and ranked Robbie’s greatest film roles. These movies are ranked not necessarily by their quality, but by Robbie’s performance in them. Plus, we’ve included an honorable mention for our favorite Margot Robbie cameo. Read on because this Barbie can act.
Check out IndieWire’s guide to The Best Ryan Gosling Movies.
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10. “Bombshell” (2019)
Image Credit: Lionsgate Who Margot plays: A sparky freshman staffer for Fox News caught in the thresher that was Roger Ailes. “Kayla” isn’t strictly speaking based on a real person, but Robbie channels an amalgamation of details shared by women from that toxic cesspool of a newsroom to craft a pained portrait of sexual harassment for Jay Roach’s 2019 docudrama.
Why she’s great: With an uncharacteristically shaky American accent and an uneven script working against her, Robbie delivers one of her weaker performances in “Bombshell.” But a haunting scene opposite John Lithgow as Ailes stands out as the film’s overall high point. Alone and forced to lift her skirt in front of the lecherous executive (“It’s a visual medium, Kayla…”), Robbie’s peppy avatar for the #MeToo era dissolves into a heartbreaking and prescient puddle of contradictions that crystallizes the traumatic horror of processing such predation. —AF
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9. “Mary, Queen of Scots” (2018)
Image Credit: Focus Features Who Margot plays: Queen Elizabeth I: ruler to England in the last days of the Tudors and the cousin to Saoirse Ronan’s titular Mary Queen of Scots. Josie Rourke’s directorial debut sees the Best Actress nominees — then fresh off “Lady Bird” and “I, Tonya” respectively — reviving one of the most infamous rivalries in British history as the 16th-century cousin queens seeking to produce an heir to the throne.
Why she’s great: “Babylon” may be more majestically messy, but “Mary Queen of Scots” gifts Robbie her outright ugliest role. Painted in heavy white paint with a nasty case of the pox (and the cracking psyche to match), the stereotypical Barbie-type subverts audience expectations with a shrieking, heartbroken performance that makes up for an overall flat film — and truly heinous red wig. She’s an unfortunately small part of the movie, with only 25 minutes of screen time. But Robbie makes a meal of her monarch’s meltdown, devouring a singularly tense scene with Ronan as its cherry on top. —AF
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8. “The Suicide Squad” (2021)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Who Margot plays: Harley Quinn in her third (and maybe last?) go around as the iconic character. In the ensemble drama of James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” Harley takes a slight backseat, with the majority of the film seeing her shunted off to a sideplot where she gets captured and made the fiancée of Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto), dictator of the Corto Maltese government that the band of anti-heroes have been sent to disrupt.
Why she’s great: Robbie’s hyperactive Harley can be exhausting for some, so the more limited use of her in “The Suicide Squad” finds a good balance, letting her serve as memorable comic relief without overwhelming the film. In comparison to the awful original “Suicide Squad,” the film and Robbie are more confident with how they approach the character, letting her be ditzy and hairbrained while still kicking ass, and — in her relationships with her other team members — demonstrate a lovely amount of heart in the process. —WC
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7. “Asteroid City” (2023)
Image Credit: Focus Features Who Margot plays: An actress who was almost in “Asteroid City.” Wes Anderson’s latest is a self-referential and meta narrative, presenting the audience with a televised production of the play “Asteroid City.” Robbie’s character, an unnamed actress, was meant to play the dead wife of the piece’s main character Augie (Jason Schwartzman), before her only scene was cut. But in the film’s climax, Augie’s portrayer John runs into her, now a lady in waiting in another play, and they recite their since deleted scene together.
Why she’s great: Robbie is on screen for maybe two minutes of “Asteroid City,” but she gets the best scene in the entire film. The text of the scene the unnamed actress was meant to perform is touching and sad, a conversation between a man grieving his wife and a vision of her at her healthiest, but Robbie performs it at a wistful remove, as if the actress is thinking about the great artistic collaboration she could have had but never actually got. Anderson’s film is deeply concerned with the emotions art can bring the people who create it, and Robbie’s performance is a great symbol for the disappointment and mild heartbreak that goes into even the best of works. —WC
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6. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019)
Image Credit: Sony Who Margot plays: The late Sharon Tate, married to director Roman Polanski at the time of her murder by the Manson Family in 1969. The “Valley of the Dolls” actress and ‘60s sex symbol is more mirage than phantom as she’s depicted in “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to Los Angeles and his second revisionist history flick after “Inglourious Basterds.”
Why she’s great: Margot has famously few lines (but plenty of feet) in this movie: a fact that caused conflict between Tarantino and a reporter during the film’s press tour in 2019. Silently carrying solo scenes for most of her part in the project, Robbie brilliantly embodies the Hollywood dreams and ideals that generations of starry-eyed fans have come to associate her with. She may not be a fully fleshed-out character, but as a matter of artistic algebra: Robbie’s Tate is exactly as she needs to be for that grin-worthy finale sequence to really work. —AF
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5. “Birds of Prey” (2020)
Image Credit: © Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection Who Margot plays: Harley Quinn again! In Cathy Yan’s female-focused superhero movie, the crown princess of crime has been dumped by the Joker (Jared Leto, thankfully not in the film), and is suffering from major heartbreak. The movie’s plot sees her move on from the breakup by going on a bender — running afoul of Gotham’s police department and crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) in the process.
Why she’s great: After the disastrous first “Suicide Squad,” the flawed but undeniably fun “Birds of Prey” retooled breakout Harley Quinn to focus on her as an independent hero, caught between wanting to do the right thing and her own selfish tendencies. Robbie kicks plenty of ass in the film, but her performance is at its most interesting when it departs from the typical conventions of superhero flicks: through her rambly and confused narration, or her sweetly bickering relationship with street thief Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Robbie is essentially a screwball heroine stuck in an action movie, and it makes for the most interesting and vibrant performance in any DC film. —WC
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4. “Babylon” (2022)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Who Margot plays: Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring silent film starlet with a bevy of personal issues and a party girl personality. When the film starts, Nellie is a nobody sneaking into parties and sets in an effort to get her big break, which slowly pays off — before the transition to talkies, and the increasingly conservative attitude of the business signals her downfall.
Why she’s great: As Nellie, Robbie strikes similar notes that she does as Harley Quinn, bringing chaotic, unbridled energy to almost every scene; a one take sequence where she dances deliriously in a crowded room like she’s the only one there perfectly demonstrates the lust for stardom that defines Nellie’s approach to life. But Robbie is multifaceted in the role, which gives her many opportunities to show her range: a scene where she does a stage cry on set demonstrates Nellie’s evident talent, and a horrificly bad shoot of a talkie demonstrates Robbie’s comedic chops. Nellie’s troubles make her a ticking time bomb, and Robbie perfectly displays it in a scene where her attempts to act the dignified lady in a room of snotty society types curdles into rage and annoyance. And with Diego Calva’s striving producer Manny, Robbie shares a lovely chemistry that makes the heartbreak of Nellie’s broken dreams all the more painful. —WC
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3. “Barbie” (2023)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Who Margot plays: “Barbie,” of course. Specifically, Margot Robbie is “Stereotypical Barbie,” the type of statuesque blonde doll people think of when they think Barbie. Content to live her perfectly perfect life in Barbie Land, Stereotypical Barbie suddenly experiences a full-fledged existential crisis, and ends up embarking on a quest to the human world to find out why.
Why she’s great: Robbie has a decipetively tricky role as the plastic doll come to life in “Barbie.” She has to convey innocence without stupidity, earnestness without becoming cloying, slight camp without going overboard. And somehow, she smashes it. Stereotypical Barbie’s emotional journey, in which she opens herself up to the complications but joys of being a human woman, is seamless in Robbie’s hands, with her wide-eyed gaze slowly growing more strained as she experiences negative emotions for the first time, and her plastic disposition slowly turning more and more human as the film progresses. The tender scene where she opens herself up to the memories of the person playing with her, and experiences what it means to live for the first time, is wonderfully understated by Robbie, the single tear that roles out of her eyes feeling neither showy nor cheesy. “Barbie” is loud, hot pink fun, but Robbie’s performance makes it feel subtle. —WC
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2. “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Who Margot plays: Naomi Lapaglia, a caricature of the ex-wife of former stockbroker/fraudster Jordan Belfort (not intended to be true to life). Robbie plays opposite Leo DiCaprio in director Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”: her breakout feature and one of the best representations of feminism-forward gold-digging ever put to film.
Why she’s great: In a year that also boasted Jennifer Lawrence’s uproarious performance for “American Hustle,” this divisive 2013 black comedy broke through the east coast bimbo noise and launched Robbie’s career. The volatile, toxic-sexy chemistry between DiCaprio and Robbie gave audiences plenty of fizzy fun, and Robbie’s full-frontal nude scene was a frequently promoted selling point cutting against a daunting three-hour runtime. Everything about Naomi signals why Robbie was destined to be a star, from her fluid-yet-fine-tuned physicality to her stunning vocal work. And that high-heel scene? [Bites fist.] —AF
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1. “I, Tonya” (2017)
Image Credit: NEON Who Margot Plays: Tonya Harding. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Harding was one of the most talented figure skaters in the world, becoming the first American woman to perform the complicated triple axel move on the ice. But “I, Tonya” focuses on the incident that everyone remembers from Harding’s career, when she was charged with conspiring in an assault on one of her rivals, fellow Olympian Nancy Kerigan.
Why she’s great: Robbie received her first and so far only Best Actress nomination for “I, Tonya,” and deservingly so; although the film itself could be a fairly conventional biopic, Robbie’s commitment makes it riveting. She’s magnetic on the ice, capturing the joy Harding feels performing the sport she loves, and magnetic off, as her personal issues with her mother and boyfriend and frusturation at the classism she experiences in the sport curdles into flow-blown range. Harding isn’t the easiest person to understand, but Robbie’s performance makes her lovable and endlessly compelling. —WC
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Honorable mention: “The Big Short” (2015)
Image Credit: Paramount Who Margot plays: Herself. In what’s technically her first film with Ryan Gosling, Robbie appears as Margot Robbie for a sexy celebrity cameo doubling as an explanation of the housing market bubble burst of 2008. Gosling narrates over a butler pouring “The Wolf of Wall Street” actress a flute of champagne as she floats in a decadent tub: “Here’s Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to explain.”
Why she’s great: Plenty of Adam McKay’s “The Big Short” feels doomed to lose touch. But there’s an effortlessness to Robbie’s appearance here that makes it worth revisiting from time to time. It’s a rare treat to see the Australian character actress operating sans accent, and her locked-and-loaded explanation of subprime mortgage bonds is as zippy and Elle Woods-fabulous as you could hope. But it’s Robbie’s effortless delivery at the end — “Now, fuck off!” — that leaves a memorable, soapy sting. —AF
