Timeline
Horror outlier turned Netflix record-breaker, now a franchise player who picks projects like a collector.
The franchise tier
Furiosa (2024) was a perfect encapsulation of where she stands: a seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes, 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and $174.4 million against a $168 million budget. Critical respect, financial wash. The Gorge on Apple TV+ fixed the math in 2025, becoming the platform's biggest film launch ever, beating the Brad Pitt and George Clooney vehicle Wolfs by 80% in new viewer growth. Her cameo as Alia Atreides in Dune: Part Two stayed secret until the London premiere red carpet, which says something about the level of access she's operating at now. Dune: Part Three is in production for December 2026, and she's cast as young Joni Mitchell opposite Meryl Streep in Cameron Crowe's biopic. The projects are too different from each other to fit a single category, which is the whole point.
Viking epics, $1.36 billion in animated revenue, and two weddings
She reunited with Robert Eggers for The Northman, a Viking epic opposite Alexander Skarsgard that earned 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and voiced Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed $1.36 billion worldwide. The private life followed its own logic: secretly married musician Malcolm McRae on April Fools' Day 2022 in New Orleans, held a second ceremony at Palazzo Pisani Moretta on Venice's Grand Canal in October 2023, and waited two years to post the photos.
62 million households and one chess orphan
Netflix released The Queen's Gambit in October 2020. Sixty-two million households watched it in the first 28 days, a record for any scripted limited series on the platform. It hit number one in 63 countries simultaneously. Chess.com saw a 500% spike in new signups, Amazon reported a 215% jump in chess set sales, and Google searches for 'how to play chess' hit a nine-year peak.
None of that was predictable from the premise: a seven-episode period drama about a chess orphan with a pill problem. She won the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for Beth Harmon and picked up an Emmy nomination. The role's cultural footprint is genuinely strange, and it belongs almost entirely to her performance.
Range-building before the big swing
Between Split and The Queen's Gambit, she filled the gaps: returning as Casey Cooke in Glass, joining Peaky Blinders for two seasons as Gina Gray, and playing Emma Woodhouse in Autumn de Wilde's Emma adaptation, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.
Horror circuit to Shyamalan's comeback vehicle
M. Night Shyamalan cast her as Casey Cooke in Split (2016), and the film made $278.5 million worldwide on a $9 million budget, becoming Blumhouse's highest-grossing film until 2023. She wasn't the lead, but she carried the emotional core while James McAvoy ran through 24 personalities around her.
Thoroughbreds (2017) came next, opposite Olivia Cooke, in the directorial debut of Cory Finley. It also featured Anton Yelchin in his final screen role. She kept picking strange, precise projects and letting the industry figure out what to do with her.
The Witch and a deliberate bet
A Disney Channel pilot was on the table and she turned it down to play Thomasin in Robert Eggers' debut feature, a Puritan-era horror film shot in the woods of Ontario. The Witch was only her second professional audition. It premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim, and after watching her own performance, she reportedly convinced herself she'd never work again. She was wrong, but the instinct to bet on difficult material over safe choices became the whole career pattern.
Miami, Buenos Aires, London, and a dog walk outside Harrods
Born in Miami to a multinational family, raised in Buenos Aires until age six, then relocated to London. She refused to speak English for two years after the move, hoping the silent treatment would get her parents to take her back to Argentina. Eventually learned it from the Harry Potter books. Studied ballet until 15, then pivoted to acting. At 17, Storm Management founder Sarah Doukas spotted her walking her dog outside Harrods and signed her, on the condition that acting stayed primary. The combination of languages, countries, and accidental discovery built a person who was never quite from anywhere in particular.
Rise to Fame
She spent years as the best thing in films almost nobody watched. The Witch in 2015 started it, a lead role she got after submitting a video audition against 1,000 others. The horror fanbase followed. Then The Queen's Gambit came in 2020 and changed the math: 62 million households watched it in the first month, a Netflix record. She won the Golden Globe and the SAG Award. The chess world saw a spike in new players. Nobody got famous off Beth Harmon except her.
In the Spotlight
Furiosa (2024) was the test. Playing a younger version of Charlize Theron's character is basically a trap, and she sprinted right into it anyway. The film got a six-minute standing ovation at Cannes and a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, then disappointed at the box office. The Gorge on Apple TV in 2025 fixed the narrative: it set a streaming record for the platform, surpassing the Brad Pitt and George Clooney vehicle Wolfs. She has Dune: Part Three coming and is reportedly in talks to play Joni Mitchell in a Cameron Crowe biopic. The industry isn't building around her potential anymore. It's just building around her.
Side Notes
She was born in Miami, raised in Buenos Aires until six, then dropped into London with no English, which she has said she refused to learn out of hope she'd move back to Argentina. Storm Management scouted her at 17 outside Harrods while she was walking her dog. She and musician Malcolm McRae secretly married in New Orleans on April Fools' Day 2022, announcing it two years later in an April Fools' Day Instagram post. When you've never quite belonged anywhere, you get comfortable keeping secrets.