Rise to Fame
The deal that launched her career wasn't with a producer. It was with her parents. Diagnosed with dyslexia at six, she negotiated: learn to read and they'd hire her an agent. She used Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility screenplay as the textbook. By 2002, she was Jules in Bend It Like Beckham, a $6M film that grossed $76M worldwide. Pirates of the Caribbean followed a year later, and she went from footballer to summer blockbuster royalty before she turned 20.
In the Spotlight
Two Oscar nominations (for Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game) made her the go-to face for period drama, but that pigeonhole started to feel like a trap. The pivot came with Black Doves (Netflix, 2024), a spy thriller co-starring Ben Whishaw that was renewed for a second season. She has a second Netflix thriller (The Woman in Cabin 10) in the pipeline and a dystopian sci-fi film after that. The corset era is officially over.
Side Notes
At 22, global fame hit so hard she didn't leave her house for three months. She was later diagnosed with PTSD and required hypnotherapy to manage panic attacks well enough to attend the 2008 BAFTAs. She still can't easily sight-read scripts, so she records them and learns lines by ear. In 2018, Prince Charles handed her an OBE at Buckingham Palace. Her daughter has since been diagnosed with the same condition that gave her a career.