Emma Mackey

Emma Margaret Marie Tachard-Mackey[4] was born in Le Mans, the daughter of a French father and an English mother.[5][6] Her father is a school headmaster.[7] She grew up in Sablé-sur-Sarthe[5] and received her baccalauréat in 2013 with High Honours at l'académie de Nantes,[8] subsequently moving to England to study English language and literature at the University of Leeds.[5] She graduated in 2016.[9] Mackey lives in London as a dual French-British citizen.[1]

Mackey was cast in her first professional role with the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education[10][11] as Maeve Wiley, an intelligent, quick-witted, business-savvy "bad girl" who convinces fellow student Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield)[12] to start an underground sex therapy business at their school.[13][14] She stated that "For me, this is my first piece of work. ... It was—and still is—a really happy time."[15] Mackey's work on the series has earned her acclaim.[16] The Hindustan Times wrote "Emma Mackey, as Maeve, is a revelation; perhaps the best performance by a young British actress I’ve seen since I discovered Florence Pugh. She’s alluring yet distant, pragmatic yet emotional, whip-smart yet foolishly in love."[16] For the role, she received a British Academy Television Award nomination in 2021,[3] and won a National Comedy Award in 2022.[17]

In 2021, Mackey led the independent romantic drama film Eiffel,[18] which premiered at the Alliance Française French Film Festival and has earned numerous international theatrical releases;[19] it has grossed over $13 million worldwide.[20] Review site DoItInParis stated that Mackey "radiates mischief in the boots of a rebellious and entire provincial bourgeoisie, a bit capricious but madly endearing."[21] The following year, she starred in the mystery thriller film Death on the Nile,[22] a sequel to 2017's Murder on the Orient Express.[23][24] She was cast in 2019[25] in the supporting role of Jacqueline de Bellefort.[26][27][28] The film earned generally positive reviews, and was one of the highest-grossing films of 2022.[29][30]

In May 2020, it was announced that Mackey would portray the novelist Emily Brontë in the upcoming biographical film Emily, which will focus on Brontë's early life.[31][32] Emily will be her first leading film role.[33] In March 2022, she was cast in the LuckyChap Entertainment film Barbie, which is directed by Greta Gerwig and will additionally star Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and Will Ferrell.[34]

• Emma Mackey at IMDb