Elizabeth Debicki is a French-born Australian actress. After studying drama at the Victorian College of the Arts, she made her film debut in the Australian comedy A Few Best Men (2011). Her role in Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby (2013) won her the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Ayesha in the Marvel films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). She gained critical attention for her performance in Steve McQueen‘s heist thriller Widows (2018). The following year, she received the Cannes Film Festival‘s Trophée Chopard. She then co-starred in Christopher Nolan‘s science fiction thriller Tenet (2020).
On television, Debicki appeared in the Australian series Rake (2014), starred in the BBC limited series The Night Manager (2016), for which she received a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination, and the HBO television film The Tale (2018). Debicki’s acclaimed portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2022–2023) won her a Golden Globe Award, Critics Choice Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Years active: 2010–present
Born age: August 24, 1990, 44 years old and 8 months
Sun Sign: Virgo
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Height:
Measurements: 37-27-36 in – 94-69-91 cm
Bra size: 36A US – 80A EU
Elizabeth Debicki - THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki - THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki - THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki in TENET (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki in TENET (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki in TENET (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki in TENET (2020)
Elizabeth Debicki in WIDOWS (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in WIDOWS (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in WIDOWS (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in WIDOWS (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in VITA & VIRGINIA (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in VITA & VIRGINIA (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in THE TALE (2018)
Elizabeth Debicki in THE TALE (2018)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI TALKS FEMALE EMPOWERMENT in GQ PHOTOSHOOT (2018)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in BREATH (2018)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in BREATH (2018)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE NIGHT MANAGER (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE NIGHT MANAGER (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE NIGHT MANAGER (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE KETTERING INCIDENT (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE KETTERING INCIDENT (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE KETTERING INCIDENT (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE KETTERING INCIDENT (2016)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE CROWN (2016-)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in THE CROWN (2016-)
ELIZABETH DEBICKI in GODEL INCOMPLETE (2013)
Early life
Debicki to a Polish father and an Australian mother of Irish descent. Her parents were both ballet dancers, who met while performing in a show together. When she was five, the family moved to Glen Waverley in Melbourne, Australia. The eldest of three children, she has a younger sister and a brother.
Debicki became interested in ballet at an early age and trained as a dancer until deciding to switch to theatre. A student at Huntingtower School in eastern Melbourne, she achieved two perfect study scores in Drama and English and was the school’s dux when she graduated in 2007. In 2010, she completed a degree in drama at the Victorian College of the Arts. In August 2009, she was the recipient of a Richard Pratt Bursary for outstanding acting students in their second year of training.
Career
Career beginnings (2011–2016)
Debicki made her feature film debut in the 2011 Australian film A Few Best Men, with a brief appearance as a secretary. This was her first role after graduating from drama school. After seeing her audition reel, director Baz Luhrmann, who was casting for his upcoming film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, flew her to auditions in Los Angeles, where she screen tested with actor Tobey Maguire. In May 2011, Luhrmann announced that she had been cast as Jordan Baker in his 2013 film The Great Gatsby. She would go on to receive rave reviews for her portrayal of the character, winning an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In December 2012, Debicki was the subject of a photo shoot for Vogue Australia.
From June to July 2013, Debicki played Madame in the Sydney Theatre Company‘s production of Jean Genet‘s play The Maids, with Cate Blanchett starring as Claire and Isabelle Huppert as Solange. She won the best newcomer award at the Sydney Theatre Awards for her performance. In 2014, the play transferred off-Broadway at the New York City Center. Around this same time, Debicki also starred in a 13-minute short film called GÖDEL, incomplete and made an appearance as a guest star in the third season of the Australian television series Rake.
In 2015, Debicki played supporting roles in three major motion pictures. She played the villain in Guy Ritchie‘s film adaptation of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), learning to drive on set. She also appeared in Australian film director Justin Kurzel‘s adaptation of Macbeth, as well as the biographical adventure film Everest, which would gross $203 million worldwide. The following year, she starred as Mona Sanders alongside Mark Strong and Hope Davis in the world première stage adaptation of Georges Simenon‘s novel The Man on the Bench in the Barn titled The Red Barn by David Hare at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre in London. The play ran from October 2016 to January 2017.
In 2016 Debicki played major roles in two television shows. She played the lead role of Dr. Anna Macy in the eight-part Australian television series The Kettering Incident, which was shot almost entirely on location in Tasmania. A few months after shooting on that show ended, Debicki headed to Switzerland to begin shooting the television miniseries The Night Manager; she played the role of Jed in the adaptation of the John le Carré novel of the same name. The show aired in the United States in April 2016.
Breakthrough (2017–present)
Following the success of The Night Manager, Debicki landed a supporting role in the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, in which she portrayed Ayesha, leader of the Sovereign people. She returned for its sequel and the final installment in the film series, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In June 2017, she was added to the cast of director Luc Besson‘s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in an undisclosed voice-over role. The film would arrive in theatres around two months later, at which time her role was revealed to be that of Emperor Haban-Limaï. 2017 also saw Debicki as Eva in Australian actor Simon Baker‘s directorial debut Breath, for which she would receive an AACTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film would garner five additional AACTA Award nominations, including Best Film, and would win Best Supporting Actor and Best Sound at the 8th AACTA Awards.
In 2018, Debicki appeared in five films. She played the role of Jensen in The Cloverfield Paradox, the third instalment in the Cloverfield franchise. The film was released on Netflix in February 2018, directly after Super Bowl LII. Following this, she appeared as Mrs. G in the critically acclaimed HBO film The Tale, for which she received rave reviews. One of her biggest roles yet would come several months later, however, in November 2018; she played the role of Alice in Steve McQueen‘s heist film Widows. Upon the film’s release, she received some of the best reviews of her career, with many critics stating how impressed they were that she managed to stand out among such a crowded cast, which included the likes of Viola Davis and Liam Neeson. The same year, Debicki also starred as Virginia Woolf in Vita & Virginia and was the voice of Mopsy Rabbit in Peter Rabbit. She would return for the sequel, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Debicki had a leading role in the 2019 thriller The Burnt Orange Heresy, in which she starred opposite Claes Bang and Mick Jagger. The following year, she starred in Christopher Nolan‘s spy film Tenet (2020) as Kat, the estranged wife of Kenneth Branagh‘s character. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian thought that she had “the most recognisable human emotions here, shouting, crying and even smiling in a way that no one else quite does” but added that her role was similar to the one she played in The Night Manager. In an interview with The Hindu, Debicki recalls, “Playing Kat, I understood the harrowing scenes are important to show the audience the threats to her existence — physical and psychological — she faced.”
Debicki portrayed Diana, Princess of Wales in the final two seasons of the Netflix period drama series The Crown. Her performance in the fifth season earned her nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series – Comedy/Musical or Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. In 2024, Debicki won a Golden Globe Award, Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the sixth season of The Crown.
Trivia
Was offered the part of Kat in Tenet (2020) without an audition, but insisted on doing one anyway. It was really important for her to know that she could do what Christopher Nolan was looking for, and according to the director she came in and blew everyone away.
Parents were both professional ballet dancers, and she always assumed she would go into the family business. However, at the age of 12 she was taller than all of her teachers. She began concentrating on contemporary dance instead, and then somewhere along the line fell in love with acting and applied to drama school.
Reportedly beat out Charlize Theron and fellow Aussie Rose Byrne for her role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).
Her first Hollywood role and second feature film was The Great Gatsby (2013), although it was filmed in her home country of Australia. Her first time coming to America would be to screen test with Tobey Maguire for director Baz Luhrmann.
Upon graduating from high school at age 17, she had to decide between studying drama at the University of Melbourne or attending law school on an academic scholarship, having already gotten in. She said that her parents were “rightfully concerned” when she decided to forgo law school and study acting instead.
Her performance as golfer Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (2013) was ranked #32 in IndieWire’s ‘The 50 Best Movie Performances of the Decade’. [2019].
Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since 2018.
In 2015, she was honored as the breakthrough star of the year at the Australians in Film awards gala, following her roles in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Macbeth (2015), and Everest (2015).
Previous recipients of the Breakthrough Award include actors Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Joel Edgerton, and Mia Wasikowska.
She was added to the cast of the sci-fi movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) in an undisclosed voiceover role a month and a half before its release in theaters. The role was eventually revealed to be Emperor Haban-Limaï. French model turned actor Aymeline Valade did the motion capture for the character.
Her performance in the all-female heist film Widows (2018) was ranked #8 in IndieWire’s ‘The 16 Best Film Performances by Actresses in 2018’.
Favorite movies growing up were Matilda (1996) and Hook (1991). She has also said that she was obsessed with the American animated superhero television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990) and would pretend to be those characters.
Had no driving experience before being cast in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).
Was nominated for the 2014 Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for her stage performance in The Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Jean Genet’s “The Maids” directed by Andrew Upton.
Made her feature film debut in director Stephan Elliott’s Australian wedding comedy A Few Best Men (2011), in a small role as a secretary. It was her first role after graduating from drama school.
She was only 21 when it premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael, California on 14 October 14 2011.
Was awarded the Trophée Chopard at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, alongside actor Joe Alwyn. The Chopard Trophy is awarded by a jury of professionals to two young actors in order to recognize and encourage their careers. Founded in 2001, it has been presented every year since during the Cannes Film Festival.
Was originally cast as Christina Braithwhite in the horror series Lovecraft Country (2020), but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Tenet (2020). The role later went to fellow Australian actress Abbey Lee.
Appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s 25th Annual Hollywood Issue, alongside Nicholas Hoult, Rami Malek, Chadwick Boseman, Saoirse Ronan, Tessa Thompson, Henry Golding, Yalitza Aparicio, Regina King, Timothée Chalamet, and John David Washington.
She was on the shortlist of actresses who were in the running to play the lead female role in the Harry Potter spin-off movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), along with Katherine Waterston and Kate Upton. The role went to Waterston.
Debicki was the 14th recipient of the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award. She was honored at the 2019 Women in Film Awards on June 12th at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. (2019)
Is the eldest of three children. She has a younger sister and brother.
Was originally cast as Una in The Dressmaker (2015), joining the cast in early May 2014, however, she dropped out that October to play the lead in the Australian television series The Kettering Incident (2016). Interestingly, she was actually replaced in the film by one of her co-stars from the series, Sacha Horler.
Cinema Mode
Elizabeth Debicki Wins Best Supporting Female Actor – Television I 81st Annual Golden Globes (2023)
Her godmother is actress Haydn Gwynne.
Actress Cate Blanchett is her role model.
She moved to Australia at the age of 5.
Following the footsteps of her parents, Elizabeth took extensive ballet training while growing up.
She auditioned for the lead female role in Gemini Man (2019), along with Tatiana Maslany. Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead eventually got the part.
Elizabeth Debicki Career Highlights
First Film: A Few Best Men (2011)
First TV Show: Rake (2014)
Pinterest, IMBd, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
Last Updated on 8 months by Erotica Pleasure