Emma Mackey has admitted Barbie has changed her life as the Box Office smash surpases a billion dollars in global ticket sales.
The British actress had been best known for playing the fictional Maeve Wiley, the feisty teen in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education.
The role bagged Mackey a Bafta nomination, but it’s her role in the Barbie movie, alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling that is set to propel her to the heights of Hollywood fame.
“I learnt so much. It was life-changing,” Mackey told ELLE UK.
Mackey, who graces the digital cover of the new ELLE, sang the praises of Barbie director Greta Gerwig for giving her the opportunity.
“Greta Gerwig has always been someone I really wanted to work with. I just get how her brain works." she said.
“She’s incredible, a joy. I really wanted to be a part of it [Barbie], even in the smallest way..."
“Greta was very clear from the beginning that she wanted us all to feel really beautiful, whatever that meant to us," she continued.
“So in terms of the outfits and the make-up, we were all part of the conversation, which is quite rare, or has been rare in my limited experience. All of us felt heard."
Starring in her biggest project to date has led to Mackey bagging opportunities such as being unveiled as the new face of Burberry’s latest fragrance.
On her increasing fame and being more recognised she told the publication: “It used to make me go into my shell. But you just have to deal with it, and it’s fine.”
Mackey said she now has aspirations to get behind the camera and write and direct: “I’m sort of dabbling in the production side, and I’m surrounded by friends who are great writers. My partner is a writer and director, so it definitely feeds into my everyday life.”
Mackie’s casting in Barbie was in part due to her resemblance to lead actress Robbie.
Speaking to Buzzfeed, the Australian Oscar-winner, 33, was asked: “Margot, what was it like to finally work with your doppelganger, Emma Mackey?”
She explained: “[Mackey] plays one of the Barbies in the movie pretty much because Greta and I thought it would be funny. We were gonna do this whole joke about us looking similar.”
“But once we got all dressed up as our Barbies, we were kind of like, ‘We don’t actually look that similar’. Like, when she’s got her brown hair and I’ve got my blonde hair, we don’t look that similar, so we didn’t put that joke in the movie.”
