Carey Mulligan

In 2009, she gained widespread recognition for playing the lead role of Jenny in An Education, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and also being nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for her performance. She went on to star in dramatic films such as The Greatest, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Never Let Me Go, Drive and Shame.

Mulligan was born in Westminster, London, England. Her father, Stephen, was originally from Liverpool, and her mother, Nano (née Booth), a college lecturer, came from Llandeilo in West Wales. Her paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland. Mulligan has one sibling, an elder brother. At the age of 3, she moved with her family from England to Germany after her father accepted the job of managing the European arm of Intercontinental Hotels. Due to her father's job, her family lived in expensive hotels for 8 years. She was "quite shy" during her childhood and a tomboy until the age of 15. She was also "quite straight-laced" and very academic until age 14, having then become more interested in acting. She was educated at Woldingham School, a girls' boarding school. Read Less

She received critical acclaim for her performance, as the press began referring to her as an "It girl". Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly and Todd McCarthy of Variety both compared her performance to that of Audrey Hepburn. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers described her as having given a "sensational, starmaking performance," while Claudia Puig of USA Today felt that Mulligan had one of the year's best performances, and Toby Young of The Times felt she anchored the film. Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw concluded that she gave a "wonderful performance." For her work, she garnered Golden Globe, Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, as well as receiving a British Academy Film Award. Read Less

Mulligan began filming Steve McQueen's sex-addiction drama Shame alongside Michael Fassbender in New York in January 2011. Both films were shown at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and received vast critical acclaim. Of her performance in Shame, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers wrote, "Mulligan is in every way sensational." Away from acting, Mulligan will be a co-chairmen alongside Anna Wintour for the 2012 Met Ball Gala. Read Less