Mulligan made her professional acting debut on stage in 2004, and subsequently made her film debut the next year in Pride & Prejudice (2005). She then appeared in a variety of roles in television, one of which — Sally Sparrow in the fan-favorite and critically adored Doctor Who episode "Blink" — would win her considerable recognition, and a Constellation Award.
In 2009, she starred in the film An Education opposite Peter Sarsgaard. The lead role proved to be a huge career step for her, winning her a BAFTA for Best Actress and getting her her first Oscar nomination (in the same category). Since then, she has received further acclaim and prominence to the degree of being considered one of the best actresses of her generation. Her filmography displays a penchant for sweet, intelligent female roles and period pieces, but she has also taken on modern roles with an edge, such as in Drive (2011) and Promising Young Woman (the latter for which she received her second Oscar nomination).
She has been married Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons since 2012. They have a son and a daughter together.
Filmography:
- Trial and Retribution
- Doctor Who
- Pride & Prejudice (2005)
- Brothers
- Public Enemies
- An Education
- Never Let Me Go
- Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
- Drive (2011)
- Shame
- The Great Gatsby (2013)
- Inside Llewyn Davis
- Far from the Madding Crowd
- Suffragette
- Mudbound
- Collateral (2018)
- Promising Young Woman
- The Dig
- She Said
- Saltburn
- Maestro
- Spaceman
Tropes in her career:
- Fake American: Plays Americans in Drive, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Great Gatsby, and Promising Young Woman. She's British.
- Period Piece: More often that not: from the Regency (Pride and Prejudice) to the early twentieth century (Suffragette, The Great Gatsby, The Dig) to the sixties (An Education, Inside Llewyn Davis) to the eighties (Never Let Me Go), Mulligan is right at home playing women from past eras.
- Playing Against Type: Early in her career she played ingenues; later on it matured to sensible women with some world-weariness. She's subverted this "sweet" expectation a handful of times:
- In Inside Llewyn Davis she plays a foul-mouthed jerk.
- In Promising Young Woman she's still world-weary and nice in her day-to-day life, but plays a fanservicey schemer by night.
- Star-Making Role: The critical acclaim from her role in An Education took her from "playing supporting or one-off roles in film and TV" to "serious film lead in her own right".
