Elizabeth Debicki Biography

Elizabeth Debicki was born on August 24, 1990, in Paris, France, to a Polish father and an Australian mother of Irish heritage. She was born as the eldest child among three siblings and grew up with a younger sister and a younger brother.

Her parents were trained ballet dancers, and they met during a ballet performance. However, when her father faced a slowdown in his ballet dancing career, he took up a job at a theatre. The family had moved to Melbourne, Australia when Elizabeth was 5 years old.

She attributes her deep interest in dancing to her parents’ profession as ballet dancers, and she began her training when she was a child. However, as she grew up, her interests gradually shifted to acting. She was a gifted student while in the Huntingtower School in Melbourne. She won two perfect study scores in English and Drama when she graduated high school in 2007.

She started doing theatrical plays in the school, and she had a strong inclination toward pursuing a career in acting. Her parents urged her to study law, but she enrolled at the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne to study drama.

She, however, said that the training provided there was mostly theatrical and that they had only one week of film and television classes. But she continued with her education in drama, and following her graduation in 2010, she joined the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Elizabeth auditioned for roles in films and television shows in the early 2010s. Fortunately, she did not have to wait long for her film debut. In 2011, she made her big screen acting debut with the Australian film A Few Best Men. Although she played a very small role in the film, she got a major project added to her showreel.

In the same year, while she was preparing for a play with the Melbourne Theatre Company, she came to know that an agent was collecting audition tapes from unknown Australian actors for an upcoming Baz Luhrmann’s film. She submitted her reel, was shortlisted, and was called to Los Angeles. She was put through a few more screen tests and was finally selected to be a part of Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling drama The Great Gatsby, based on a book of the same name.

In the film The Great Gatsby, which was released in 2013, she portrayed a rich socialite named Jordan Baker. She played a lengthy role in the film, and her role got noticed. The film’s international success made her an overnight star in Australia. She also received great reviews for her performance in the film and won an AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In December 2012, following the buzz of her performance in a film with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, she was the subject of a photoshoot done by Vogue Australia.

In 2013, she was also active in theatre with the Sydney Theatre Company and appeared on stage playing a key role as Madame in the play titled The Maids. She appeared in the play with established actress Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert. For her performance in the play, she was awarded the best newcomer award at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

In the mid-2010s, she was also seen in a guest role in the Australian television series titled Rake. It was almost around the same period that she played the lead role in a short film titled Gödel Incomplete.

In 2015, she appeared in the British film Macbeth, which was based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name. She essayed the role of Lady Macduff in the film, which starred Michael Fassbender in the leading titular role. The film competed for the biggest prize, Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and upon its release, it received a great response from the critics. However, the film hardly broke the box office records.

In 2015, she had yet another major career breakthrough when she was selected to play a key role of the main antagonist Victoria Vinciguerra in the director Guy Ritchie’s movie The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The film was a major box office and a critical success.

In the same year, she had yet another hit in her portfolio, when she was cast as Dr. Caroline Mackenzie in the historical adventure film Everest. The film was premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The film went on to become a major critical and commercial hit when it released worldwide in September 2015.

In 2016, she appeared in two major roles, in the television series The Kettering Incident and The Night Manager. Both the series were critically and commercially acclaimed. In addition, she also appeared in a stage play, titled The Red Barn, which was performed at the Lyttelton Theatre in London. She also played the lead role of Mona Sanders in the play, which was another one of her critically and commercially acclaimed stage productions.

In 2017, she appeared playing a supporting role in the superhero adventure comedy film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In the film, she portrayed Ayesha, the high priestess of an alien race. The film was a major box office hit. She later appeared in the sequel film as well, titled Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

In 2017, she also appeared in the critically acclaimed Australian film Breath, which was nominated for several AACTA Awards. Elizabeth received an award nomination for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of the character Eva. She ended the successful year with a part in a short-film anthology titled 7 from Etheria

In the year 2018, she appeared playing Mrs. G in the American drama film The Tale. She followed with another highly appreciated role of Mina Jensen in the science fiction thriller The Cloverfield Paradox. Later in the same year, she played one of the lead roles as Alice in director Steve McQueen’s heist thriller film Widows.

In 2019, she was seen playing the lead role as Berenice Hollis in the crime thriller film The Burnt Orange Heresy. The film had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. However, the film received a slow critical reception and faced box office failure upon its release.

In 2020, she appeared playing a supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s time-bending epic action-thriller film Tenet. She played the critically acclaimed role of Katherine Barton in the movie. The film received mixed reviews and turned out to be a decent commercial success

She has also voiced the character of Mopsy Rabbit in the live-action comedy film Peter Rabbit and in its sequel titled Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.

Elizabeth Debicki is 6'3 in height, which makes her taller than most woman. This has led her to lose out on many acting opportunities, but as per her, she is comfortable with it. She has also claimed that she has used her height to her advantage in many films, such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Elizabeth has never opened up about her relationship status. But there have been unconfirmed rumours about her possible romantic involvement with British actor Tom Hiddleston.