Rebecca Ferguson

Ferguson was born in Stockholm and grew up in the Vasastan district in central Stockholm.[2] Her mother, Rosemary Ferguson,[3] is English,[6][7] and moved from Britain to Sweden at the age of 25.[6] Her mother helped ABBA translate the lyrics from their 1974 album Waterloo into English[8] and also appeared on the sleeve of the band's 1975 self-titled album.[9] Her father, Olov Sundström, is a Swedish businessman.[3][10] Ferguson took her mother's surname as her stage name.[11] Her maternal grandmother is Northern Irish,[7] and her maternal grandfather is Scottish.[7]

Ferguson attended an English-medium school in Sweden and was raised bilingual, speaking Swedish and English.[12] She attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm and graduated in 1999.[13]

From the age of 13, she worked as a model and appeared in magazines and on television commercials for cosmetic, apparel, and jewellery advertisements.[14] Ferguson has danced from a very early age; she danced ballet, tap-dancing, jazz, street funk and tango. She taught Argentine tango at a dance company in Lund, Sweden for a few years[15] while she continued her work on several short art film projects.[16] Unsure if she wanted to act, Ferguson had other jobs, such as working at a daycare centre, as a nanny, at a jewellery shop, at a shoe shop and at a Korean restaurant.[17]

Ferguson alongside Steven Gätjen at the world premiere of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation in Vienna in 2015

Ferguson came to prominence as upper-class girl Anna Gripenhielm in the Swedish soap opera Nya tider (1999–2000).[17] She went on to later play Chrissy Eriksson in the Swedish-American soap Ocean Ave. (2002).[18] In 2004, she made her feature film debut in Mikael Håfström's horror film Drowning Ghost.[18]

Swedish director Richard Hobert spotted her at the Simrishamn town market in 2011, which led to her starring in his film A One-way Trip to Antibes,[1][19] which earned her a nomination for the Rising Star award at the Stockholm International Film Festival.[1] In 2013, she co-starred in the film VI alongside Gustaf Skarsgård.[20]

In August 2012, it was announced Ferguson had been cast to play Elizabeth Woodville in the ten-part BBC historical television drama The White Queen (2013),[21] based on Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War novels about the women of the Wars of the Roses.[22] Ferguson's performance in The White Queen was met with critical praise,[23] and earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.[24]

In 2015, Ferguson played MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, the female lead in the fifth Mission: Impossible film, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, for which she received critical acclaim.[25][26][27][28] Tom Cruise handpicked Ferguson to star opposite him in the film after watching her in The White Queen[1][29][30] and noticing a resemblance between Ferguson and Ingrid Bergman.[3] She reprised her role in the sixth Mission: Impossible film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, released in 2018–her biggest commercial success, grossing over $790 million worldwide[31][32]–and reprised it again in the seventh film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, in 2023.[33]

In 2016, she played the dual roles of Katya and Lauren in the Cold War espionage thriller directed by Shamim Sarif, Despite the Falling Snow, opposite Sam Reid and Charles Dance.[34] For her performance in the film, she won the Best Actress award at the 2016 Prague Independent Film Festival.[35] Later that same year, Ferguson appeared in Stephen Frears's Florence Foster Jenkins alongside Meryl Streep,[36] and Tate Taylor's thriller book adaptation The Girl on the Train.[37]

In 2017, Ferguson played the female lead in Daniel Espinosa's sci-fi horror Life, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds,[38] co-starred in Tomas Alfredson's crime thriller The Snowman, alongside Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Gainsbourg,[39] and starred as Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in the musical film The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams.[40]

In 2019, Ferguson had several major film roles. She co-starred in Doctor Sleep, the adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name;[41] played the villain Morgana in Joe Cornish's adventure film The Kid Who Would Be King;[42] and co-starred as Riza Stavros in F. Gary Gray's science fiction comedy film Men in Black: International.[43]

In 2021, she co-starred in Lisa Joy's science fiction thriller Reminiscence.[44] She also played Lady Jessica in Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune.[45] She will reprise the role in the sequel, Dune: Part Two, scheduled to be released in 2024.[46]

In 2023, Ferguson starred in and was also an executive producer in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Silo.[47]

In 2007, Ferguson gave birth to her first child, a son, with her then-boyfriend Ludwig Hallberg,[48] a psychosynthesis therapist.[49] After her soap opera success and the birth of her son, she moved with Hallberg to Simrishamn, on the Swedish southeast coast.[50] In 2012, Ferguson and Hallberg taught tango together in Österlen.[50] The couple separated in April 2015.[50]

Since 2016,[51] Ferguson has been in a relationship with businessman Rory St. Clair Gainer,[3][52] with whom she has a daughter who was born in May 2018.[53] Ferguson and Gainer were married at the turn of the same year.[51] They have a house in Richmond, southwest London, owing to its proximity to Pinewood and Shepperton studios.[52]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rebecca Ferguson.

• Rebecca Ferguson at IMDb 
• Rebecca Ferguson at the Swedish Film Database
• Rebecca Ferguson at Rotten Tomatoes