Annabelle Wallis

In Portugal, Wallis appeared in several short films before she moved to London to pursue a career in film. In London, she did some advertisements and looked into drama schools before ultimately deciding to find an agent.[4]

In 2005 she landed a lead role in the Bollywood film Dil Jo Bhi Kahey... (or "Whatever the Heart Says").[8] The film did not fare well at the box office. She landed small parts in True True Lie (2006) alongside Jaime King and Body of Lies (2008) in which she played Mark Strong’s girlfriend. She starred in the B-movie Steel Trap (2008).

In television, her breakthrough was in season three of the Showtime drama series The Tudors (2009) as Jane Seymour.[2] She replaced actress Anita Briem. In the following years, she starred in the television film The Lost Future (2010) alongside Sam Claflin and in the ABC series Pan Am (2011). The show was cancelled after one season due to a drop in viewership.[9][10]

In 2011, she was directed by Madonna in W.E.: Wallis & Edouard[2] and had a small part in X-Men: First Class. In 2012, she appeared in Jared Leto's documentary, Artifact, and in Snow White and the Huntsman, but was not credited.

Wallis and Sofia Boutella at The Mummy premiere in Sydney

Wallis starred as Grace Burgess in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders, from 2013 to 2016.[11] Her role allowed her to be "believable in a strong, female, alpha role."[12] The series was met with critical and public acclaim.[13]

In 2014, she joined The Conjuring Universe with a leading role in the horror film Annabelle, directed by John R. Leonetti and produced by James Wan. The film was a box-office success and received negative reviews. Critics praised Wallis's performance, and she was nominated at the 2015's MTV Movie & TV Awards for Best Scared-As-S**t Performance.[14][15] She returned as Mia Form in Annabelle: Creation (2017).

In 2014, she also portrayed Muriel Wright, the original Bond girl, on the mini-series Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond alongside actor Dominic Cooper.

In 2016, she starred in the action comedy film The Brothers Grimsby, the drama Come and Find Me and the psychological thriller war film Mine.

In 2017, Wallis joined the Dark Universe created by Universal Pictures and starred as archaeologist Jenny Halsey in The Mummy, a reboot of The Mummy franchise. Wallis did almost all of her stunts herself including a Zero-G scene that almost killed her.[16] The film received negative reviews and was a box office bomb.[17] The same year she joined Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.[18]

In 2018, Wallis landed a lead in the American comedy Tag as Rebecca Crosby.[19] Later that year, Wallis reunited with film director Alex Kurtzman for the Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Calypso", where she lent her voice to an artificial intelligence called Zora. She would later reprise this role in a recurring fashion on Star Trek: Discovery.

In April 2018, she was announced to be Cartier's ambassador for jewellery and the new face of the Panthère de Cartier watch.[20]

Wallis in 2019.

In 2019, Wallis joined Showtime's mini-series The Loudest Voice. She portrays Laurie Luhn, Head of Booking at Fox News Channel and Roger Ailes's long-time "mistress". Luhn is one of Ailes's first victims to talk and denounce him, alongside Gretchen Carlson.[21][22][23] The series received generally favourable reviews and was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Limited Series or Television Film. Wallis's performance was praised and seen as an "heartbreakingly powerful work" according to the Chicago Sun Times.[24]

Later that year, Wallis reprised her role as Grace Shelby in the fifth season of Peaky Blinders.[25]

In 2020, she starred in Robin Pront's thriller The Silencing.[26] The film was supposed to premiere at the South by Southwest festival in March 2020 but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was finally released on DirecTV on 16 July 2020.[27][28]

This same year, Wallis starred as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride for Quibi to raise money for World Central Kitchen[29] and she joined the cast of Floria Sigismondi's third film, The Silence of Mercy. Shooting ended in March 2021.[30]

In 2021, Wallis starred in James Wan's horror film Malignant. Scheduled by Warner Bros to premiere in August 2020, the release was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, opening on 10 September 2021, simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.[31][32][33] The film is a tribute to the giallo genre,[34] and follows Madison Mitchell, played by Wallis, who is "paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders," and as her torment continues, "discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities."[35] It is the first R-Rated US movie to be released in China.[36][37]

This same year, Wallis appeared in the science fiction action film Boss Level directed by Joe Carnahan, starring Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson[38] and starred in Agata Alexander's science fiction thriller Warning, alongside Alice Eve and Alex Pettyfer.[39][40]

In September 2021, the Christmas comedy Silent Night, directed by Camille Griffin, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[41] Wallis stars alongside Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Roman Griffin Davis.[42]