Overview (3)
| Born | in Sweden |
| Birth Name | Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström |
| Height | 5' 5" (1.65 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Rebecca Ferguson was born Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström in Stockholm, Sweden, and grew up in its Vasastaden district. Her father is Swedish. Her mother, Rosemary Ferguson, is British, of Scottish and Northern Irish descent, and moved to Sweden at the age of 25. Rebecca attended an English-speaking school in Sweden and was raised bilingual, speaking Swedish and English. As a student, she attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm and graduated in 1999.
She came into prominence with her breakout role of upper-class girl Anna Gripenhielm in the soap-opera Nya tider (1999), when she was 16 years old.
She lives in the seaside town of Simrishamn, on the Swedish south coast. Ferguson has said she wanted to get away from city life and the public spotlight following her soap opera success. Swedish director Richard Hobert, spotted her at the town market in 2011, which led to her starring in his film A One-Way Trip to Antibes (2011).
Ferguson taught Argentinian Tango at a dance company in Sweden for a few years.
In 2013, Rebecca played Queen Elizabeth Woodville in the BBC historical drama The White Queen (2013), for which she got a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2015, Ferguson played Ilsa Faust, the female lead in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015). Her co-star, Tom Cruise, chose her for the film after having seen her in the mini-series The White Queen (2013). Her performance in the movie was highly praised and Rebecca will reprise her role in the sixth Mission: Impossible film.
In 2016, she starred in Despite the Falling Snow (2016), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) and The Girl on the Train (2016).
Her other projects are Dune, Life (2017), The Snowman (2017), The Greatest Showman (2017), The Lady and the Panda and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018).
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Polly_Kat
Family (3)
| Spouse | Rory (January 2019 - present) (1 child) |
| Children | Hallberg, Isac |
| Parents |
Ferguson, Rosemary
Ferguson, Gerrie |
Trivia (20)
Her father is Swedish. Her mother, Rosemary Margaret Ferguson of Clan Ferguson, is English and moved to Sweden when she was 25 years old. Her maternal grandfather ... Ferguson of Clan Ferguson is Scottish and his wife her maternal grandmother ... Martin is from Ulster, Northern Ireland. Rebecca took her mother's surname as her stage name. While Rebecca is sometimes said to be closely related to The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, Rebecca denied this in a 2015 Daily Mail interview.
She graduated from music school Adolf Fredriks Musikskola in the spring of 1999.
Dated her ex-boyfriend, Ludwig Hallberg, from 2005, with whom she has one son, Isaac Hallberg (b. 2007), and with whom she lived from 2007 in Simrishamn, Skåne County, until they broke up in April 2015. Has one daughter, Saga (b. 2018), with her now-husband Rory, who can work from anywhere and with whom she lives between Simrishamn and Richmond, Greater-London, as it is close to Pinewood and Shepperton Studios.
Has danced from a very early age; ballet, tap-dancing, jazz/show and street funk to Argentinean Tango. Her interest in tango has led to her being asked to help teach beginner courses in Lund, Sweden.
First Swedish actress to be nominated for a Golden Globe award (for The White Queen (2013)) in 15 years since Ann-Margret in 1999.
From the age of thirteen, she worked as a model in magazines, for television/cinema commercials, and for different brand names (make-up, clothes, jewellery), etc.
Stated her desire to work with director Tim Burton as well as actors Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Hugh Laurie and Helena Bonham Carter.
Performed her own stunts in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015). She went under vigorous fitness and stunt training, consisting of 6-weeks of a 6 hours-a-day training schedule, including Pilates, fight choreography and stunt practice.
Tom Cruise chose her for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) after having seen her in the mini-series The White Queen (2013).
Is often compared to fellow Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman. Her character in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) is named Ilsa, just like Bergman's character in Casablanca (1942). One of Rebecca's scenes in "Rogue Nation" was set in Casablanca. Her co-star Tom Cruise's first celebrity crush was Ingrid Bergman in Notorious (1946).
Ranked #1 on IMDb STARmeter for three consecutive weeks - from August 10, 2015 to August 30, 2015.
Was named one of Variety's "10 Actors to Watch" in 2015.
Ranked #7 on IMDb's "Top Stars of 2015".
Her mother helped to translate ABBA's 'Waterloo' from Swedish to English and was also the woman sitting cross-legged on a chair on the album's cover.
Attended an English-speaking school in Sweden and was raised bilingual, speaking Swedish and English.
The actresses who inspire her are Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren and Isabelle Huppert.
Was considered for the lead role in Alien: Covenant (2017).
She's a fan of Breaking Bad (2008).
Announced that she was six months pregnant with her second child during her appearance on The Graham Norton Show (2007) on January 26, 2018.
She performed her own singing in Reminiscence (2021) but in The Greatest Showman (2017) her singing voice was dubbed by Loren Allred.
Personal Quotes (21)
[on her inspiration to play Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)] I looked at Ingrid Bergman a lot. There's a gracefulness there that I wanted to bring in. Mission is fast and action-packed and intense and modern, so to be able to balance that with the input of something classic - it's a beautiful mixture.
[on doing her own stunts in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)] Jumping off a rooftop is one thing, but having your legs wrapped around Tom Cruise makes it a bit easier.
I need challenging roles. I look forward to reading a script where I call my agent and go, 'What the f**k are you thinking? Of course I can't do this!' I'd like to be uncomfortable and challenge that.
I've been very lucky to have strong women characters to play.
[on if she feels Swedish] I do. And I feel English as well which is why I like the combination when I can do an English film and speak a bit of Swedish. It's a mish-mash. My mum's English and my father's Swedish. But I feel sort of French when I'm in France even though I have no connection to it! I think I remind myself of Ilsa [her character in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)] in that because I adapt and I think that's the world we live in as well - doors are more open now, thank God.
[on when she heard about the job in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)] I was on a camel! In the desert. In Ouarzazat [Morocco]. Filming The Red Tent (2014) for Lifetime. I had just popped over to London to meet Tom Cruise to see if the chemistry worked and 12 hours later I'm back on the camel, wrapping up production and I got a phone call. They say: 'You've got the next lead!' So I'll be back in Ouarzazat but on a motorbike! And there I was a month later.
At an early age, singing was something I found fun, but I never saw myself as a singer. My mother was in the avant-garde of cultural life in Sweden. She actually helped to translate ABBA's 'Waterloo' from Swedish to English. Remember the woman sitting cross-legged on a chair on the album's cover? That was my mom with the band - and they were wearing her clothes. How cool is that? And she didn't save any of it.
[on what inspired her to become an actress] I wasn't brought up in the acting world - my father is a lawyer. But as a teenager, I had the opportunity to audition for this television series: a daytime soap opera. And I got the lead part. I had just finished ninth grade in school, so I skipped what we called gymnasium and started working instead. And realized that this is a life I can see myself living.
[on her acting idol Isabelle Huppert] There's an interest for me in not knowing what she's going to do next. She just feels very real.
[on social media] I kind of have an addictive personality. I think if I'm doing any kind of social media that will take up my entire day. And I like people not knowing what I'm doing. I'd much rather call a friend or see a friend.
I need to have an interesting arc to my character if it's going to be interesting for me to play her. I need those dynamic shifts because just like in real life, we're never just one person. It would be so boring playing someone who doesn't have the capacity to change.
[on portraying Ilsa Faust in the Mission: Impossible film series] There are so many films that get female roles wrong and it's a big discussion, but I was fortunate with how Christopher McQuarrie portrayed Ilsa. It's an absolutely phenomenal character and I never felt like a victim, as opposed to someone who might legitimately victimise themselves. It's important for an actor to own the vulnerabilities of their character.
[on the shooting of The Girl on the Train (2016)] What was lovely was the energy on set. I really, really love Emily [Emily Blunt]. I've a bit of a girl crush on her.
[Flaunt Magazine, November 2017] There's not much of me for people to follow around. I like maintaining that and I don't seek out fame. I'm not on any social media. I don't like it, although I do understand the importance of technology today. But you know what? I like stationery. I write letters. And I don't like people knowing what I'm doing all the time.
In the end Tomas [Tomas Alfredson] managed to scrape together what became The Snowman (2017). I enjoyed it. I know it got torn down. I had a great time working with Michael Fassbender.
Every job I do is yet a new episode that I put into my backpack of life. I never really started off thinking I was going to be an actress. It kind of happened and I enjoyed it. Looking back, I see it as a ladder. Gradually, as I started working I would discover great actors around me. Beatrice Järås, a big Swedish theater actress became a mentor and the Swedish director Richard Hobert was incredible. Then, when I did Hercules (2014) I asked John Hurt so many questions. We talked about stage acting and life. He became a massive influence in my acting.
[on choosing roles] I think it's very much down to automatic gut feeling, that's always number one. It's down to the presentation: who is the film written by? Who wants to be producer and who is it directed by? And that will put my mind into the first stepping stone....and also how fascinating it is too. Then it's down to the script and character. I really do want to try and do things that I haven't done before, always.
[on Doctor Sleep (2019)] I was never a geek of The Shining (1980). I found The Shining to be a wonderful film and Kubrick is an incredible filmmaker, but I was never a fan of scary films so I was never thrown into this world. I was always a fan of Stephen King books and I think, for me, when I was informed that they were making this into a film, that was my interest - that I was going to be able to portray a character that he has written. That, in combination with one Skype call with Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy who are still really good friends - they are such geeks! - and that combination.....I mean, that was set.
I'm just attracted to characters. I mean, it's very rare I guess when you interview people and say, ''You've played nice people for the last four years''. For me, we all have dark sides and good sides. I think what is fun is finding the things that I like and love in characters that are supposed to be evil. For example, in Doctor Sleep (2019), Rose does everything for the love of her group. She tries to feed a group, she nurtures the people she loves. And obviously, the consequences of that love in our normal eyes of human beings is horrendous but not for her, she does it out of love and support for her people. What I wanted to portray and what was interesting was her maternal and caring aspect. When I did all of the research and I watched all of the serial killers' interviews and psychopaths etc, it's the normality and the well-spokenness, it's the luring.......and you look at them and you think, "I would either date you or be a friend of yours, and I understand," and then you think, "What happened?!" Those are the elements.
[on working with Hugh Jackman on Reminiscence (2021) ] I just adored working with him again. I wanted to work more with him, yes, because he's very good, but also because he made me feel so relaxed that I felt I could try to throw myself into areas that I hadn't done before and not be scared of failing. He made me feel very safe. It was quite selfish - I wanted to work with him because he made me feel like I could be better. The people I've worked with who are very, very famous, like Hugh and Tom Cruise, they are so humble and kind. They don't need to prove anything. Meryl Streep is another: I've never seen anyone like her. I mean, when we did Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), she would walk out on that bloody stage to entertain the extras. She'd go out and talk to them in-between takes and entertain them. A lot of people wouldn't care; she really did.
[on Dune (2021)] I hadn't read the book and I hadn't seen the old film version [Dune (1984)]. I knew absolutely nothing about them. I think it was one of those where I got the call: "Denis wants to Skype with you for his next project," and I was like, "I'm free now!" That evening, I watched the film. I remember when he called and said, "You've got it," I didn't want to see it again. It's easy to fall into the habit of mirroring other behaviors and it doesn't work for me, you just can't do that. I read blogs on people discussing characters. I do a lot of research on fan pages, what they love to talk about characters - I link that together to what Denis and I do with what my thoughts are on the character from the page and what I got from the book. I do a big mixture of it all because I love finding the secrets within characters. I love giving you something new and different.
