Emily Browning holds her own next to Tom Hardy in "Legend," the biopic about the English gangsters the Kray twins, out this weekend.
Browning portrays the complex Frances Shea, Reggie Kray's first wife, showing the troubled relationship that led to Shea's death. She also serves as the film's narrator, depicting the twisted and violent lives of the Kray twins through her own eyes.
The 26-year-old actress first made her debut back in her native Australia when she was 10, appearing in a Hallmark movie.
You might recognize her as Violet Baudelaire in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." She was 14 when she nabbed that role. She briefly took a break from acting to finish school and returned in 2009. Since then, she's appeared in numerous films, including "Sucker Punch" and "Pompeii."
Browning is also a singer, lending her voice to three different film soundtracks.
Here's a look back on the rising actress' career:
Emily Browning was born December 7, 1988, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She has two younger brothers.
Source: IMDB
Her acting career began after a classmate's father saw her acting in a school play.
Source: IMDB
She made her acting debut in 1998 after landing a role in "The Echo of Thunder," a TV movie.
She followed this up with roles in a number of Australian TV shows, including "Thunderstone," "Something in the Air" and "Blue Heelers."
Source: IMDB
She made her American debut in the 2002 horror film "Ghost Ship," which also starred Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Marguiles, and Isaiah Washington.
Source: IMDB
After landing some other roles, including a part alongside Orlando Bloom and Heath Ledger in 2003's "Ned Kelly," Browning scored her first lead role as Violet Baudelaire in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," based on the first three books in Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events." She was 14.
She won an award for best actress from the Australian Film Institute for her role.
Source: IMDB
After playing Violet, Browning was nervous about continuing to act and thought she might be finished. She returned home to finish high school before returning to the screen.
She told the Guardian, "I saw a world I didn’t want to be part of. I was hanging out with kids who had never been to school, who only knew the film industry, and it freaked me out... And for a while, I thought I didn’t want to be an actress. That it had been fun for a bit, but it’s not for me.”
Source: The Guardian
Her first feature film after her return to acting was the lead role in the 2009 thriller "The Uninvited," alongside David Straithairn and Elizabeth Banks.
Source: IMDB
Author Stephanie Meyer wanted Browning to play Bella in the film adaptation of "Twilight," but Browning declined. In an interview with the Huffington Post last year, Browning said she was glad she didn't accept the role.
She said, "If I had’ve auditioned and gotten that part and had the same experience that they did on the film, they got such a crazy amount of attention, I don't think I would be acting anymore. I think I would have quit. I don’t think I would have been able to handle it.”
Source: Huffington Post
After Amanda Seyfried dropped from Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch," Browning took the part. She also sang three cover songs for the soundtrack, Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," and the Smiths' "Asleep."
She brought the casting agent to tears with her singing audition.
You can listen to the soundtrack here:
Source: Coming Soon
Browning replaced Mia Wasikowska in the 2011 film "Sleeping Beauty," which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The role earned her the breakthrough performer award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Source: IMDB
Though she turned down "Twilight," she worked with the director, Catherine Hardwicke, for Hardwicke's "Plush." Browning sang in the film and worked alongside Cam Gigandet and Xavier Samuel.
You can listen to the soundtrack here:
Source: Wikipedia
And for a third time, Browning appeared on another soundtrack, this time for "God Help the Girl," a musical film written by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian. The songs were performed live. She accepted the role before reading the script.
You can listen to the soundtrack here:
Source: Under the Radar
She's appeared in music videos for Evermore's "Light Surrounding You," Imperial Teen's "No Matter What You Say," and most recently, Years & Years' "Take Shelter."
In 2014, she landed a role in the action romance film "Pompeii," opposite "Game of Thrones'" Kit Harington.
Source: IMDB
She most recently appeared in "Legend" as Frances Shea, the first wife of real-life English gangster Reggie Kray. Tom Hardy plays Reggie and his twin brother Ronnie in the biopic.
In an interview with InStyle, Browning said playing the real-life Frances was a tricky experience. "There’s always pressure when you’re playing a real person that people knew, but there’s really so little information available about Frances herself," she said. "That makes it really difficult to differentiate truth from fiction. A lot of the stories are conflicting, so it’s hard to hard to know who she genuinely was."
Source: IMDB
When committing to a role, Browning wants to find complex characters like Frances Shea. She told the Guardian that it's hard to find those roles because of sexism in Hollywood.
She said, "I’m so determined not to play the hot babe that doesn’t say anything, that can’t have an opinion, but it’s so difficult to resist all of that. Hollywood movies are made for white men, and that’s something I think about and which bothers me all the time.”
Source: The Guardian
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