Hollywood star Margot Robbie has told how she will be “eternally grateful” to soap Neighbors after it launched her acting career.
Margot, 32, who began her TV career as Ramsay Street’s Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, appeared in the show’s finale, which aired last Thursday.
While the A-lister filmed her scenes for the final show in Los Angeles, she made a sweet gesture to her fellow castmates, sending 37 bottles of champagne to the Melbourne set, as revealed by Neighbors actress Christie Whelan on social media last week, The Sun reports.
Robbie said that the final episode marks “the end of an era”.
Now Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, she said: “I owe so much to neighbors.
“There are so many of us that owe [the show] for giving us a big break.
“It wasn’t just about giving me a break either – it gave me a real chance to work on my craft. It was the perfect training for Hollywood and I will always be eternally grateful.”
thursday’s neighbors finale saw Robbie return alongside a host of other fan favourites, including Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Holly Valance and Natalie Imbruglia.
Anne Charleston, who played Ramsay Street legend Madge Bishop, also returned – with her late character appearing as a ghost.
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Remembering her time on the soap, Robbie said it was only when she moved to London that she realized how widespread neighbors‘popularity was.
“It really is an end of an era for fans. When I lived in London, I understood at its peak how big it was. People would come up to me and tell me how they watched it every day after school.”
From fruit farm to Hollywood Hills
The actress, who grew up on a fruit farm on the Gold Coast, moved to LA after leaving neighbors in 2011 and landed a role in US TV show Pan Am.
But it was her part opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street that caught the eye of movie bosses in 2013.
Soon after, she moved to South London where she shared a four-bedroom pad in Clapham with six other friends that they dubbed “The Manor”.
Her housemates were friends she had met filming wartime flick French Suite – including the assistant director and her now-husband Tom Ackerley.
Robbie went on to star in 2015’s focus opposite Will Smith and played The Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn in 2016 hitSuicide Squad.
In 2016, she and Ackerley also married, and the following year they swapped their Clapham flat for a $3.6 million villa in Hollywood.
But she said leaving London had not been an easy move for the couple.
She said: “It was such a hard decision to leave, but I just couldn’t keep living out of a suitcase.”
Back in LA, the actress went on to star as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya – which she also produced – and alongside Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron in Bombshell.
Both roles won her Oscar nominations.
She also starred as rising movie star Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywoodappearing with former co-star DiCaprio as well as Brad Pitt.
Next year will see her hit the big screen in neon pink and sky-high heels after she was cast as Barbie in a romantic comedy about the iconic doll.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film also stars Ryan Gosling as Barbie‘s love interest Ken.
Robbie said: “When I read the script, I genuinely thought, ‘This is one of the best scripts I have ever read.’ I needed to be part of this story.
“I remember speaking with Ryan before we started shooting and we were just so excited to be part of this incredible script.
“Whatever people expect the Barbie movie to be like, they need to totally rethink it because Greta has done something special here.
“And Barbie is such a role model. She was a surgeon back in the early ’70s when a tiny percentage of females were applying for medical school.”
It is expected that in the hands of director Greta – whose last films were Lady Bird and Little Women – Barbie will get a thoroughly modern makeover.
‘Things have changed a lot’
It comes after Hollywood’s own makeover in recent years following the #MeToo scandals.
That movement was the focus of 2019 movie Bombshell, which was based on the sexual harassment of women working at Fox News.
Robbie, who starred as Kayla Pospisil, told at the time that it was only while working on the film that she realized what sexual harassment was.
She told Net-A-Porter: “I’m in my late twenties, I’m educated, I’m worldly, I’ve travelled, I have my own business – and I didn’t know. That’s insane.
“I didn’t know that you could say, ‘I have been sexually harassed,’ without someone physically touching you.
“That you could say, ‘That’s not OK.’ I had no idea.”
The actress also said that she has experienced harassment, but “not in Hollywood”, adding: “I struggle to find many women who haven’t experienced sexual harassment on some level.
“So yes, lots of times. And to varying degrees of severity throughout my life.”
Speaking last week, Robbie said: “I think things have changed in Hollywood over the past few years.
“There have been some difficult conversations and very brave people.
“We live in hope that all this courage that has been shown means nothing like this ever happens again.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission
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