Margot Robbie has built one of the most interesting filmographies in modern Hollywood, moving between psychological dramas, outrageous comedies, superhero adventures and major literary adaptations. She first attracted widespread attention opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, but her work in I, Tonya, Barbie and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood established her as an actress capable of carrying very different kinds of films. With Robbie recently announced as the star of A24’s The Week of Pain and preparing for the upcoming Ocean’s prequel with Bradley Cooper, there is plenty of reason to revisit her strongest performances.
What makes Robbie particularly interesting is her willingness to take characters who could easily become caricatures and give them recognisable human qualities. She can be funny without losing emotional depth, glamorous without relying entirely on appearances and frighteningly convincing when playing someone whose life is falling apart. Here are the 10 best Margot Robbie movies, ranked by the strength of her performance, the quality of the film and how memorable her contribution remains.
1. I, Tonya (2017)
I, Tonya remains the clearest example of Margot Robbie’s ability to transform herself completely for a role. Directed by Craig Gillespie, the biographical black comedy follows figure skater Tonya Harding, whose career became entangled in one of the most notorious scandals in American sporting history. Robbie plays Harding as a complicated individual whose ambition, difficult upbringing and volatile personal relationships shaped the person the public eventually came to recognise.
What makes the performance exceptional is that Robbie never reduces Harding to a simple villain or victim. She captures her confidence, insecurity, aggression and vulnerability without pretending that any single quality explains everything about her. The film’s unconventional storytelling, with characters contradicting one another and offering competing versions of events, makes Robbie’s portrayal even more compelling.
Her transformation also extends beyond physical preparation. The skating sequences, distinctive mannerisms and harsh emotional exchanges give the character a convincing identity. Robbie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, while Allison Janney won the supporting actress Oscar for her performance as Harding’s mother, LaVona Golden. For anyone wondering where to begin with Robbie’s filmography, this is the essential starting point.
2. Barbie (2023)
Barbie could easily have become a straightforward toy-based comedy, but Greta Gerwig turned the familiar Mattel character into the centre of a much more ambitious film. Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie, whose seemingly perfect existence begins to unravel when she experiences unfamiliar thoughts about mortality, imperfection and her place in the world. Her journey from Barbie Land into the real world gives the film its emotional and comedic foundation.
Robbie understands the delicate balance required by the character. She begins with the polished expressions and cheerful confidence associated with the doll, then gradually reveals a woman struggling to understand why the world no longer makes sense to her. Her performance makes the existential material accessible without losing the film’s playful personality.
Her chemistry with Ryan Gosling is another major reason the film works. Gosling’s Ken receives much of the comic attention, but Robbie provides the emotional centre that prevents the story from becoming a collection of sketches. The film became a global box-office phenomenon and received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Robbie was also one of its producers, making Barbie an important achievement on both sides of her career.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street introduced many international audiences to Robbie’s remarkable screen presence. Playing Naomi Lapaglia opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, she enters a world driven by money, manipulation, extravagant parties and unchecked ambition. The character could easily have been overshadowed by the film’s larger-than-life male protagonist, but Robbie makes sure that Naomi commands attention whenever she appears.
Her performance is particularly effective because she understands the power dynamics within the relationship. Naomi is attracted to Belfort’s wealth and lifestyle, but she is also capable of challenging him and refusing to play the obedient partner. Robbie delivers the film’s confrontations with confidence, making their relationship feel considerably more complicated than a conventional gangster-style romance.
The film’s outrageous humour and rapid-fire dialogue also give her plenty of opportunities to demonstrate her comic timing. Her Brooklyn accent, sharp expressions and fearless delivery helped establish her as an actress who could hold her own opposite one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Although she was still early in her international career, the performance announced that Robbie was capable of much more than simply playing the glamorous romantic interest.
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood offers Robbie a very different kind of role. She plays Sharon Tate, the actress whose life and career become part of the film’s fictionalised portrait of Los Angeles in 1969. Rather than placing Tate at the centre of every major plot development, Tarantino allows her to appear through smaller moments that establish her personality and everyday experiences.
Robbie’s performance depends heavily on expression and physical presence. One particularly memorable sequence follows Tate visiting a cinema to watch herself in The Wrecking Crew, where her excitement at seeing the audience respond to her performance becomes the emotional centre of the scene. Robbie conveys the character’s enthusiasm without turning it into an exaggerated celebrity impression.
Her portrayal also gives the film an important contrast to the insecurity and frustration surrounding Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Tate represents a different relationship with Hollywood, one built around possibility and excitement rather than fading fame. It is a restrained performance, but that restraint is precisely what makes it effective.
5. Bombshell (2019)
Bombshell places Robbie inside the highly charged environment of a major American television news organisation. Directed by Jay Roach, the film follows the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes, with Charlize Theron playing Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman portraying Gretchen Carlson. Robbie plays Kayla Pospisil, a fictional composite character whose experiences help the film explore the pressures faced by women working within the organisation.
Kayla is ambitious, politically conservative and eager to advance professionally. Her determination to succeed makes her vulnerable to manipulation by people with considerably more institutional power. Robbie handles this difficult character arc with considerable sensitivity, particularly as Kayla’s understanding of the organisation changes through increasingly disturbing experiences.
One of the film’s strengths is the contrast between Kayla’s early confidence and her later uncertainty. Robbie makes that transformation feel gradual rather than sudden, allowing viewers to understand why the character struggles to recognise the situation she has entered. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the performance, adding another major recognition to her growing collection of dramatic roles.
6. Birds of Prey (2020)
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) gives Robbie the freedom to explore Harley Quinn beyond her relationship with the Joker. After their breakup, Harley finds herself without the protection she once enjoyed in Gotham City. Her attempt to establish independence brings her into conflict with Roman Sionis, played by Ewan McGregor, and eventually connects her with several other women who have their own reasons to fight him.
Robbie’s understanding of Harley’s chaotic personality is one of the film’s biggest strengths. She moves comfortably between slapstick comedy, sudden violence and moments of genuine vulnerability. More importantly, this version of Harley has her own motivations rather than existing simply to support another character’s story.
The film also gives Robbie an opportunity to work alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya. Their characters initially occupy separate corners of Gotham’s criminal world before circumstances bring them together. The colourful action sequences and deliberately unpredictable storytelling make Birds of Prey one of the most entertaining entries in Robbie’s filmography.
7. The Suicide Squad (2021)
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad takes Harley Quinn into an even more chaotic adventure. The film follows a group of imprisoned supervillains forced into a dangerous mission on the fictional island of Corto Maltese. Robbie returns as Harley, surrounded by an entirely different collection of criminals, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2 and King Shark.
What makes this performance particularly enjoyable is how confidently Robbie adapts to Gunn’s absurdist humour. Harley remains unpredictable, but the character is also surprisingly capable and dangerous. Her action sequences are inventive, while her completely unconventional way of interpreting the situations around her creates some of the film’s funniest moments.
The film also avoids making Harley’s entire identity dependent on her romantic history. She has her own objectives, emotional reactions and understanding of the people around her. Robbie’s performance fits Gunn’s energetic filmmaking style, making this arguably the most entertaining version of Harley Quinn to date. Although Birds of Prey gives her character more room to develop independently, The Suicide Squad delivers some of her best comic-book action scenes.
8. Babylon (2022)
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon is an extravagant examination of Hollywood during the transition from silent cinema to sound. Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, an ambitious young performer who arrives in Los Angeles determined to become a movie star. Her character is inspired by the reckless energy and unpredictable personalities associated with early Hollywood, and Robbie approaches the role with extraordinary intensity.
Nellie is talented, impulsive and frequently self-destructive. She can command attention in front of a camera but struggles to control her behaviour away from the film set. Robbie gives the character an explosive personality that makes even the film’s most excessive scenes feel connected to a recognisable individual.
Her chemistry with Diego Calva, who plays Manny Torres, provides an emotional thread through the film’s sprawling story. Nellie’s relationship with Hollywood is complicated because the industry gives her opportunities while gradually becoming something she cannot control. Babylon divided audiences because of its length and deliberately excessive style, but Robbie’s performance is among its strongest elements.
9. Wuthering Heights (2026)
Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights brings Robbie into one of English literature’s most recognisable tragic romances. She plays Catherine Earnshaw opposite Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff in a new screen adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel. The story follows their intense relationship against the backdrop of class divisions, resentment and emotional obsession in eighteenth-century England.
Robbie approaches Cathy as a character whose desires frequently conflict with the social expectations surrounding her. The role demands a balance between vulnerability and selfishness, since Catherine’s decisions have consequences for both herself and the people closest to her. Robbie’s performance gives the character a strong screen presence, particularly in the emotionally charged exchanges with Elordi.
Fennell’s adaptation takes considerable creative liberties with its source material, making it a divisive interpretation rather than a straightforward literary translation. The film received mixed critical reactions, although its striking visual style and the central performances attracted considerable attention. It is an interesting addition to Robbie’s career because it reunites her with Fennell after their work together on other projects as producer and filmmaker.
10. Focus (2015)
Focus deserves a place on this list because it demonstrates Robbie’s ability to carry a conventional Hollywood crime comedy through personality and chemistry. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the film stars Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon, an experienced con artist who takes Jess Barrett, played by Robbie, under his wing. Their professional relationship gradually becomes romantic before circumstances pull them in different directions.
Three years later, Jess reappears as a much more accomplished con artist, complicating Nicky’s plans during a high-stakes operation in Buenos Aires. Robbie handles the character’s transformation particularly well, moving from an inexperienced newcomer to someone capable of matching her former mentor’s tricks. Her performance makes Jess feel clever and unpredictable without sacrificing the film’s romantic comedy elements.
The partnership between Smith and Robbie gives Focus much of its appeal. Their playful exchanges and competing attempts at manipulation keep the story moving, while Robbie demonstrates that she can command a mainstream commercial film without relying on an established superhero or biographical character. It may not have the dramatic weight of I, Tonya or the cultural impact of Barbie, but it remains an enjoyable showcase for her screen presence.
Margot Robbie’s next chapter in Hollywood
Robbie’s upcoming projects suggest that she is continuing to balance major franchise filmmaking with more unusual creative collaborations. On November 14, 2026, Variety reported that she would star in The Week of Pain, an A24 and Square Peg project written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli. Plot details remain under wraps, but the project brings Robbie together with the filmmaker behind Dream Scenario and The Drama.
She is also attached to the upcoming Ocean’s prequel alongside Bradley Cooper, who is directing the film. The story is set around an elaborate heist at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix and centres on the parents of Danny Ocean, the character famously played by George Clooney. The film is currently scheduled for a June 25, 2027 theatrical release.
From playing Tonya Harding and Sharon Tate to becoming Barbie and Harley Quinn, Robbie has built a career that refuses to stay within one genre. Which of these 10 performances deserves the number-one position, and is there another Margot Robbie movie that should have made this ranking?
