The fast-rising career of 'Legend' star Emily Browning
Emily Browning was born December 7, 1988, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She has two younger brothers.
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."
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She made her American debut in the 2002 horror film "Ghost Ship," which also starred Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Marguiles, and Isaiah Washington.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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:
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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.
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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.
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:
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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.
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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."
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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.”
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