Vanessa Nuala Kirby is an English actress. She has received several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Born in London to urologist Roger Kirby, Kirby studied English literature at the University of Exeter. After graduation, she made her professional acting debut on stage with a production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons (2010), and followed this with acclaimed performances in the plays A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010), As You Like It (2010), Women Beware Women (2011), Three Sisters (2012), and as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (2014).
Kirby made her film debut with a minor role in the crime drama The Rise (2012), and rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Princess Margaret in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2016–2017), for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress and received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. She took on roles in the action films Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019). For her performance as a grief-stricken young woman in Pieces of a Woman (2020), she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
