Skip to main content

5 Margot Robbie movies and TV shows you need to watch

Since her emergence as a big-screen star a decade ago, Margot Robbie has been one of the defining movie stars of her generation. Barbie has cemented her status as one of the world’s brightest stars and also serves as a reminder of just how versatile she can be as a performer.

In honor of Barbie’s tremendous success, it makes sense to look back at the many triumphs that Robbie has already experienced over the course of her career. As the movies and TV shows on this list make abundantly clear, Robbie is a star unafraid of taking risks, even if that means that those risks don’t always pay off, at least in the short term. 

Birds of Prey (2020) 

BIRDS OF PREY - Official Trailer 1

One of Robbie’s signature roles is undoubtedly Harley Quinn, a character she has now played three times. Birds of Prey was really Robbie’s chance to make the role her own, though, and it’s a chance she definitely didn’t waste.

Here, Robbie’s wild-eyed Harley finally decides to do something good, and teams up with a young teenager who inadvertently swallowed a diamond. This may be the movie that best encapsulates Harley’s incredible energy, and it’s a reminder that, although you may not love the DCEU, we can’t be mad that it gave us Robbie’s version of Harley Quinn. 

Babylon (2022)

BABYLON | Official Trailer (2022 Movie) – Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Tobey Maguire

A criminally underrated movie with a terrific performance from Robbie, Babylon is director Damien Chazelle’s ode to the end of the silent film era in Hollywood. Although Chazelle’s depiction of this era may not be technically accurate, it’s wildly entertaining.

In the movie, Robbie plays a Brooklyn-born actress who is convinced of her own stardom, and eventually shows the world how talented she is. The emergence of sound ultimately dooms her career, though, turning Robbie’s character into something much more tragic. At more than 3 hours long, Babylon is a lot of movie, and it has a sprawling ensemble, but Robbie remains at the beating heart of the movie from its first moment to its last.  

I, Tonya (2017)

I, TONYA [Official Trailer] – In Theaters Now

In the movie that almost won her a Best Actress Oscar, Robbie is truly excellent as Tonya Harding, the disgraced former Olympic skater who is best known for her connection to the assault on one of her chief U.S. rivals, Nancy Kerrigan, .

I, Tonya does an extraordinary job complicating that story, though, in part by showing us the way that Harding was herself the victim of repeated abuse from both her mother and her husband. The movie is willing to shine a light on Harding’s flaws and her culpability in what happened to Kerrigan, but it’s also a fairly gentle portrait of a complicated person who had a pretty rough life.

Pan Am (2011) 

"Pan Am" TV Series Trailer

After starring in Australian soaps, Margot’s first American role was as part of the ensemble on ABC’s short-lived drama series Pan Am. The series as a whole may not have lived up to the hype surrounding it, but its emphasis on flight crews in the 1960s was an inspired way to riff on the phenomenal success of Mad Men.

Robbie is just one piece of this ensemble, but she certainly stands out from the second she first shows up on-screen. Few actors have the kind of ineffable charisma that she has always possessed as an actor, and it’s right on the surface every time she gets a moment of screen time on the show. 

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

The role that introduced many Americans to Robbie as an actor, The Wolf of Wall Street is not explicitly about Robbie’s character. Instead, she plays the wife of Jordan Belfort, the Wall Street scammer who made millions on the backs of people who didn’t understand what they were being sold.

Belfort’s wife, who is initially charmed by him and eventually infuriated by his child-like behavior, could have easily come across as a scold. And yet, because of Robbie’s excellence as a performer, and Martin Scorsese’s sharp direction, the relationship feels much more complex and lived in than it might have in lesser hands.

Editors' Recommendations

Joe Allen
Joe Allen is a freelance writer based in upstate New York focused on movies and TV.
3 underrated movies on Prime Video you need to watch in September
Two men sit in a bathtub in Jeff, Who Lives at Home.

There are always new movies coming to Amazon Prime Video, including both old and new titles. Some of these movies might be ones you have watched already, but a few are underrated ones that you may never have seen way back in the day, or perhaps saw when you were really young and completely forgot about them.

It’s never too late to check out a movie from decades past, and there are options in every genre. Here, we’re highlighting three underrated movies on Prime Video that are worth watching in September before they’re gone. Movies come and go on Prime Video all the time, so you never know when a title will no longer be available to stream.
The Bad News Bears (1976)
The Bad News Bears (1976) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Read more
5 movies and TV shows to watch if you like Starfield
Promotional art for Bethesda's Starfield.

Who wants to go exploring in space? It's been over five years since Bethesda announced Starfield, but it's finally here and players can find over 1,000 worlds to visit, with new adventures and intrigue. There's so much to find that players have only scratched the surface so far, but it's a brand new universe that should keep gamers busy for a long time. Yet if you need to give your hands a rest, there are a few movies and TV shows that may appeal to anyone who loves Starfield.

When making our choices for this list, we stayed away from the obvious space operas like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Farscape. Those are some fantastic shows and films, but all of them primarily feature alien characters. Starfield is about a universe that is largely populated by humans, and so we decided that our picks should reflect a similar sensibility. These are all sci-fi stories, but they share certain themes and similarities. That's why we believe that these are the five movies and TV shows that you should watch if you like Starfield.
The Expanse (2015-2022)

Read more
5 Denzel Washington movies you need to watch right now
Denzel Washington speaks to a crowd as Malcolm X in "Malcolm X" (1992).

King Kong ain't got nothing on him. Having won three Golden Globes, two Oscars, and one Tony, Denzel Washington remains one of the greatest actors of the modern era. With an acting career spanning almost 50 years, Washington has starred in many films, shows, and stage plays that were all elevated by his earnest and magnetic energy as a performer.

With The Equalizer 3 now out in theaters, fans should also sit back and watch these five films featuring the legendary actor.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Read more