Rebecca Ferguson Biography

Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundstrm (born 19 October 1983), known professionally as Rebecca Ferguson, is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her lead role as Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen (2013), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and her starring role as Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015).

Early life

Ferguson was born in Stockholm and grew up in the Vasastan district in central Stockholm. Her mother, Rosemary, is British, and moved from the United Kingdom to Sweden at the age of 25.

Rebecca attended an English-speaking school in Sweden and was raised bilingual, speaking Swedish and English.

From the age of 13, she worked as a model and appeared in magazines and on television commercials for cosmetic, apparel and jewelry advertisements.

Ferguson has danced from a very early age; she did ballet, tap-dancing, jazz, street funk and Tango. She taught Argentine tango at a dance company in Lund, Sweden for a few years, while she continued her work on several short art film projects.

Ferguson attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm and graduated in 1999.

Career

She came into prominence with her breakout role of upper-class girl Anna Gripenhielm in the soap-opera Nya tider. She went on to later play Chrissy in the Swedish-American soap Ocean Ave.

Swedish director Richard Hobert spotted her at the Simrishamn town market in 2011, which led to her starring in his film A One - Way to Antibes. She has also appeared in the horror film Strandvaskaren and the 2012 film Vi alongside Gustaf Skarsgrd.

In August 2012, it was announced Ferguson had been cast to play Elizabeth Woodville in the ten-part BBC historical drama The White Queen, based on Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War novels about the women of the Wars of the Roses. Ferguson's work in The White Queen has been met with praise, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film.

In 2015, Ferguson played Ilsa Faust, the female lead in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, for which she was highly praised. She will reprise her role in the sixth Mission: Impossible film.

Her upcoming projects are Shamim Sarif's Despite the Falling Snow; Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, opposite Meryl Streep; Tate Taylor's The Girl on the Train; Tomas Alfredson's The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Gainsbourg and will play the lead in Daniel Espinosa's sci-fi Life.

Personal life

In 2007, Ferguson gave birth to a son, Isac, with former boyfriend Ludwig Hallberg. After her soap opera success and the birth of her son, she moved with her boyfriend to Simrishamn, on the Swedish south coast. The couple separated in April 2015.

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Strandvaskaren	2004	Amanda
Plus	2008		Short film
Irresistible	2009	Woman	Short film
Flyga, inte dala	2009		Short film
Lennart	2009		Short film
Arkiv	2010		Short film
A One-Way Trip to Antibes	2011	Maria
Vi	2012	Linda
Cold Night	2013
Hercules	2014	Ergenia
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation	2015	Ilsa Faust
Despite the Falling Snow	2016	Katya / Lauren	Post-production
Florence Foster Jenkins	2016	Kathleen
The Girl on the Train	2016	Anna Watson	Filming
The Snowman	2017	Katrine Bratt	Filming

Television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Nya tider	1999-2001	Anna Gripenhielm	54 episodes
Ocean Ave.	2002	Chrissy Eriksson	Episode: "#1.5"
Wallander	2008	Louise Fredman	Episode: "Sidetracked"
The Vatican	2013	Olivia Borghese	Television film
The Inspector and The Sea	2013	Jasmine Larsson	Episode: "Der Wolf im Schafspelz"
The White Queen	2013	Elizabeth Woodville	Main role 10 episodes
The Red Tent	2014	Dinah	Lifetime mini-series

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
2014	Golden Globe Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	The White Queen
2015	Hamptons International Film Festival	Breakthrough Performer
	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie	Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
2016	Empire Awards	Empire Award for Best Female Newcomer	Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation