Margot Robbie’s rapid rise in Hollywood down to her own tenacity

MARGOT Robbie has been sending fan mail to Quentin Tarantino for years in the hope of landing a role in one of his films – a tactic that insiders credit for her leap to Oscar nominee.

Margot Robbie shines in 'I, Tonya'. Photo: Roadshow

MARGOT Robbie has been sending fan mail to Quentin Tarantino for years in the hope of landing a role in one of his films – a tactic that insiders credit for her rapid rise to Oscar nominee.

As the Queensland star prepares for her first tilt at a best actress Academy Award today, rumours continue to swirl that her next big role will be to play Sharon Tate in Tarantino’s new Charles Manson movie, alongside Leonardo Di Caprio.

Australian insider Jenny Cooney, known as “the Godmother” to Australian actors in Hollywood, has explained how Robbie, 27, landed on the filmmaker’s radar.

“She has been writing to him as a fan for years she told me,” Cooney said ahead of her visit to the Gold Coast Film Festival next month.

Margot Robbie at the Australian premiere of I, Tonya in Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

“So obviously he had a connection with her and she wasn’t just a random actor.”

Robbie has enjoyed a seemingly quick ascension from Channel 10 soapie Neighbours to one of Hollywood’s leading ladies, a rise which culminated in a best actress Oscar nomination for her role in I, Tonya.

Cooney has lived in Hollywood for 30 years, is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and votes for the Golden Globes. She knows Australian talent in Hollywood intimately and recently sat down with Robbie, who she said created her own luck.

The same attitude she’s taken with Tarantino is what landed her breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

“Margot is a great example of someone who … looks like she was lucky, but she’s not waited for anybody to knock on her door, she kicked down every door she could, starting with when she went to Neighbours,” Cooney said.

“She called the woman every day on the phone until she got an audition and she did the same thing with various people in Hollywood.”

“She went to meet the casting director of Martin Scorsese’s movie, not because she thought she’d get the role but because she wanted to meet the casting woman so she would remember her for other things.”

“She was as surprised as anyone that it ended up with her winning the role. She’s also not unattractive which is always a big plus in Hollywood.”

While Robbie is unlikely to win the Oscar this year– Ladbrokes has her odds at 33-to-one – a steady stream of sought-after roles including Sharon Tate and Queen Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots will secure her career progression after I, Tonya.