Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundstrom, better known by her screen name, Rebecca Ferguson is a Swedish actress who is best known for portraying the role of Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen (2013) and IIsa Faust in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), with the latter earning her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in an Action Movie. The actress started her career appearing in TV series before eventually getting her breakthrough on the silver screen with Hercules (2014). Her other popular films include Despite the Falling Snow (2016), and The Girl on the Train (2016).

EARLY LIFE

Born and brought in Stockholm, Sweeden, Ferguson is the daughter of Rosemary Ferguson, an English woman who moved to Sweden at the age of 25 and a Swedish father. The actress who grew up speaking both English and Swedish languages at home went to an English school. After completing her school she graduated from Adolf Fedrik`s Music School in 1999. Ferguson had a penchant for dancing from a very early age and learned different dance forms including ballet, jazz, tap-dancing, tango and street funk.

The actress started working at an early, she was only 13 when she made her first appearance on TV for a commercial. She subsequently appeared in advertisements for various renowned cosmetic, apparel and jewelry brands as well as graced the covers of magazines. Being a trained dancer, she taught Argentine tango at a dance company in Sweden for a few years, while simultaneously working on her own short film art projects.

PERSONAL LIFE

Rebecca Ferguson dated Ludwig Hallberg and in 2007, gave birth to the couple`s son named Isac Hallberg. The couple eventually parted ways in 2015.

MOVIE CAREER

In her maiden appearance on the silver screen, Rebeca Ferguson played a supporting role in the Swedish slasher film Strandvaskaren directed by Mikael Hafstrom. Upon release, the film received criticism for its striking similarity with Halloween and the Friday the 13th. After her debut film failed to win her any recognition, she focused her attention to work on short films, between 2008 and 2010, the actress worked in five short films including Plus, Arkiv, and Irresistible.

The actress got her major breakthrough in 2015 as she bagged a role in the American action spy film, Mission: Impossible - Rouge Nation directed by Christopher McQuairre. The film starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg was a massive commercial hit; it became the second-highest grossing film of the series. For her brilliant performance in the film, Ferguson won a nomination at the Critics` Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie in 2015.

After her success with Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, in 2016, the actress starred alongside Sam Reid, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Charles Dance in the British Cold war espionage film Despite the Falling Snow. The film directed by Shamim Sarif was based on the novel of the same name and it won wide critical acclaim and Rebecca for her stellar performance the Best Actress Award at the 2016 Prague Independent Film Festival. Later in the year, Ferguson starred in the American mystery thriller drama film The Girl on the Train directed by Tate Taylor. The film starring Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans and Lisa Kudrow received mixed critical reviews but emerged to be a commercial hit.

The actress had three major releases in 2017: the sci-fi horror film Life, the crime-thriller The Snowman and the musical The Greatest Showman. Of these, The Snowman - which was based on Jo Nesbo`s acclaimed novel of the same name - proved to be a major disappointment both critically and commercially, while the other two did well at the box office despite the mixed to positive reviews. Ferguson`s portrayal of 19th century Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in the Hugh Jackman starrer The Greatest Showman was especially well-received, and the film grossed over $430 million at the box office. In 2018, Ferguson reprised her role as Ilsa Faust in the sixth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, titled Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Among the actress` other recent projects is the fantasy adventure film The Kid Who Would Be King (2019), where she essayed the role of medieval enchantress Morgana. She then featured in Cold Night (2020), Reminiscence (2021), Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), a two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel of the same name. She also reprised her role as Ilsa in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

TV CAREER

Rebecca Ferguson started her acting career with the Swedish soap opera Nya Tider, which was aired on the Swedish channel TV4. The series, which played for about 3 years between 1999 and 2001, the actress appeared in 54 episodes. The actress then starred in the Swedish-American low budget soap opera Ocean Ave, which received poor reviews and ratings from the very beginning.

The actress got her major breakthrough in the TV industry as she played the role of `Elizabeth Woodville,` one of the lead characters in the British drama series The White Queen (2013). The series garnered positive reviews and won several laurels three nominations at the Golden Globe Award, four nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards with Ferguson getting a nomination at the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film.