Who is Annabelle Wallis? Chris Martin’s ex-girlfriend and actress who plays Peaky Blinders’ Grace Burgess
She appears in The Mummy with Tom Cruise and has been directed by Madonna and Guy Ritchie too
FROM period dramas to comic book movies, Annabelle Wallis has been building a steady career since the start of the century.
Here's everything you need to know about her...
Who is Annabelle Wallis?
Annabelle Wallis, 33, is a British actress who was born September 25, 1984.
With her fair skin, blonde hair, and striking blue eyes, Annabelle is often described as "an English rose".
However, she was actually raised outside Lisbon in Portugal where she enjoyed embracing the great outdoors with lots of “sports, paint balling and motorcross bike riding with my brother.”
She went to school at Saint Dominic’s International School in Portugal and then moved to London to pursue acting having felt it was always in her blood.
Once in the UK, Annabelle landed an agent, demanded to be sent on auditions, landed her first role playing an “East End Showgirl” and hasn’t looked back.
Does Annabelle Wallis have famous relatives?
Annabelle Wallis is the niece of legendary Irish actor Sir Richard Harris – Oscar nominated for his role in 1963 film This Sporting Life and 1990’s The Field, while also being well loved by millions for playing Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films (before he sadly died in 2002 aged 72).
Annabelle’s cousins are the actor Jared Harris (who appears in films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and plays King George VI in the Netflix show The Crown) and the director Damian Harris.
Her brother, Francis Wallis, works in the moving pictures industry, creating projects for Familia production company.
Who does Annabelle Wallis play in Peaky Blinders?
Annabelle Wallis is currently playing Grace Burgess in the hit BBC period drama gangster show Peaky Blinders.
Her character is the lover of lead star Cillian Murphy’s Thomas Shelby – with the couple welcoming a son named Charles and marrying in series three.
However she was shot and killed at the end of season three.
What other TV shows has Annabelle Wallis been in?
Arguably, Annabelle Wallis had her big break in the Showtime produced historical drama The Tudors – telling the a highly dramatized version of the life of King Henry VIII (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) with Annabelle playing doomed wife number 3 Jane Seymour in series 3 and 4.
Other TV role highlights include starring alongside Dominic Cooper in the Sky Atlantic biopic Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond and as an English air stewardess in the short-lived ABC flight drama Pan Am.
On playing Jane Seymour in The Tudors, Annabelle claims she was winging it – landing the role aged 23 and telling InStyle: “I didn’t realise that it was this big network show. I just arrived and mucked in and did my best. I think that initial ignorance really helped.”
Has Annabelle Wallis worked with Madonna?
Annabelle Wallis has worked with Queen of Pop Madonna in her 2011 directorial flop W.E. – a dramatization of the real life story of American Wally Winthrop (played by Abbie Cornish) who caused a constitutional crisis in the UK last century as she embarked on an affair with King Edward VIII (played by James D’Arcy) who abdicated the throne to be with his American lover.
During the audition process, Annabelle was caught out by Madge after claiming to be fluent in four languages.
"Madonna asked me to read in the foreign parts in rehearsals, before those parts had been cast,” Annabelle told the Telegraph in 2010 after being cast in the support role of Arabella Green.
"I was stumbling over every word and it soon became clear that I may have been exaggerating slightly when I wrote that I was fluent on my CV," Annabelle said.
What films has Annabelle Wallis starred in?
Annabelle worked – and starred – alongside Tom Cruise in the 2017 fantasy horror reboot The Mummy.
She plays Jenny Halsey who finds herself wrapped up in the action as Sofia Boutella’s ancient Princess Ahmanet reawakens in the present day to seek revenge on the world.
Rumours emerged that Tom had a crush on Annabelle – however the Scientologist was reported to be dating Mission Impossible and The Crown star Vanessa Kirby in March 2017.
The star had her big-screen English language debut in True True Lie in 2006 – a thriller co-starring Jamie King and Lydia Leonard.
She can be found flirting with James McAvoy’s Professor Charles Xavier in the 2011 comic book movie X-Men: First Class and playing Chris Hemsworth’s wife Sara in fantasy film Snow White and the Huntsman (co-starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron).
She also had a role in 2016 box office bomb Grimsby – written by and starring Sacha Baron Cohen.
Who has Annabelle Wallis dated? Is she single?
Annabelle and Jared Leto were romantically linked in 2010 – however they have downplayed rumours of the romance.
In 2014, Annabelle described Jared as her “friend” on Twitter as she congratulated him on winning his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club.
Annabelle Wallis was then romantically linked to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in 2015, but their romance intensified when his divorce was finalised in 2017.
But the couple split by the end of that same year
Annabelle is now said to be with Mad Men star Jon Hamm, after the pair were spotted looking cosy at CinemaCon in April 2018.
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How many languages does Annabelle Wallis speak?
Annabelle Wallis is reported to be ‘fluent’ in four languages including English, Portuguese, French and Spanish.
"I think in English, but I write a lot in Portuguese. It’s a far more descriptive language. You can describe something in one word where, in English, you’d need a sentence and a half,” she told InStyle in 2016.
“I met with Sacha Baron Cohen in London recently and he was like, ‘I know a bit of Portuguese,' and just started chatting away in it. He’s a bit of a genius," she added.
However Madonna caught Annabelle out by asking her to read a script in one of her 'fluent' languages - leading the actress to confess she may exaggerate her language skills.