Florence Pugh
Birthdate: Jan 3, 1996
Birthplace: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Florence Pugh (birthname: Florence Rose CM Pugh) has enjoyed one of the fastest and most acclaimed rises of any actor in English-language cinema. Only five years after her film debut, as co-star (while Pugh was still in high school) along with Maisie Williams in Carol Morley’s atmospheric and well-reviewed The Falling (2014), Pugh was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Amy in Greta Gerwig’s highly regarded version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (2019). Pugh’s stardom rose as the spy Yelena opposite Scarlett Johansson in Marvel’s Black Widow (2021), earning nearly $380 million box office worldwide.
Florence Pugh was remarkably a face on the poster of her first movie, The Falling, which premiered at the London Film Festival, earning her a festival nomination for Best British Newcomer. Two years later, Pugh delivered a stunning, slashing performance reconsidering Shakespeare in Lady Macbeth (2016), director William Oldroyd’s and writer Alice Birch’s fascinating adaptation of Nikolai Leskov’s play, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Pugh was cast in a supporting role in the Liam Neeson action thriller, The Commuter (2018), with Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, and Sam Neill, followed by a bigger role in David Mackenzie’s Netflix epic, The Outlaw King (2018), with Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Stephen Dillane. Pugh turned to contemporary comedy-drama for a starring role in writer-director Stephen Merchant’s British wrestling movie, Fighting with My Family (2019), with Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, Jack Lowden, and Vince Vaughn, and released domestically by MGM.
In Ari Aster’s disturbing folk horror drama, Midsommar (2019), opposite co-star Jack Reynor, Florence Pugh made a major impact, arguably solidifying her star status (underlined by Pugh being the big face on the movie poster), and earning her a Best Actress nomination from the Gotham Independent Film Awards. Pugh capped a triumphant 2019 in Gerwig’s Little Women, leading to her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Although Florence Pugh was fairly quiet in 2020, that was because of her ambitious superhero action performance in 2021 in director Cate Shortland’s Marvel movie spinoff, Black Widow, the first MCU movie about a female superhero directed by a woman.
In fall 2022, Pugh made quite a noise in both The Wonder, Sebastián Lelio’s Netflix-released psychological drama co-written by Alice Birch and based on Emma Donoghue’s novel and highly acclaimed at its Telluride Film Festival world premiere, and as the lead of Olivia Wilde’s anticipated thriller, Don’t Worry Darling, with Chris Pine and Harry Styles, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival amidst much controversy about reportedly personal or artistic disagreements between Pugh and Wilde.
Florence Pugh starred in—and also produced--writer-producer-director Zach Braff’s return to feature filmmaking, A Good Person (2023), with Zoe Lister-Jones, Molly Shannon, and Morgan Freeman, and set to be released by United Artists Releasing. Pugh co-starred opposite the imposing cast of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr. (to name a few) in Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated Oppenheimer (2023) for Universal Pictures.
Pugh is also a part of the large ensemble of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2023), the writer-director continuation of his first Dune, with a cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, and Zendaya. In the summer of 2022, Florence Pugh was cast in the MCU antihero movie, Thunderbolts (2024), in which Pugh reprises her Yelena Belova spy character opposite Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and David Harbour. Pugh is attached to the science fiction film, Dolly (date to be announced) and a feature version of Nita Prose’s acclaimed novel, The Maid (date to be announced).
Personal Details
Florence Pugh was born and raised in Oxford, England by parents Deborah, a dancer, and Clinton Pugh, a restauranteur. She has a brother, actor-musician Toby Sebastian, and two sisters, actor Arabella Gibbins, and Rafaela Pugh. When she was very young, Pugh was afflicted with tracheomalacia; her family relocated to the Spanish Mediterranean coastal community of Sotogrande, near Gibraltar, when she was three to help her reverse the condition.
They lived there for three years and returned to Oxford when Pugh was six when she first performed on stage. Pugh attended Wychwood School and St. Edward’s School in Oxford. Pugh has been in a relationship with actor-filmmaker Zach Braff since 2019. Pugh’s height is 5’ 3¾”.
Known For
Awards
Nominee, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Awards (2019); Two-time Nominee, EE Rising Star Award/Best Supporting Actress, BAFTA Awards (2018, 2020); Winner, Chopard Trophy-Female Revelation, Cannes Film Festival (2019); Nominee, Best European Actress, European Film Awards (2017).
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Critics Choice Award
Critics Choice Awards
Filmography
actor
Upcoming (1)
- 2025 | Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts*
A group of supervillains are recruited to go on missions for the government.
Previous (13)
- 2024 | We Live in Time
We Live in Time
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
- 2024 | Dune: Part Two
Dune: Part Two
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
- 2023 |
- 2022 | Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
When Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives, he launches an epic journey to restore them by finding the mythical Last Wish.
- 2022 | The Wonder
The Wonder
A tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
- 2022 | Don’t Worry Darling
Don’t Worry Darling
While her husband leaves home everyday to work in a top secret facility, a young 1950s housewife begins to question her life when she notices strange behavior from the other wives in the neighborhood.
- 2021 | Black Widow
Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises.
- 2019 |
- 2019 | Fighting with My Family
Fighting with My Family
A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.
- 2018 | Malevolent
- 2018 | Little Women
Little Women
A modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, we follow the lives of four sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March - detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood. Despite harsh times, they cling to optimism, and as...
- 2017 | Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate.
- 2014 | The Falling
Some Facts About Florence Pugh
The Voice: Florence Pugh’s uniquely throaty voice is the result of a tracheomalacia condition she suffered as a child, as well as the insertion of a tube in her throat to help her breathe.
Working with Women: Pugh’s film career has been distinguished by working, from her first movie, with a notable number of women directors, and in some of her most important titles: Carol Morley (The Falling), Jessica Swale, Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Cate Shortland (Black Widow), and Olivia Wilde (Don’t Worry Darling).
Pugh the Singer: Florence Pugh sang cover songs under the name “Flossie Rose” on YouTube, from 2013 to 2016. She also performed on her brother Toby Sebastian’s song, “Midnight.”
