Entertainment

Who Is Annabelle Wallis?

by Maitri Suhas

I gotta give it up to the MTV Movie Awards for having a specific category for scary movie performances. The "Best Scary-As-S--t" award honors five scream queens and kings. On this year's list of nominees: Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl, Jennifer Lopez for Boy Next Door, Zach Gilford for The Purge: Anarchy, Dylan O'Brien for The Maze Runner, and Annabelle Wallis for Annabelle. If you saw Annabelle, you might have thought that the 30-year-old Wallis looked familiar, and that's because she's had a successful career already, primarily as a British actress, but she's about to blow up.

Annabelle is a prequel-ish to 2013's The Conjuring, and focuses on the evil doll, Annabelle, that we got a glimpse of in the first movie, but not a lot of backstory about. Well, besides that the doll was creepy as all hell. In Annabelle, Wallis plays the main character, Mia, with Ward Horton playing her husband, John. The two are attacked in their Santa Monica home by cultists who left an evil spirit in the doll and then, naturally, left the doll behind. And if there is one thing that is unequivocally scary, it's a young, unassuming couple being haunted by a devil doll.

But besides Wallis' great performance in the horror movie, she's done a lot in her career. So who is she?

She Definitely Gave A Horror Award-Worthy Performance

MTV posted a short clip from Annabelle on their voting page for the category, which is worth a watch. Wallis nails it as someone who is definitely scared as s--t. The scene features some classic horror tropes, like a baby in danger and slamming doors.

She's Been In A Ton Of TV Shows

Wallis, who was born in Oxford, is currently starring in the BBC show Peaky Blinders, which is perhaps the most British TV show name of all time. It's a historical crime drama set in Birmingham, England after World War I, with Cillian Murphy (who was born to play a villain with those cheekbones) as the leader of the Peaky Blinders Gang. Wallis plays Grace Burgess, a double agent.

But that's not her first British historical drama role, believe it or not. Wallis was also on The Tudors about Henry VIII's rule. She played Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, from 2009 to 2010.

...And Some Movies, Too

Wallis has played some small parts in films like Snow White and the Huntsman and Body of Lies. Even if you didn't know it, it's likely that you've seen Wallis on the silver screen in the last few years. She appeared in X-Men First Class, in which a young Charles Xavier flirts with her/informs her that she's a mutant.

She's Got The Best Uncle Ever

She's the niece of Richard Harris, aka the original movie Dumbledore! Rest in peace to the greatest wizard of all time.

She Loves Fashion

JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

A look at Wallis' Instagram will give you an idea of just how much she loves fashion, and she always looks great, especially in the British invasion issue of Vanity Fair which predicted she'll be a big star — and they're probably right. She's also always posting beautiful outfits that make this broke girl jealous.

She's Got A Lot Ahead

Wallis has a part in the upcoming film Sword of Vengeance from director Jim Weedon, and she just recently signed on to the cast of Guy Ritchie's forthcoming and highly anticipated The Knights Of The Round Table: King Arthur, in which, Deadline reports, she'll be playing Maid Maggie. She'll stray from her dramatic roots for her role in Grimsby, a comedy film written by Sacha Baren Cohen and whose cast is full of heavy hitters like Rebel Wilson, Mark Strong, and, for some reason, Penelope Cruz. And did I mention, there's a third season of Peaky Blinders coming soon? Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of this British actress stateside.

Images: Getty Images, Giphy