EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Carey Mulligan is gaining big awards buzz for her starring role in Promising Young Woman. We caught up with the actress about her empowering performance.

5 Things You Need to Know:

  1. The drama follows a young woman, traumatized by a tragic event during her college days, who seeks out vengeance against those who were involved in the incident. "So much of this film is not about saying like, 'Some people are bad and some people are good,' or 'Some people have done terrible things and some people haven't,' or 'Who’s on the right side of things,'" said Mulligan. "It’s much more about our broader society and how we’ve dealt with issues around this kind of stuff historically, and what part all of us played in that, how we’ve all been complicit to some degree."
  2. The film has received positive reviews from critics, who lauded Emerald Fennell's screenplay and direction, as well as Mulligan's performance. It was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review, with Mulligan also winning Best Actress. "The day that I shot with Molly Shannon, I shot with Alfred Molina in the afternoon, so I was constantly having to sort of up my game and get ready for the next person," said Mulligan. "All the scenes were so different."
  3. The 35-year-old British actress was nominated for an Oscar back in 2009 for her performance in the coming-of-age drama An Education and received a Tony nod back in 2015 as well. Her film debut came with a supporting role in the romantic drama Pride & Prejudice in 2005, followed by roles in television, including the drama series Bleak House and the television film Northanger Abbey. Her other films include Never Let Me Go, Drive, Shame, The Great Gatsby, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Wildlife. "One of the things about acting is that you're always like, 'What’s my next job going to be? Am I ever going to work again? Is everyone going to cancel me after this because they think I’m terrible?'" said Mulligan. "The majority of actors I know will feel like that. If they don’t, I genuinely don’t really like them."
  4. Mulligan has been an ambassador for Alzheimer's Society since 2012. In 2014, she became an ambassador for War Child and has visited the Democratic Republic of Congo in this role.
  5. She has been married to singer-songwriter Marcus Mumford of the band Mumford & Sons since 2012. They have two children together.