While the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie continues to paint large parts of the world in pink and mint money, it’s important to remember that Margot Robbie’s contribution isn’t just limited to her playing the iconic doll. In a recent interview with Vogue, Robbie has recounted how she and her friends wanted to make a film on Barbie, approached Barbie doll maker Mattel and Warner Bros. for it, roped in Greta Gerwig and got going.

With the success of Barbie, the 33-year-old Australian actress has cemented her spot in Hollywood as someone who can not only breathe life into a wide range of characters but also turn a concept on its head.

If you have loved Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie, here are five other films — in roles big and small — where Robbie showed her spark.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street thrust Margot Robbie into the spotlight as Naomi Lapaglia, the second wife of stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). While the focus is on Belfort, a real-life Wall Street trader who rose to dizzying heights by engaging in corrupt activities in the 1990s, Robbie holds her own in the film’s male-dominated world.

Naomi is ambitious, assertive and intelligent, which makes her more than a ‘trophy wife’ or a supporting character. After The Wolf of Wall Street’s commercial success, roles that are more challenging and of greater duration came Robbie’s way. Until then, she was best known for her turn in the Australian soap opera Neighbors.

Suicide Squad (2016)

In recent years, DC Comics character Harley Quinn has been a cultural sensation and Robbie’s neurotic anti-heroine act is a breakout performance. David Ayer’s Suicide Squad revolves around Amanda Waller, an intelligence officer assembling a team of supervillains from Belle Reve prison, known as Task Force X or ‘Suicide Squad’, for a dangerous mission. One such prisoner is Harley Quinn.

Robbie captures Harley Quinn’s complexity and gleeful madness, making her volatile and unpredictable.

I, Tonya (2017)

Robbie as figure skater Tonya Harding is a tour de force performance that captures the essence of the infamous sportswoman’s hard-earned rise and plummeting fall. Directed by Craig Gillespie, I, Tonya chronicles the life and career of Tonya Harding till her defamation after the 1994 attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

The film is a testament to Robbie’s diligence in morphing into the character she’s playing, training in skating for months. She retains the complexities of Tonya, a fierce athlete growing up with a domineering mother and abandoned by her father, and shining with her resilience and determination to excel in the face of abuse and social prejudices. Robbie also served as a producer on this film.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Robbie’s versatility comes through the character of Elizabeth I in Josie Rourke’s period film Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary. At the centre of Mary Queen of Scots is the tumultuous relationship between the two queens, who also happen to be cousins and rivals to the throne of England.

Elizabeth I is a woman fraught with vulnerabilities amidst religious and political upheavals, and in a stark departure from the edgy modern characters she has played before, Robbie brings a cold calculativeness to her performance as the historical figure.

Amsterdam (2022)

Robbie underwent a transformation from a World War I nurse to an artist in David O. Russell’s crime drama Amsterdam starring Christian Bale, John David Washington and Robert De Niro. Set in war-torn 1930s Europe, the film follows three friends (played by Robbie, Bale and David Washington) who get embroiled in a murder mystery and make a pact to protect each other while unravelling one of the most outrageous plots in American history.

Amsterdam is one of Robbie’s most underrated performances. While the war rips the group apart, it is Valerie (Robbie) who glues them back together. Through her, we see both the eccentric artist and the madwoman in the attic who cleverly tunnels her way out and uncovers the truth about her family and herself. The Covid-19 lockdown had inspired Robbie to work on her own artwork, most of which made it to the film’s bizarre aesthetics.