‘The way a soap works, I wish everyone could witness it because it’s truly remarkable.’
Margot Robbie has reflected on her time on Neighbours and shared how the long-running soap opera “completely changed” her life.
The Australian actress played fan favourite character Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, during which she was nominated for two Logie Awards, and made a guest appearance in the show’s ‘final episode’ in 2022.
Margot Robbie has revealed how Neighbours ‘completely changed’ her life. Photos: Channel 10 / Variety
In a recent interview with Variety, Margot was tested to see if she knew some of her lines from her most iconic projects.
While she flew through the quiz when she was given quotes from her films Barbie, Bombshell and Suicide Squad, she struggled to identify a line from Neighbours.
“‘Whatever you do guys, just look after yourselves’. I have no idea what that’s from,” she admitted. “Is it on Pan Am?”.
She eventually guessed Neighbours and was told that it was the last line she ever said on the series.
“In fairness to me, I was in over 300 episodes, so tricky to remember lines from Neighbours,” she laughed.
Margot starred in over 300 episodes of Neighbours from 2008 to 2011. Photo: Channel 10
‘Truly remarkable’
Margot went on to share that she landed her role on the Channel 10 series by repeatedly cold-calling the casting agent’s office.
“I kept calling and then one day they let me through to her, I don’t know why, I think it was a mistake,” she detailed.
“And then she was like, ‘How old are you?’. And I was like, ‘I’m 17’. She said, ‘Oh we need a 17-year-old girl right now, come in next week’. And so I did and I did the audition… I didn’t hear anything and then all of a sudden they were like, ‘You have the role, you start next week’, and then I was on it for three years.”
She described Neighbours as an “insane machine” and admitted she learned more on that set than she has anywhere else.
“It completely changed my life, not just because it was the first time I had a regular bit of acting work that I was getting paid to do on a regular basis. That changed my circumstances,” she said.
“The way a soap works, I wish everyone could witness it because it’s truly remarkable. I learned so much about every department and I’m definitely a better producer because I did a soap for three years, because I know what everyone is doing on set. And it was fun. I was a teenager, it was the best.”
After leaving Neighbours, Margot landed her breakout role in 2013 in the Martin Scorsese film The Wolf Of Wall Street opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
She then starred in films alongside Will Smith, Chris Pine and Jared Leto, and received her first Academy Award nomination in 2017 for her role in I, Tonya.
Margot has also produced several projects under her company LuckyChap Entertainment which she co-founded with her husband Tom Ackerley, including Promising Young Woman, Saltburn and Barbie.
