Where You Know ‘Saltburn’ Director Emerald Fennell From

Emerald Fennell is making waves once again with help from Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi in her latest jaw-dropping film Saltburn.

The Academy Award winner weaves a deceitful and debaucherous web in the new Prime Video title, which follows poor Oxford student Oliver (Keoghan) for a summer visit to he eccentric rich friend Felix's (Elordi) eponymous family estate.

While the movie's unhinged twists and turns have earned Fennell a whole new crop of devoted fans, the actress, writer and director's previous work has already made its mark.

From playing a discontinued Barbie to her Oscar-winning feature debut, here's where you've probably heard of Saltburn writer/director Emerald Fennell.

Killing Eve

After graduating from Oxford (much like her Saltburn characters), Fennell juggled work over the years as a writer and actress for film and television.

In 2018, Fennell's close friend Phoebe Waller-Bridge tapped her to take over as showrunner for Season 2 of her BBC spy thriller Killing Eve. The season earned her Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

"Emerald is such a badass," Waller-Bridge told Harper's Bazaar in 2020. "It was painful and hard moving away from a project that was like family, but seeing Emerald take it on — it was so cool to hand things over and have other people's input. [The second season] is fantastic and it feels so brilliant because Emerald's voice is so unique."

She added, "There was no sense of getting her to do what we had done before, there was real sense from the whole company to bring your own stuff to it and she really does. Her roar is very evident in it and that's what gives it its energy."

Killing Eve is now available to stream on AMC+.

The Crown

As Fennell's writing career began to pick up steam, so did her work as an actress. She joined Netflix's The Crown that same year as Camilla Parker Bowles.

"These characters are real people, of course, but they're kind of characters to all of us," she told The Hollywood Reporter of the role. "Making them real has been amazing. I said to my agent a couple of years ago when The Crown first came out, 'One day they're gonna want Camilla. Please make sure that I can go in for it.'"

Fennell added, "She's always really fascinated me. There's so much to that relationship [with Charles] that I didn't know about and I think isn't widely known. It's a very interesting exercise."

The Crown is now available to stream on Netflix.

Promising Young Woman

Fennell made her directorial debut while seven-months pregnant with her first baby, whom she delivered in 2019. The next year, she delivered the Oscar-winning movie Promising Young Woman.

The movie follows troubled young woman Cassie (Carey Mulligan) as she hunts down sexual predators in an attempt to right the wrongs of her past. With an equally shocking twist ending, it serves as a perfect predecessor to Fennell's latest title.

In addition to nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, the movie earned Fennell her first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Promising Young Woman is now available to stream on Freevee.

Barbie

After working with producer Margot Robbie on Promising Young Woman, Fennell made a hilarious appearance in Barbie as Mattel's shameful, discontinued doll Midge.

Part of a stacked ensemble of Barbies and Kens, Fennell's Midge stands out during a funny exchange with Will Ferrell. She joked about playing the "permanently pregnant" character in an interview with People.

"Because I'd been pregnant making Promising Young Woman, and then pregnant to accept an Oscar, it seemed as though I was some permanently pregnant woman," she said.

"I could see how unbelievably hilarious it was for me to then, having just stopped being pregnant, put on a pregnancy suit and be pregnant again," added Fennell. "Because Midge has been pregnant for 50 years, God bless her! Poor f---ing thing."

Barbie is now available to stream on Max.

Other Projects

Fennell's time in Barbieland comes after she made onscreen appearances in Albert Nobbs (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), The Danish Girl (2015), Pan (2015) and Call the Midwife (2013-2017).

As a writer, she has worked with Andrew Lloyd Weber on the book for his West End-turned-Broadway musical Bad Cinderella. Fennell is also an award-winning children's book author.

Saltburn is now available to stream on Prime Video.