‘Barbie’ stars who have appeared in London theatre and beyond | London Theatre

From Ncuti Gatwa starring in The Importance of Being Earnest to Michael Cera hitting Broadway and Helen Mirren ruling the West End, these impressive actors are definitely Kenough.

It’s been a year since Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie hit cinema screens and turned the whole world a glorious shade of pink – while sneaking in some brilliant messages about the patriarchy – and we’re still not over it! Who knows — one day we might even get a Barbie musical.

In the meantime, you can direct your Barbie fever at the Design Museum. The London venue has an incredible exhibition dedicated to the legendary doll, charting her journey from 1959 to the present day. There are even some amazing items from the film on display.

You can also catch many of the Barbie cast in theatre, starting with Ncuti Gatwa starring in The Importance of Being Earnest this winter. Many more on the Barbie team have serious theatre pedigree. So, get out of your mojo dojo casa house, grab your rollerblades, and see which Barbie stars have turned London theatres into their dream houses.

Ncuti Gatwa

He’s not just Ken (the artist variety). Gatwa is great at doing stuff: he’s the new Doctor in Doctor Who, and he’s also starring in the National Theatre’s new production of The Importance of Being Earnest this Christmas.

Gatwa is joined by an incredible cast, including Sharon D Clarke, Hugh Skinner, Eliza Scanlen and Amanda Lawrence, for Max Webster’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s uproarious comedy about love, family and assumed identities.

Check back for The Importance of Being Earnest tickets on London Theatre.

Emerald Fennell

The Oscar-winning writer and director, whose eye-catching movies including Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, made a hilarious cameo as Barbie’s pregnant best friend Midge. Fennell is a self-described “Barbie fanatic” and revealed she teared up when she first saw the Barbieland set.

Fennell also has theatre cred: she’s the book writer for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s recent musical Cinderella (later retitled Bad Cinderella), which played in the West End in 2021-22 and then transferred to Broadway.

Hari Nef

Scream it with us: “Flat! Feet!” Nef plays Doctor Barbie, who is horrified when Margot Robbie’s Barbie admits that (gasp) her heels are on the ground. It’s another fantastic performance from the rising star, whose projects include Transparent, You, and The Idol.

Nef made her New York theatre debut in 2019 with Jeremy O. Harris’s play “Daddy” and followed that up with Denis Johnson’s drama Des Moines in 2022 and then the Chekhov adaptation The Seagull/Woodstock, NY in 2023, co-starring with Parker Posey, Patrick Foley, and Nat Wolff.

Rita Aryu

The British Indian actress made for a very glamorous Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Barbie (breaking news: we can only aspire to such poise). She also recently appeared in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and movie Polite Society.

On stage, her numerous projects have ranged from Carpe Diem at the National Theatre (2013) to Beauty and the Beast at the Polka Theatre (2015). Most recently she was in two plays at London’s Hampstead Theatre: Mother Christmas (2017) and Genesis Inc. (2018).

Nicola Coughlan

Beloved for her roles in Derry Girls and Bridgerton, Coughlan also makes an appearance in Barbie, although it was much briefer than planned due to scheduling conflicts. Still, we’ll always have that fabulous poster of her Diplomat Barbie with tumbling red curls and massive taffeta sleeves.

Before her Derry Girls breakthrough, Coughlan was known primarily as a theatre actress. She particularly impressed in Jess and Joe Forever at the Old Vic in 2015 and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 2018 at the Donmar Warehouse, playing schoolgirl Joyce Emily to Lia Williams’s magnetic teacher.

Kingsley Ben-Adir

If Ryan Gosling’s Ken’s job is beach, is Basketball Ken’s job… hoops? Well, that and rocking a bright orange headband. Ben-Adir is charming in Barbie, adding another hit movie to his varied list of credits, which includes Peaky Blinders and Bob Marley: One Love.

On stage, Ben-Adir performed in the Kiln Theatre’s verbatim show The Riots in 2011, and went on to do A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (2012) and Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic (2013). He also starred in Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play about Namibia at the Bush Theatre in 2014.

Helen Mirren

Barbie just wouldn’t be the same without Mirren’s wonderfully wry narration, adding zing to lines like “Barbie has a great day every day. Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.” Mirren, of course, is a screen legend and an Oscar winner for The Queen.

She has also had an extremely illustrious theatre career, including numerous productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, reprising her Elizabeth II in The Audience in 2013 (and winning an Olivier and a Tony), and starring in Phédre (2009) – the very first show to be broadcast via National Theatre Live.

Michael Cera

There are no multiples of Allan. He’s just Allan. And there’s no one quite like Michael Cera, who brought such awkward sweetness to the character – just as he has in films such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Juno, and Superbad, and TV series Arrested Development.

He made his theatre debut in 2012 in Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth at the Sydney Opera House and reprised his role on Broadway. He returned to Broadway in 2018 for two more Lonergan plays: Lobby Hero and The Waverly Gallery.

Ann Roth

My absolute favourite exchange in the Barbie film comes between Barbie and the older woman on the bench. “You’re so beautiful,” says Barbie. “I know it!” the woman shoots back. That character is played by the great Ann Roth, who is actually an Oscar, BAFTA, and Tony-winning costume designer; her movies include Midnight Cowboy, The Birdcage, and The English Patient.

She’s a Broadway legend, getting her first of 11 Tony nominations in 1976 for The Royal Family. She has designed for both plays and musicals, everything from To Kill a Mockingbird to The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and you can still see her iconic designs in The Book of Mormon in the West End.

Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie, Barbie herself, has yet to make her stage debut. But her film production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, which produced Barbie, ventured into theatrical producing in 2024. LuckyChap threw its power behind a new Off-Broadway musical in New York called The Big Gay Jamboree.

Just as Barbie is a colourful spectacle that pokes its share of fun at Mattel, Jamboree is both a splashy celebration and modern, queer spoof of classic musical comedies. We can’t wait to see which other theatre projects Robbie’s company produces next — or when Robbie makes her debut on a West End or Broadway stage.

Learn more about The Big Gay Jamboree on New York Theatre Guide.

Photo credits: Monique Carboni, Robert Day, Manuel Harlan, Keith Pattison, Joan Marcus, Brigitte Lacombe, and Johan Persson