Emma Mackey

Emma Margaret Marie Tachard-Mackey is a British-French actress who achieved widespread recognition through her breakout performance in the Netflix comedy-drama television series Sex Education. Active in the role from 2019 through 2023, her work on the show launched her professional screen career and earned her significant industry accolades. She is a dual citizen of France and the United Kingdom who presently resides in London.

Born on 4 January 1996 in Le Mans, France, Tachard-Mackey was raised in Sablé-sur-Sarthe. She is the daughter of an English mother and a French father who served as a school headmaster. After finishing her secondary studies and obtaining her baccalauréat within the l'académie de Nantes school district in 2013, she relocated to England to attend the University of Leeds. She completed her higher education there, graduating in 2016 with a degree in English language and literature.

Mackey landed her initial professional acting role on Sex Education, portraying Maeve Wiley, a sharp and business-minded teenager who partners with fellow student Otis Milburn, played by Asa Butterfield, to launch a secret therapy service at their school. Her performance received widespread critical acclaim and earned her a nomination for a British Academy Television Award in 2021, followed by a win at the National Comedy Awards in 2022.

Expanding into feature films, Mackey appeared in the 2021 independent romantic drama Eiffel, which debuted at the Alliance Française French Film Festival and achieved global theatrical distribution, generating $13.6 million in total box office revenues. In 2022, she joined the cast of the mystery thriller film Death on the Nile, a continuation of 2017's Murder on the Orient Express, playing the supporting role of Jacqueline de Bellefort.

Also in 2022, Mackey took on her first lead cinema role, playing the titular nineteenth-century novelist in the biographical drama film Emily, which centered on Emily Brontë's formative years. Her ongoing career progress earned her the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2023. That same year, she made an appearance in the hit fantasy comedy feature Barbie and entered a promotional partnership as the featured brand ambassador for the Goddess perfume line by Burberry across print media and commercials.

Mackey's subsequent projects include taking on the title role in the romantic comedy film Ella McCay, directed by James L. Brooks, in 2025. In April 2025, she was also selected for the role of the White Witch in Greta Gerwig's 2026 cinematic adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia.