XWired Online

Carey Mulligan brings youth and experience Carey Mulligan will never be a matinee idolnot in today’s Hollywood, anyway. In a previous era, her waifish beauty would have shone even brighter backlit with a soft fade. Today, it’s Mulligan’s acting that’s bringing her acclaim, especially her role in 2009′s An Education.Mulligan plays Jenny Mellor, a teenage girl growing up in London, circa 1961. With the promise of a practical but unglamorous Oxford education ahead of her, Jenny easily falls for a seductive older man named David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard). The film follows their relationship as Jenny begins to understand what kind of man David really is.Film critics fell for Mulligan as easily as her character does for David, with multiple organizations showering her with Best Actress and Best Breakthrough or Promising Performer nominations. Before An Education, Mulligan’s roles were mainly in television. She appeared in the 15-part BBC adaptation of Bleak House in 2005 and the six-episode political series The Amazing Mrs Pritchard in 2006. Her first American performance was in Michael Mann’s 2009 crime drama, Public Enemies.We should count ourselves lucky that Mulligan’s star is rising, as she was rejected from three drama schools and failed several auditions before landing a role in 2005′s Pride & Prejudice. The next chance to see Carey will be in Never Let Me Go, a science-fiction drama in which she plays a clone bred for her organs. The film opens January 14, 2011. Mulligan is also starring in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, where she plays the daughter of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas).