Margaret Qualley can make a schemer's quick calculation funny without needing a line. We rate her comic intelligence and physical precision, but she needs more than a role built around how she looks.
Fi1m perspective
In How to Make a Killing (2026), Margaret Qualley's Julia has worked Becket out before he has finished his first sentence. She lets us see how much she enjoys knowing it. We laughed properly twice, both times at a look rather than a line. This is where we rate Qualley most highly: quick, watchful and allowed to be funny. John Patton Ford's comedy is otherwise too pleasant for its subject, but she gives its middle stretch some life.
Her television work took her from wider recognition in The Leftovers (2014–2017) to the lead in Maid (2021), alongside increasingly prominent supporting film parts. In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), her Pussycat gets a lift from Cliff to the ranch where she lives. The film becomes unsettling as soon as it gets there. Editor Fred Raskin cuts Cliff's walk towards the house slowly enough to make a seemingly invulnerable man look at risk; Pussycat has brought him somewhere his easy manner may not help.
Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls (2024) gives her comic instincts more room. Jamie's drawl and swagger are funniest when she is certain and wrong. Geraldine Viswanathan, as the buttoned-up Marian, gives that confidence someone to work against, and the pair carry a road comedy whose plot barely sustains it. Qualley is willing to make Jamie look foolish, and the comedy benefits.
Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (2024) makes more restrictive use of that physical assurance. As Sue, the younger body produced by Demi Moore's Elisabeth, Qualley is persuasive in a part that asks her chiefly to be a surface. The leotard routines show her precision, but the lingering close-ups on thighs and lips repeat the treatment the film claims to mock. We recommend the film to those with the stomach for it, though we wish Sue had something to want beyond more of the same.
Her work with Yorgos Lanthimos includes Poor Things (2023) and four roles in Kinds of Kindness (2024). The latter repeats its lesson about obedience long after we have understood it, with little benefit from the extra length. Her agreeable Cima in Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars (2026) is likewise held back by a screenplay that gives its characters too little individuality. We would like another comedy that gives her as much to do as she gives it.
Biography
Margaret Qualley, also credited as Sarah Margaret Qualley, is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Andie MacDowell. She trained as a ballet dancer before making her acting debut in the 2013 film Palo Alto.
Qualley gained recognition for her role as Jill Garvey in the HBO series The Leftovers (2014–2017). She has appeared in films including The Nice Guys (2016), Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) as Pussycat, Poor Things (2023) as Felicity, Drive-Away Dolls (2024) as Jamie, Kinds of Kindness (2024) in multiple roles, and The Substance (2024) as Sue. She also played the title role in the Netflix miniseries Maid (2021).
Qualley received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her performances as Ann Reinking in Fosse/Verdon (2019) and in Maid, and a Golden Globe Award nomination for The Substance.
