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Born in London, Carey Mulligan spent her early childhood raised in Germany before returning to London, as the family followed her father in his work as a hotel management consultant. Her family was adamantly opposed to her interest in acting and repeatedly tried to discourage her.

carey mulligan's defiance and determination

While attending Surrey's Woldingham School, she saw Kenneth Branagh in

and was so awestruck that she did something supremely naive and charming: She wrote Branagh a letter, telling him her parents were opposed to her acting, that she believed it was her "vocation in life," and she wanted to know if he would serve as her mentor.  Branagh himself didn't bite, but his sister reputedly responded, saying "Kenneth says that if you feel such a strong need to be an actress, you must be an actress."

Then while preparing to attend Reading University -- a path forced upon her by her parents, which she compared to an arranged marriage -- Mulligan once again tried to reach out to a famous actor. This time, it was English actor and novelist Julian Fellowes, and it worked -- Fellowes' wife invited her to dinner, and soon she was auditioning for director Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of

.

carey mulligan's trial by fire

It's a hell of a way to start a film career, playing Kitty Bennet, one of the five sisters in

, a film that received four Oscar nominations, including one to Keira Knightley for Best Actress -- but that's pretty much how Carey Mulligan got her start. This trial by fire would serve her well down the road.

carey mulligan expands her cv

Following

, Carey Mulligan began building her acting CV, in film, TV and on the stage. She co-starred alongside Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, in

and she appeared in two critically lauded Masterpiece Theatre mini-series,

and

.  She also appeared on stage in the Royal Court production of

with Kristin Scott Thomas, a role that earned her rave reviews from the

, the

and the

-- the kind of review trifecta that could turn an actress into a star.

carey mulligan's 2009 coming-out party

Mulligan began 2009 by blowing away the crowds at Sundance with her brilliant lead performance in the Nick Hornby-written award-winning film

with Peter Sarsgaard, scheduled for wider release in October. She followed it up with

alongside Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon. By the summer, she could be seen with luminaries Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard in the gangster flick

, and later in the year she'll appear with Natalie Portman and Tobey McGuire in

.  

carey mulligan in 2010

In 2010, Carey Mulligan will appear in the adaptation of a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (

), and she's currently filming

, Oliver Stone's sequel to

.

In Carey Mulligan, you're looking at a young woman tiptoeing her way to superstardom.