MARGOT'S IN THE Pink

Barbie has been a childhood staple for 60-plus years, but actress Margot Robbie doesn't recall having her own doll. She preferred to play with her cousin's Barbies while growing up in Australia.

-  CLAIRE SAUL

Yet Margot not only co-produces this summer's blockbuster release Barbie, but stars in the title role, too.

"It wasn't that I dreamed of being Barbie, or anything like that," Margot candidly stated in a recent interview. "This is going to sound stupid, but I really didn't even think about playing Barbie until years into developing the project!"

Margot's career rocketed at the age of 17, after an accidental phone connection resulted in a pivotal TV role.

"I called [production company] Freemantle Media every day until someone made a mistake and put me through to the casting agent for Neighbours. That's how I got my audition... Cold call, write letters, do whatever you have to do. I still do it, I still write to people I want to work with."

It was in this spirit, after a stellar career that has seen Margot star in films as varied as The Wolf of Wall Street, Mary Queen Of Scots and Babylon, that she approached writer and director Greta Gerwig about working on Barbie.

In the film Barbie "malfunctions" - hilariously, one of her greatest shocks is finding that she can actually put her heels on the ground.

Everyday realities hit hard, including the fate of some of her contemporaries; one other incarnation of Barbie has been beautified by her young owner with coloured pens and sports a messy haircut from some over-zealous scissor work.