Annabelle Wallis's Real Name: Annabelle Wallis

Quick answer: Annabelle Wallis performs under her own name. The Library of Congress records her as Annabelle Wallis, born in 1984 in Oxford, England. A middle name shown on wiki databases is not confirmed by reputable sources, so this page uses her public name. She was raised in Portugal and played Grace Burgess in Peaky Blinders. She also headlined the horror film Annabelle (Library of Congress; Interview).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Wallis, Annabelle, 1984-." It cites "Annabelle Wallis, actress; b. 1984 in Oxford, England; has been credited as Annabele Wallis," and keeps "Wallis, Annabele" as a variant. Published references disagree on her exact birthday. September 5 and September 25, 1984, both circulate, so treat any specific day with caution.

British GQ reported that she was born in England and lived in Portugal for 17 years. She told Interview magazine that she attended an international school there with "42 different nationalities in my year and only 44 kids." She learned to adapt her voice so new classmates could understand her, a skill she credits for her range of accents on screen. As a teenager she considered becoming an anthropologist and did conservation work in Botswana.

She said she comes from an artistic family but was "in no way encouraged" to act. On her mother's side, she told Interview, she is related to actor Richard Harris, and on her father's side to the music-hall star Marie Lloyd. When Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight asked her to sing one of Lloyd's songs, he did not know she was related to her.

Career highlights

After acting in school, in short films, and in Portuguese theater, Wallis moved to London and found an agent. She said she won the first role she auditioned for, an East End showgirl. GQ notes that her early television work included The Tudors, in which she played Jane Seymour, and the period airline drama Pan Am. She also played Muriel Wright in the Ian Fleming biopic Fleming.

She was cast as Grace Burgess, the Irish barmaid and undercover agent in Peaky Blinders, after telling the producers she could do an Irish accent and sing, though she had done neither before. "She is the only woman I want to play in my career," she recalled thinking. She told Interview that the series had "opened doors" by showing a "blonde, blue-eyed, very girlish looking actress" in a darker role.

She starred in Annabelle (2014) and later appeared in The Mummy (2017), Tag (2018), and James Wan's Malignant (2021).

Name notes for searchers

Annabelle Wallis is her real name. Some credits misspell it as "Annabele," a variant recorded by the Library of Congress. Her starring role in Annabelle is a coincidence of name, not the source of it.