Margot Robbie to swap Neighbours for Hollywood

Margot Robbie to swap Neighbours for Hollywood
Margot Robbie to swap Neighbours for Hollywood (Image credit: five)

Neighbours starlet Margot Robbie has reportedly confirmed that she will be leaving the Australian soap. The 20-year-old, who has played aspiring fashion designer Donna Freedman for almost three years, is looking to pursue an acting career in Hollywood like fellow soap stars Isla Fisher, Alan Dale and Melissa George. "I want to go to America, it's always been my goal to work in Hollywood - it's the one stage in my life where I have absolutely nothing holding me down," she told Aussie mag TV Week. There had been speculation surrounding her departure after on-screen husband Sam Clark (Ringo Brown) quit last July to pursue his music career. He was following in the footsteps of former Neighbours stars who turned to pop, like Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem. But Margot, who has won awards for her portrayal of Donna, is keeping her Tinseltown expectations grounded. "I have plenty of friends over there so I'll have plenty of couches to crash on," she joked. Donna Freedman will be seen on Australian screens until early 2011. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.