Theatre

After graduating, Atwell’s stage debut came in 2005 with the production of Prometheus Bound at Sound London, starring David Oyelowo, followed by Women Beware Women at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Atwell also appeared in two productions at the Royal National Theatre, both directed by Nicholas Hytner: Man of Mode and Major Barbara; for which she received an Ian Charleson Commendation. In 2009, Atwell made her West End debut in Lindsay Posner’s A View From the Bridge, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award.

Following a short break from the theatre, Atwell starred in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2011 production of The Faith Machine, directed by Jamie Lloyd at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2013, Atwell collaborated with Alexi Kaye Campbell and Jamie Lloyd again in a revival of The Pride at Trafalgar Studios; her performance gained her a second Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress.

Atwell returned to the stage in 2018 in Dry Powder at the Hampstead Theatre and later appeared in Josie Rourke’s, Measure for Measure, at the Donmar Warehouse, opposite Jack Lowden. The production gained critical acclaim, with The Daily Telegraph adding that it was “beautifully staged and expertly performed”. As a result of positive reception, the plays run was extended.

Film and television

Atwell’s first major on-screen television role came in 2006 with BBC Two’s miniseries, The Line of Beauty. Later in the year, Atwell appeared as ‘415’ in AMC Television’s November 2009 miniseries, The Prisoner, a remake of the 1967–68 series by the same name. In 2010 Atwell appeared in Channel 4’s adaptation of William Boyd’s, Any Human Heart, and later that year, Ken Follett’s miniseries, Pillars of the Earth, which co-starred Eddie Redmayne; for which she was nominated for her first Golden Globe. In 2013, Atwell starred in BBC Two’s adaptation of William Boyd’s espionage novel, Restless, before starring in “Be Right Back”, an episode in Charlie Brooker’s critically acclaimed science fiction television series, Black Mirror.

Atwell made the transition to film roles early on, with her first major role coming in Woody Allen’s 2007 film Cassandra’s Dream, playing stage actress Angela Stark. In 2008, she appeared in the film The Duchess, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards. Later that year, Atwell appeared in the Miramax film Brideshead Revisited.

Atwell played Agent Peggy Carter in the 2011 American superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger. MTV Networks’ NextMovie.com named her one of the “Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011”. Atwell voiced Carter in the 2011 video game Captain America: Super Soldier. She reprised the role in the 2013 short film Agent Carter, the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and in the 2015 films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. As Carter, she appeared in two episodes of the ABC television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and as the lead role in Marvel’s Agent Carter, which aired from 2015 to 2016. Agent Carter was cancelled by ABC on 12 May 2016. She also provided Carter’s voice in Lego Marvel’s Avengers and Avengers: Secret Wars. In 2015, Atwell played Cinderella’s mother in Disney’s live action adaptation of Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh.

In February 2016, Atwell was cast in the ABC series Conviction. The series aired 13 episodes between October 2016 and January 2017; in May 2017, ABC announced it had been cancelled.

Atwell starred as Margaret Schlegel in BBC One’s 2017–2018 miniseries, Howards End, based on the classic E.M. Forster novel and adapted by playwright Kenneth Lonergan. In 2018, she played Evelyn Robin, the wife of the titular character in Disney’s live action Winnie-the-Pooh film Christopher Robin directed by Marc Forster and co-starring with Ewan McGregor.

In 2019, Atwell starred opposite Tamara Lawrance in a three-part BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel The Long Song, about a slave on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Jamaica. She also reprised the role of Peggy Carter in Avengers: Endgame.

In September 2019 it was announced that Atwell will star in Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8, both directed by Christopher McQuarrie and scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on 23 July 2021 and on 5 August 2022, respectively.