Mission: Impossible's surprising, intriguing, and deadly women work with - or against - Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), unveiling a world brimming with lethal allure and fiery convictions. So what are their secrets to success? 
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ILSA FAUST

Actress: Rebecca Ferguson
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Role: MI6 officer Ilsa Faust, a recurring character from 2015’s Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. She is an expert martial artist relying on her feline agility and momentum. To get into shape, Ferguson incorporated running, yoga, stretching, and Pilates into her daily routine.
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Secret: Rebecca was born and raised in Stockholm, where her English mother, Rosemary, settled in the 1970s. Before Rebecca was born, her mother worked closely with Swedish pop legends ABBA, and even helped translate the lyrics of their breakthrough hit Waterloo from Swedish to English in 1974. As Rebecca says, “If there’s any mistakes in the lyrics, it’s her fault."

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ALANNA MITSOPOLIS AKA THE WHITE WIDOW

Actress: Vanessa Kirby

Role: International arms dealer and philanthropist. Vanessa hadn’t done any stunts before Mission: Impossible - even jogging was a chore - so she worked with a trainer. After her last outing as the White Widow, Kirby was planning to run a marathon.

Secret: Vanessa joined the Mission: Impossible cast for 2018’s Fallout, and stars as the mysterious White Widow for both the Dead Reckoning movies, but her grasp on secrets extends well beyond the IMF’s purview. As one of the narrators of our True Spies podcasts she’s covered secrets and spying missions from The Man on the Mountain to I Was Never Here.

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ERIKA SLOANE

Actress: Angela Bassett

Role: Deputy Director of the CIA in Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Angela Bassett spent a lot of time thinking about her backstory and was thrilled to see Tom Cruise light up when she arrived on set. It was a mutual admiration society. "She just exudes intelligence and credibility,” Cruise said. “And that character, when she’s on screen, she’s a force.”

Secret: Bassett’s unbroken run of success on the silver screen over the last 30 years is phenomenal, but less well known is her - accidental - success in pop music. Fatboy Slim sampled her performance in the 1995 film Strange Days, using her delivery of the line “Right here. Right now,” as the hook for his 1998 global hit of the same name. 

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GRACE

Actress: Hayley Atwell

Role: A major - but mysterious! - role in the two-part Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning. Hayley revealed that her screen test for the mysterious role of Grace required a two-hour screen test that was essentially a stunt training course. All we know for sure is she ends up handcuffed to Ethan Hunt. 

Secret: Hayley Atwell is a talented ventriloquist and loves to demonstrate her - frankly alarming - talent for throwing her voice in interviews. We’re hopeful that this vital espionage skill will feature in the Mission: Impossible series at some point. Her array of secret skills stretches into other surprising areas including one-time host of the True Spies podcast.
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SABINE MOREAU

Actress: Léa Seydoux

Role: Widely feared assassin and antagonist of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. "She kills for money," Seydoux says, "and diamonds will do just fine." 

Secret: Her glittering career has seen her work with an array of acclaimed directors from Woody Allen to Wes Anderson, but she’s just as accomplished as an action star. In fact, Lea is the only person to have featured in both the Mission: Impossible series and also in Bond movies (as Madeleine Swann in Spectre and No Time To Die). Seydoux, who loves to sing and dance, initially wanted to be an opera star: “I wanted to be Carmen and then I wanted to be Michael Jackson."

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JULIA MEADE

‍Actress: Michelle Monaghan portrays Ethan Hunt's wife Julia Meade in Mission: Impossible III. 

‍Role: Julia Meade became Julia Hunt when she married Ethan, not knowing about his double life as an Impossible Mission Force field agent. 

Secret: Monaghan’s role as a confused civilian, unwittingly caught up in international espionage, belies her fearsome combat training. In real life, the actress trains through a combination of surfing, mixed martial arts, and running. Raised in small-town Iowa, Monaghan’s teenage years were spent as a champion hog wrestler. When asked to explain this unusual skill, she simply responds: “I’m quick in mud.”

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NYAH NORDOFF-HALL

Actress: Thandie Newton

Role: Internationally renowned jewel thief, and Ethan Hunt’s accomplice in Mission: Impossible II. Newton admits she was initially scared of her co-star but eventually lightened up.

‍Secret: Newton recalls the casting process for Mission: Impossible 2 as being somewhat unconventional, telling Vulture in 2020 that “...you know who got me that role? Nicole Kidman. I’ve never actually outright asked her, but when your husband is like, ‘Who would you mind me pretending to shag for the next six months?’ You know what I mean? It’s kind of nice if you can pick together. Nicole was a huge advocate for me.”

LINDSEY FARRIS

Actress: Keri Russell

Role: An IMF operative and Ethan Hunt’s protege, central to the events of Mission: Impossible III. Russell’s secret to healthy living is that she eats everything - just not the whole thing.

Secret: As one of the co-stars of The Americans, Keri is one of spy fiction’s most enduring actors. As such she’s no stranger to on-screen disguises, but she’s also familiar with the dangers of messing with your appearance. Her breakout as an actor came on the unexpected 1999 smash hit Warner Brothers series Felicity, for which she won a Golden Globe, but fans were appalled when she decided to cut off her trademark long, curly hair for season two of the show. Ratings tanked, and Keri’s hair was blamed, with executives at the network even demanding first approval on star haircuts in the future.
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SARAH DAVIES

Actress: Kristin Scott Thomas

Role: An IMF field operative and colleague of Ethan Hunt’s, whose betrayal sets up the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996. When Thomas found herself puttering around her vegetable gardening during the pandemic she was longing for action and adventure again. She found it as a ruthless MI5 operative in the new spy-thriller series Slow Horses based on Mick Herron's book.

Secret: Scott Thomas has had a dazzling career as an actor, but very few people know how she got her big break; she was discovered by none other than Prince while performing in French local theater in her 20s, and The Purple One cast her as the lead in his 1986 movie Under The Cherry Moon. 

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MAX MITSOPOLIS

Actress: Dame Vanessa Redgrave

Role: International arms dealer, antagonist of the first Mission: Impossible film, and mother of Anna Mitsopolis. Redgrave’s part was initially envisioned as a man - hence the name Max. Her character seemingly died sometime between Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible - Fallout but would a notorious villain really die anonymously off-screen? We’re hoping for a revival.

Secret: Redgrave is renowned as one of Britain’s most fearsome and radical actors, and almost as famous for her political activism as her on-screen performances. One notable example was her defense of Chechen rebel leader Akhmed Zakayev, who was threatened with deportation from the UK to Russia to face charges of terrorism in 2002. Redgrave housed Zakayev and his family in her London home, paid his £50,000 ($64,000) bail, and rallied media support for his case; the courts eventually decided that Zakayev faced considerable risk of torture of returned to Moscow and released him.