The rising Mulligan

After Carey Mulligan’s role as Kitty Bennet in the Keira Knightley version of “Pride & Prejudice,” the actress went on to work largely in British TV. But she’s slowly been making her way in front of American film audiences, sometimes in moments so brief they can be easy to miss. In Johnny Depp’s “Public Enemies” this year, for example.

Now, at 24, that’s all poised to change. In addition to her star-making turn in “An Education,” she’s in the upcoming Tobey Maguire-Jake Gyllenhaal film, “Brothers,” and is currently shooting “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps” with Michael Douglas -- “It’s a real male environment. I’m one of the only girls in the whole film,” she said. “I wanted to do something that I’d be scared of. This is terrifying.”

She’s also ready to return to the intensity and fluidity of theater. “I really want to go back and do a play in New York in the spring, so I’ve been kind of obsessed with trying to find a play. I want to do something really wild,” she said.