Rebecca Ferguson Action Star - Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Rebecca Ferguson in, Mission Impossible:Rogue Nation

There's a new recruit on the Mission Impossible team ready to give Tom Cruise a run for his money. Rebecca Ferguson, a  31-year-old Swedish actress,  joins the fifth installment of the adrenaline-fueled Mission franchise as lethal agent Ilsa Faust. Known for her roles in The White Queen and The Red Tent, Ferguson was completely stoked when she found out that she was going to go toe to toe with Cruise in the stunt filled movie.

First things first, she had to train and train hard. It was a grueling 6 weeks of workouts but Ferguson was up for it. Her regimine consisted of pilates which she says helped keep her body safe, learning to run fast, and extensive fight training. When you see a sequence that is 30 seconds long, it takes weeks of preparation. The very first scene that she shot was rappelling 100 feet from the roof of the Vienna Opera House with her legs wrapped around Cruise. Not bad for a days work.

Ferguson also appeared as strong single mother Ergenia in 2014's Hercules but required Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to do her killing. She definitely holds her own in Rogue Nation,even calling her martial arts-proficient character "a female Ethan Hunt," after Cruise's lead spy character in the $2 billion-grossing franchise.

Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise

There is no doubt that after Mission Impossible opens, Rebecca is going to be a huge star. Up next you'll see her opposite Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins, the story of a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

I had the opportunity to chat with the lovely and charming Ms Ferguson during a promotional stop in Toronto where we discussed her training regimen, working with Cruise and her killer thigh move that she may or may not have practiced on willing participants at home. 

Mission Impossible:Rogue Nation is in theatres July 31st.