Marks was born in Dublin, Ireland as the second child to a first generation English father (of Polish and German descent) and an Irish mother. Her younger brother, Matthew, plays Rugby for Leinster and Ireland's National Team. Her maternal cousin is the actor Kieran Ivers. Marks was raised within the exclusive Donnybrook Parish of Dublin, where she attended the Catholic Muckross Park College with her older sister, Ada, despite her religious upbringing as Jewish.
It was at Muckross that Marks joined choir, which is where she received her first formal vocal training. She has sang in a handful of her films (featuring on the soundtracks) and in her role on Black Mirror. Following her graduation, Marks enrolled at Queen's College Belfast. While there she joined the Literary and Scientific Society and it was during one of their orations she was discovered by a talent scout looking for someone to take on the role of Johanna in Sweeney Todd. Her audition was done on Skype with her headshots taken on her computer. Initially rejected for being too old for the 15 year old, Burton cast her after confusing her headshots with a younger actress and determined she could look the part.
After Sweeney Todd's success, Marks dropped out of her programme at university and moved to London permanently. An audition for RADA followed, to which she was rejected. She was, however, accepted into LAMDA a month later where she read The Tempest for her audition.
Marks' career developed over the next few years with turns in predominantly British productions. In 2013, her long-term agent, Stephanie Ritz of WME was approached for the titular role in Disney's live action remake of Cinderella. Following a meeting with director Kenneth Branagh, Marks signed on after two months of negotiation.
Marks was cast in Room after a series of scheduling conflicts. She was personally selected by Emma Donoghue and Lenny Abrahamson after a series of extensive auditions. Marks spent time working with various women's shelters, rescues and children suffering from PTSD to better understand her character.
Marks has seen considerable interest in her since the commercial and critical success of Cinderella and Room and she is widely regarded as one of the most promising young talents in Britain and the UK. She lives between London and New York and is married to auteur and film distributor Francis Lyon.
In 2011, while filming Lawless, Minna nearly walked off set from the psychosexual abuse from one of the lead actors. She has never commented on it publicly, but the event was publicised when there were photos of her crying and running from her trailer were leaked. His comment on it was that he was a method actor and she did not understand, which the media took happily. Minna has opened up during Cinderella promo to discuss misogyny she has faced in her career and she cited the treatment of Lawless.
In 2013, prior to filming Cinderella, Minna was pictured with what appeared to be cocaine while at a club on instagram with Claude Amick. The private shot was removed and repressed by Disney, with limited media coverage on the event. Minna was then requested to take drug tests for the duration of filming. While she passed the first few, she failed two. Disney made her attend a drug course quietly and she was given a final chance or she'd be held in breach of her contract. Minna's demeanor during the beginning of the press tour was seen as sullen, which was spun to show how she was just getting used to the attention, but in reality: she was in withdrawal.
In May 2016, Minna was the subject of a massive security breach with hundreds of private photos and emails shared via 4chan and tumblr. The hack revealed a drug abuse problem, multiple concurrent sexual relationships with both men and women and her private thoughts regarding many people in Hollywood. This resulted in her losing her role in Goodbye Christopher Robin and being rejected from the Agatha Christie film she was in development on. After meeting with Harvey Weinstein, she has seen much of the media squashed around her leak and was offered the role in The Favourite. Minna received a substantial boost in goodwill as a result of the leak from many outlets, where her sexual pictures were seen as violating, yet empowering.
On 13 July 2016, Minna married Francis Lyon in New York. The wedding was confirmed in the New York Post on 16th July.
On 14 August 2016, Minna dropped out of Euphoria days before shooting began. She has not disclosed the reason.
Kamala Khan is a shape-shifting Muslim Pakistani-American teenager from New Jersey who becomes the newest holder of the Ms. Marvel identity.
has clinical depression, which she treats with yoga, meditation (mindfulness) and a combination of legal and illegal drugs.
has four tattoos: a fern on her right ribcage, a clover made of hearts on her inside right arm, a tiny line-drawn crescent moon behind her left ear and a tattoo of a symbol meaning opener of doors shared with brandon rucco.
never has attended any events with a partner or date since she began her career.
failed two drug tests while filming cinderella and has developed an acrimonious relationship with disney in the aftermath.
speaks irish, hebrew and german fluently. she did a home study in germany as a teenager.
likes to hide her academy award at her friends houses in weird places. currently it lives in new york, in her husband's study.
cites lenny abrahamson as her inspiration, given they share a rare cultural upbringing (irish and jewish). credits the wind that shakes the barley or calvary as her favourite film. she is a champion of irish cinema and is a patron of Bord Scannán na hÉireann.
is of irish catholic descent on her maternal side and polish and german jewish descent on her father (her paternal grandparents were both raised in germany by polish parents). her father was born in england. she holds dual nationality with the united kingdom and ireland.
husband, francis lyon
film director and distributor. married on 13th july 2016 in new york city.
father, peter markovski
61. sports broadcaster, reporter and head of RTÉ sport. very close to his daughter, but confused at how he can block google results from showing photos he does not want to see of her.
mother, siobhan markovski
58. civil servant in thedepartment of education and skills for ireland. maiden name: ivers. converted to judaism before marriage. met peter during oktoberfest in munich. cannot use emojis.
older sister, ada o'connell
30. runs a bed & breakfast in galway with her husband. often at odds. has two step-sons, one biological son (1 year old) and is currently pregnant with her second. she knows it is a boy. her husband converted to judaism, but they celebrate catholic holidays with his family.
lil brother, matt markovski
27. rugby player for leinster and ireland. extremely protective of one another. best friends with jamie queen. also cannot use emojis. only uses the aubergine for late-night texts.