Emma Mackey debuts new bob hairdo as she promotes Alpha during Cannes Film Festival – before premiere is interrupted by ‘medical emergency’

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By REBECCA LAWRENCE FOR MAILONLINE

Published: 08:46 BST, 20 May 2025 | Updated: 08:52 BST, 20 May 2025

Emma Mackey ensured all eyes would be on her as she attended the Alpha premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday. 

The French-British actress, 29, exuded glamour in a glittering silver gown that clung to her toned figure and was adorned with thousands of sequins. 

Yet it wasn’t just her stunning gown that was a talking point but her striking new hairdo – with Emma debuting a chic bob. 

The Sex Education star looked in good spirits as she joined co-stars includingTahar Rahim and Melissa Boros and Palme d’Or-winning director Julia Ducournau on the red carpet before attending the premiere. 

Alpha was well-received at the festival, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation but the screening nearly came to a halt after an audience member suffered a medical emergency. 

According to Variety, about an hour into the film, attendees in the balcony began waving their phone torches and calling out for a doctor. 

Emma Mackey ensured all eyes would be on her as she attended the Alpha premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday in a stunning sequinned gown  pictured with Louai El Amrousy and Mélissa Boros) 

It wasn’t just her stunning gown that was a talking point but her striking new hairdo – with Emma debuting a chic bob (right, in 2023) 

Paramedics then arrived, and despite calls for the screening to be paused, carried an audience member out on a stretcher while the movie continued to play.  

No further details have been released but the medical emergency is not thought to be related to the content of the body horror film, which had not shown anything graphic by that point. 

MailOnline has contacted Cannes Film Festival for comment.  

Alpha follows the tale of a troubled teenager (Mélissa Boros) and her single mother whose ‘world collapses after Alpha one day returns from school with a tattoo on her arm’.

The film will be released in France on August 20.

Emma burst onto screens in 2019 as wild child Maeve in Sex Education.  

The headmaster’s daughter, who had a ‘sheltered’ upbringing as a ‘bookish’ Catholic schoolgirl, was working as a translator before landing her breakthrough in the racy Netflix series.

Emma was born in northwest France to a French father, a headmaster, and an English mother, a charity volunteer, moving to the UK aged 17 to study English Literature at Leeds University where she took part in amateur theatre productions. 

Alpha was well-received at the festival, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation but the screening nearly came to a halt after an audience member suffered a medical emergency (L-R Louai, Emma, Mélissa, Tahar Rahim, Julia Ducournau, Golshifteh Farahani, and Finnegan Oldfield)

The day before graduating, Emma made the decision to apply for drama schools in London and landed an agent a year later. Six months after that she was cast in Sex Education after five rounds of auditions.

At the time Emma was working as a translator and living with friends and family to save money.

‘When I got off the phone I burst into tears and did a clichéd squeal,’ she previously revealed. ‘I called my mum and pretended to be very, very cool. Like, “Yeah, got this role, it’s no big thing”.’

Emma went on to land roles in Death on the Nile and Barbie. 

In 2023, Emma won the EE Rising Star Award at the British Academy Film Awards.

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Emma Mackey debuts new bob hairdo as she promotes Alpha during Cannes Film Festival – before premiere is interrupted by ‘medical emergency’

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