Margot Robbie has been cast as Harley Quinn in upcoming supervillain movie Suicide Squad.

The Australian actress, 24, will play The Joker's on-off lover and accomplice in the Warner Bros film, written and directed by Fury filmmaker David Ayer.

Dr Harleen Frances Quinzel was a psychiatrist at Gotham City's criminally insane institute when she ditched her medical career, dressed in a harlequin outfit and joined her boyfriend in his crimes.

The film's storyline follows a group of villains who take on dangerous black op missions for the government on the proviso that their sentences be reduced.

Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Show all 10 1 /10 Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 1: She fought off Kristen Stewart and Jessica Biel to score the role in Scorsese's Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street. Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 2: She admitted to indulging in a spot of Dutch courage before shooting sex scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street: "I did three shots of tequila at like nine in the morning, right before doing it," she said. Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 3: Her nickname is 'Maggot'. "It started when I was five, Grade One and I detested it," she said. "By the time I was eight I realised it wasn't going anywhere so I embraced it but when I moved to Melbourne people started calling me it and I hadn't even told them it was my nickname." Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 4: She's already been the subject of an affair scandal. "There's absolutely no truth to the ridiculous rumor. It's disappointing that goofing around on set could be taken so out of context," she said of reports she'd hooked up with Focus co-star Will Smith Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 5: She's a fast food junky. Sickeningly. "I don't have a very good diet," she admitted recently. "I love beer, fries, burgers, but if I have to get in a bikini then I eat carrot sticks for three days. I'm one extreme or the other." Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 6: She scored her big break in Aussie soap Neighbours playing Donna Freeman... Until her character was written out in 2011. Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 7: Shoes make her cry. Well, the snakeskin boots she had to wear in Wolf of Wall Street did, anyway: "They were at least two sizes too small but I was so determined to wear them that we stretched them for two months," Margot told Grazia Daily. "We oiled up my feet and put baby powder in the shoe and spent 20 minutes squeezing my feet into them, but they didn't make it into the scene." Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 8: Margot was once a "sandwich artist" at a local Subway. Apparently. Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 9: She wanted to be a Charlie's Angel in the modern adaptations, but was rejected during the audition phase. Margot Robbie Facts & Figure(s) Margot Fact 10: And the greatest fact of all. She has memorised whole scenes from 1993 slap-stick laugh-a-thon Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Jared Leto is believed to be in talks for the role of The Joker, with Will Smith, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling among other actors rumoured for lead parts. Jesse Eisenberg is set to reprise his Batman v Superman role as evil megalomaniac Lex Luthor.

Last month, British supermodel Cara Delevingne sparked speculation that she had been lined-up to play Harley Quinn after posting a picture of herself dressed as the character on Instagram.

The film is scheduled for an August 2016 release although the date is subject to change. Between now and 2020, Warner Bros plans to roll out ten superhero and supervillain epics based on DC Comics characters.

Robbie rose to fame as Jordan Belfort's wife Naomi in The Wolf of Wall Street last year and is currently filming for the role of Jane in Tarzan.