‘My spiritual home is in Missouri.’ 6 things to know about ‘Mission: Impossible’ actress

Kansas City can boast of ties to several famous folks in entertainment — actors Jason Sudeikis, freshly nominated for Emmy Awards, Paul Rudd and Eric Stonestreet, who has a home in the area.

Actress Hayley Atwell deserves at the very least a footnote on that list.

Don’t let the British accent fool you.

She knows that Kansas City is all about its sports teams and barbecue.

She knows what the Plaza lights are — and she wouldn’t mind lighting them. (Hint, really big hint.)

Marvel fans know the actress as British operative Margaret “Peggy” Carter, aka Agent Carter.

Now, Atwell is the newest member of the Mission: Impossible” family, starring with Tom Cruise in the franchise’s seventh film, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” which hit theaters this week.

As the new female lead, she plays professional thief Grace, described as a sparring partner for Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, as they search for a rogue artificial intelligence system.

Reviews are overwhelmingly gushing, 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. “We care about these characters, who care about each other, and that’s what matters most.”

In all the publicity she’s been doing for the movie, no one has asked her if she’s ever thrown out a first pitch at an MLB game.

She has — and it was at a Kansas City Royals game.

Here are six things to know about this actress who has Missouri roots.

1. Her father is from Kansas City

Atwell has dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and the United States, according to her IMDB bio. Her mother, Allison (Cain) is English, and her father, Grant Atwell, was born in Kansas City.

Her parents divorced when she was 2. Hayley — named after British actress Hayley Mills of “Parent Trap” fame — lived with her mother in London. But she spent summers in Missouri with her father.

“I would spend all of my holidays from school in Kansas City. So I guess you could say that I was educated in England, but my spiritual home is in Missouri,” she told People magazine in 2015.

“The American side of me is the more domesticated, family side and the English side is my education and sense of humor.”

2. She threw a strike at Kauffman Stadium

In June 2015, during the Royals’ World Series-winning season, Atwell threw out the first pitch before the Royals played the Cleveland Indians. She chronicled her trip to Kansas City on Twitter. (Those links are no longer available.)

“Well, I didn’t mess it up,” she wrote.

She took photos with the players and team mascot Sluggerrr. (The Star took photos, too.)

The Royals lost, 2-1.

3. Not a fan of comic books until …

Atwell has played a range of roles in her career — a debutante (“Brideshead Revisited”), actress (Woody Allen’s “Cassandra’s Dream”) and Ella’s beloved mother in Kenneth Branagh’s “Cinderella.” She was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2011 for her work in “The Pillars of the Earth,” a miniseries about the British throne.

But Peggy Carter is her most famous role, playing her in several movies and TV series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including two seasons of the ABC series “Agent Carter” in 2015 and 2016, and Rudd’s first “Ant-Man” movie.

She told People magazine that she wasn’t a big comic book fan before she played Agent Carter.

“I was never into it when I was a kid,” she said. “I approach this job as I would any job I’m doing. I look at it aside from the success of the Marvel franchise and focus on the integrity of who the character is. (Peggy) has to use her wits and intelligence to get out of sticky situations and that’s always exciting to see.”

4. She is not dating Tom Cruise

“It feels a little dirty,” is what Atwell told one British publication about rumors that persisted about her relationship with Cruise.

They’ve been working on “Mission: Impossible” for three years, beginning at the height of the pandemic and wrapping only recently in April. From time to time rumors would erupt about a possible romance between the two stars. Tabloids reported she and Cruise “fancied each other.”

But Atwell said in a recent interview that she thinks of Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie more like “two uncles.”

“I would be like, ‘Ooh, there’s some weird rumors, and it feels base, it feels a little dirty, it feels grubby, it’s not what I’m about,’” she told Britain’s The Independent about having to tell Cruise about the tabloid chatter.

“Why are things being assumed or projected onto me about my relationship with my work colleague and boss? It’s involving people in my actual life, my personal life, who have to be on the receiving end of that. It becomes invasive.”

Atwell is engaged to music producer Ned Wolfgang Kelly, who proposed in April, in Venice, while wearing his underwear.

5. She helped create her ‘Mission: Impossible’ character

During her “Mission: Impossible” screen test, Atwell was told the search was on for an actor to create the character around, not an actor to fit the character.

When she was chosen she spent months training physically and also studying other movies for clues to the chemistry that could exist between Grace and Ethan, she said in a recent interview with the Australian lifestyle website Man of Many.

“We watched a lot of ‘70s heist movies,” she said, including “What’s Up, Doc?” with Barbra Streisand, “Paper Moon” and “The Sting.”

“Lots of movies that had sort of a cat-and-mouse feel to them and a sort of wholesome, endearing, exasperating relationship between the protagonists,” she said.

6. She wants to turn on the Plaza Lights

It was the dream of Kansas City native and “Saturday Night Live” star Heidi Gardner: Turn on the holiday lights on the Country Club Plaza. She got to in 2019.

But even before that, Atwell revealed she had the same dream.

This is an excerpt of an interview Atwell did with an editor at Rotten Tomatoes in 2015 while filming “Agent Carter.”

RT: Yes. Okay, so I’m going to ask, since you’re from Kansas City, is Gates your favorite barbecue or do you have a better barbecue that you like?

HA: Oh my God, no. It is all about the K.C. barbecue, and it’s all about the Chiefs and the Royals. In fact, we watched the Royals game (World Series) on set, and we had to stop every time something happened; it was such an amazing game.

RT: Oh yeah? I’m originally from Kansas City myself. It’s great to see a K.C. girl make good!

HA: Absolutely. I hope I’m invited back to turn on the Christmas lights there.

RT: Yes, the Christmas lights at The Plaza are super exciting!

HA: Exactly. Let’s hope maybe this time next year, I’ll be doing that.

RT: That’d be great. Let’s start that Twitter campaign now.