She came to international prominence with her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville in the British BBC drama The White Queen (2013), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.

Ferguson starred as MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, opposite Tom Cruise, in three of the Mission: Impossible films: Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

She taught Argentine tango at a dance company in Lund, Sweden for a few years[14] while she continued her work on several short art film projects.

[21] Ferguson's performance in The White Queen was met with critical praise,[22] and earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.

[33] In 2016, she played the dual roles of Katya and Lauren in the Cold War espionage thriller directed by Shamim Sarif, Despite the Falling Snow, opposite Sam Reid and Charles Dance.

[35] Later that same year, Ferguson appeared in Stephen Frears's Florence Foster Jenkins opposite Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant,[36] and Tate Taylor's thriller book adaptation The Girl on the Train starring Emily Blunt.

[37] In 2017, Ferguson played the female lead in Daniel Espinosa's sci-fi horror Life, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds,[38] co-starred in Tomas Alfredson's crime thriller The Snowman, alongside Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Gainsbourg,[39] and starred as Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in the musical film The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams.

She co-starred in Doctor Sleep, the adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name;[41] played the villain Morgana in Joe Cornish's adventure film The Kid Who Would Be King;[42] and co-starred as Riza Stavros in F. Gary Gray's science fiction comedy film Men in Black: International.

[49] After her soap opera success and the birth of her son, she moved with Hallberg to Simrishamn, on the Swedish southeast coast.