Who is Karen Gillan?
Karen Gillan developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at her school, Charleston Academy.
At age 16, Karen decided she wanted to pursue her acting career further and studied under the renowned theatre director Scott Johnston at the Performing Arts Studio Scotland. She later attended the prestigious Italia Conti Academy in London. During her first year, she landed a role on Rebus (2000) and soon appeared in a variety of programs including Channel 4's Stacked (2008) and The Kevin Bishop Show (2008), as well as a two-year stint on the long-running series Doctor Who (2005). Karen also stars in the film Outcast (2010), starring James Nesbitt. Her most recent starring role is as Eliza Dooley on the situation comedy Selfie (2014).
Overview
- Nicknames
- Karen Gillian
Trivia
- Shaved her head completely bald to play Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Marvel Studios subsequently turned her shaved hair into a wig and presented it to her as a gift which she still keeps to this day.
- Gillan shaved off her hair during the shooting of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). She revealed this during Comic-Con 2013. During the conference, she wore a wig then took it off to surprise fans.
- The Daleks on the series had to be re-designed to match her height, as she's half a foot taller than Billie Piper, who was the first companion on the revival.
- Went on record that she would like to play a female Bond antagonist in a future James Bond movie and that she wants to play the female incarnation of The Joker in a future Batman movie.
- Karen is part of the youngest pairing of Doctor Who and companion on Doctor Who (2005). In 2009, the new Doctor, Matt Smith, is 26, and she is just 21. Their combined age will be younger than that of Jon Pertwee, when he was playing the Time Lord in the 1970s.