Karen Gillan

Karen Sheila Gillan (born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and former model, best known for her portrayal of  Amy Pond in the British science fiction series  Doctor Who. ==Early life and education ==

Karen Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland, UK.[1]  She is the only child of John Gillan (full name Raymond John Gillan), a Day Care Officer, and mother, Marie Gillan (née Paterson), who live in Kinmylies.[2]  She learned to play the piano when she was seven.[3]  At a young age, she developed a love for acting, joining several local youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at her school, Charleston Academy.[3]  When she turned 16, Gillan moved to Edinburgh and completed an HNC Acting and Performance course at Telford College.[4]  She then moved to London at 18 to study at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school in the BA (Hons) Acting degree course.[5] [6]

 ==Career == ===Modeling<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

<p style="line-height:1.5em;">While studying at Italia Conti Gillan was scouted by a modeling agency.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dm2_7-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  Gillan worked as a model in 2007's London Fashion Week for designer Allegra Hicks' autumn/winter catwalk show<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dm2_7-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  and the launch party of Nicola Roberts' Dainty Doll Make-Up Range. This was shown in Roberts' episode of the documentary, The Passions of Girls Aloud<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  which premiered on 4 April 2008. Gillan has said she would not give up her acting career to return to modeling. She stated that she enjoyed modeling but acting was always her main interest and goal.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] ===Acting<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

<p style="line-height:1.5em;">Gillan's early television acting career included guest appearances on several drama series, with her first ongoing role being a two-year stint as a member of the ensemble cast of the sketch comedy series The Kevin Bishop Show in which she played multiple characters, as well as celebrities such as Katy Perry and Angelina Jolie. She appeared in Channel 4's Stacked; she had the part of Ginny.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-imdb_3-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3]  Gillan also appeared on TV in a leading role in a horror project entitled The Well, which was broadcast as a series of episodic short films on BBC Two, and then later also as a web series on BBC.co.uk. Part of the BBC's multimedia "switch" programming, the short episodes interconnect with online games that further explore the environments presented in the series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-The_Well_9-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]

Gillan with Matt Smith, promoting Series 5 of Doctor Who in March 2010<p style="line-height:1.5em;">She was cast for the role of the Eleventh Doctor's first companion, Amy Pond, on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who in May 2009. She made her first on-screen appearance as Amy Pond in "The Eleventh Hour" with her cousin Caitlin Blackwood portraying a young Amelia (Amy) Pond.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  She was confirmed in Issue 420 of the Doctor Who Magazine to be appearing in the 2011 series. Gillan had appeared in Doctor Who once before in the 2008 episode "The Fires of Pompeii" in the role of a Soothsayer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dm2_7-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Gillan made her first theatre appearance playing the role of Shirley in John Osborne's play Inadmissible Evidence along with Douglas Hodge.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Theatre_13-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  The play debuted at the Donmar Warehouse on 16 October 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Theatre_13-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">During an interview at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Gillan revealed she would be returning to Doctor Who for its seventh series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  On 15 December 2011, it was announced Gillan and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) would be leaving Doctor Who during the seventh series in 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  On 26 January 2012, Karen Gillan played the part of supermodel Jean Shrimpton in the BBC Four film We'll Take Manhattan, which told the story of Shrimpton's relationship with the photographer David Bailey.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">In August 2011, it was announced Gillan would star in an indie Scottish rom-com called Not Another Happy Ending alongside Emun Elliott.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-HappyEnding_18-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  She was picked by director John McKay because he came to know her during the production of We'll Take Manhattan, which he also directed, as "a very bubbly, vibrant, energetic, funny, slightly clumsy person" who was a perfect fit for the character.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  Filming took place in July 2012,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-HappyEnding_18-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  though Elliott was replaced by Stanley Weber.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]  Gillan told journalists that she was happy to be involved in a Scottish production that "isn't about drug use or fighting the English".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  The film is set to premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-We.27ll_take_manhattan_23-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Romeo_.26_Juliet_24-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  Gillan is to star in a supernatural horror pic called Oculus cast in the lead role and filmed in Alabama.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25]  She revealed that she has been cast in comedian Charlie Brooker's TV series A Touch of Cloth.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26] Gillan has also been cast in a film titled ' The List ' which began filming in Los Angeles in May 2013.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">FHM magazine ranked Gillan #42 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  In 2012 they also ranked her #36.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  Gillan has also voiced adverts for eHarmony and The Royal Bank of Scotland. In May 2013, Gillan was cast as Nebula in the superhero science fiction film Guardians of the Galaxy, scheduled for release in 2014.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]  Gillan revealed that she shaved her head to play Nebula to a stunned audience during the 2013San Diego Comic-Con International on July 20.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30] ==Personal life<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ==

<p style="line-height:1.5em;">In 2011, Gillan helped promote Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  and the opening of Squirrel Ward in Great Ormond Street Hospital.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]  During an interview with Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show, she confirmed she now lives in Los Angeles. ==Filmography<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> == ===Film<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

===Television<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

===Theatre<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

===Video games<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===

==Awards and honors<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ==