Karen Gillan
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I met Karen Gillan in July 2011, when she was a guest at the London Film & Comic Convention held at Earl's Court, London. She signed a photo for me, of her as Amy Pond in Doctor Who.
Karen Sheila Gillan was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1987. She was brought up in nearby Kinmylies by her father Raymond, a Day Centre
Centre manager and her mother, Marie. She is an only child, and developed an interest in acting at an early age, attending several youth theatre groups in Inverness. She had many different acting opportunities at hers
Karen Gillan
her secondary school, Charleston Academy, where she also learnt the piano. She had a good singing voice too, but by the age of 16, had set her mind on a career as an actress.
Charleston Academy, Inverness
She studied acting, firstly at Telford College in Edinburgh, and
and then in 2004, after finishing her GCSEs, she began a BA (Hons) Acting degree course at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school in London. She had only been
Karen Gillan as Teri Cotter in Rebus
Karen Gillan as Teri Cotter in Rebus
been at the college a matter of weeks when the opportunity to play Teri Cotter in an episode of the BBC's crime series Rebus proved to be too tempting, and she left.
To leave drama college so early was a big gamble, as when she had finished Rebus was finished, no further acting work was available. For a while, she made ends meet by pulling pints down her local pub in London. However, luck was on her side, and the slim, 5' 11" tall, very attractive redhead wasta
Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan on the catwalk
Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
was talent-spotted as a model. She became the face of trendy fashion house Boing for a short while, and later becoming a catwalk model for top designer Allegra Hicks. She modelled some of Hick's autumn/winter collection during the 2007 London Fashion Week.
Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Determined to get back into acting, Karen
Karen Gillan took small parts in several TV productions including Holly in the series Harley Street (2008); Anna in Coming Up (2008) and Ginny in the TV movie Stacked (2008)
Karen Gillan as Holly in Harley Street
(2008). She eventually landed an ongoing role in 12 episodes of the comedy sketch series The Kevin Bishop Show (2008-2009). In this she played various characters and also impersonated celebs like Katy Perry & Angelina Jolie.
Karen Gillan in The Kevin Bishop Show
Karen Gillan as Ginny in Stacked
Karen was then cast as Coll in 4 episodes of the TV thriller The Well (2009) and as Ally in the modern-day Scottish horror movie Outcast (2010).
Karen Gillan as Coll in The Well
With Hanna Stanbridge in Outcast
Karen Gillan as Anna in Coming Up
Karen Gillan's real break
came in May 2009 when she was cast in the role of Amy Pond, the companion of the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith in the iconic, long-running series Doctor Who. The role of the Doctor's companion is one of the most sought-afte
sought-after in television because of the enormous popularity of the series and the huge public profile that it gives to the actor or actress playing it.
Karen had already appeared in a previous Doctor
Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in Doctor Who
Caitlin Blackwood & Matt Smith in Doctor Who
Gillan as the Soothsayer in Doctor Who
Karen Gillan as kissogram girl
Amy Pond in Doctor Who
Doctor Who episode 'The Fires of Pompeii' (aired 12th April 2008) in the minor role of a Soothsayer. Interestingly, Karen's nine-year-old
nine-year-old cousin, Caitlin Blackwood, appeared as a very young Amy Pond in two episodes of Doctor Who. Apparently
Karen Gillan & Matt Smith
Apparently, they had never met before Doctor Who - only discovering during their auditions that they were cousins.
Karen's first appearance as Amy Pond came in the episode 'The Eleventh Hour', (aired on 3 April 2010) when she appeared in a 'strippogram' WPC costume. Her character will remain in the series until she is written out in 2012.
Karen Gillan & Ian McNeice in Doctor Who
Karen Gillan signed this photo for me when I met her at Earl's Court
Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in Doctor Who
publicity shot for We'll Take Manhattan
Karen Gillan & Aneurin Barnard
Karen Gillan as Jean Shrimpton in
Karen Gillan already has other work outside of Doctor Who. In the TV movie We'll Take Manhattan (2012) she plays the model Jean Shrimpton, and there is another starring role for her in the Scottish romantic comedy
We'll Take Manhattan
comedy film Not Another Happy Ending (for release in 2012).
Karen Gillan has also had her first stage role, playing Shirley in the John Osborne play Inadmissible Evidence performed at the Donmar Warehouse
Karen Gillan as Shirley in
Inadmissible Evidence
Warehouse in London in October 2011.
Her boyfriend since 2006 is Patrick Green, a photographer of Hip-Hop artistes, but both are careful to keep this side of her life private. They were once photographed by paparazzi, buying a Bonsai tree in a Suffolk garden centre. "What’s
Karen Gillan & Patrick Green
"What’s strange is that they were following my boyfriend and I just happened to turn up!" she says.
Karen Gillan at Earl's Court in 2011