The Scottish redhead couldn’t have predicted the iconic role that would launch her into fame, seemingly overnight.
Her big break came in her early 20s,when she was castin the British sci-fi showDoctor Whoin 2009.
Here are fascinating details about Gillan that you probably didn’t know.
“I’m so terrified by the prospect!”
I’m like, ‘Are you kissing all of them?’
“It’s one of my favourite hobbies,” she said.
“I think that was really important for me,” she told Scotland’sThe Herald.
“That’s the reality of it.
I can appreciate this all the more.”
To overcome her shyness, she kept confronting her fear.
So that was kind of like a cool moment for me."
Acting isn’t her dream career
Gillan began making small films at a young age.
“So it was really fun.
We would get tomato sauce and use it for blood, and everything.
And so I’ve actually been doing this since I was a kid.”
Now that she has achieved her acting dreams, she has set her eyes on directing.
“I feel totally stimulated by it.”
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” she toldCollider.
“I didn’t anticipate that I would do so much action.
But I am loving it.”
“I’m a bit bored of that now,” she said.
“Let’s have a girl who falls over her own feet while trying to be that.
That’s another layer I can play with.”
She’s a full-on geek
Gillan’s mother is a sci-fi fan.
“Now I’ve become a full-on geek,” she said.
It was actually Gillan’s love of music that led to her acting career.
Gillan flat-out refused to change the film’s location.
“It was important to me to shoot the exteriors in Inverness,” she said.
Some actors might balk at filming terrifying scenes, but it seems that Gillan has nerves of steel.
“That’s all I would pretty much watch.”
Gillan used a wig made of her real hair while she waited for it to grow back.
She added that it’s also an effective way to stave off unwanted flirting.
“That was the best gift ever,” Gillan toldThe Wrap.
Her theory is that it has to do with the movies and shows people watch in both countries.
