Who is Karen Gillan? She
should be known as the tall gorgeous ginger queen of Scotland that’s taking
over Hollywood, but you probably found out about her first from Doctor Who. She
played Amy Pond, the Doctor’s companion when Matt Smith was the Doctor. She has
since reached even higher levels of fame by playing Nebula in Guardians of the
Galaxy and later on Avengers. But even though she’s basically a huge movie star
now we bet there are a bunch of things you don’t know about Karen yet. So we’re
here today to tell you some interesting facts about Karen Gillan.
1.
She Saw The Loch Ness Monster
If you ever wondered
where is Karen Gillan from – she’s from Inverness, Scotland. It’s a city in the
Scottish Highlands, not far from Loch Ness, and Inverness actually means Mouth
of the River in Gaelic. This is where Karen was born and grew up. She joked in
many interviews that she’s seen the Lochness Monster or Nessy and it’s not a
big deal to her. When Karen was 16 she moved to Edinburgh to study Acting and
Performance at Telford College. Later on, at 18 she moved to London to study at
the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school.
2.
She Wanted To Climb Into The TV
Karen did some modelling
here and there, but the acting was always her main interest. Her father even
said that when she was a little kid she used to point at the TV and ask “how do
I get in there”. Karen jokes that she probably wanted to crawl into the
television, but since she figured out it’s not possible she then decided to
take the traditional route and become an actress.
3.
She Was The Youngest Companion
Do you know how old
Karen Gillan is? She’s only 31. But she was only 21 when she first started out
as a companion on Doctor Who. Matt Smith was only 26 at the time and together
they were the youngest Doctor Who pairing. Their age together was still younger
than Jon Pertwee was when he played the Doctor in the 70s.
4.
She’s Too Tall For Daleks
Do you know how tall
Karen Gillan is? She’s 180 cm which is fairly tall and no wonder she used to do
a bit of modelling at the beginning of her career. But what’s more interesting
about her height is that she’s a lot taller than the previous companions so
they’ve had to remake Daleks in Doctor Who for her, so they don’t look small
and silly.
5.
She Can’t Swim
Speaking of
accommodating Karen’s needs in Doctor Who. One time they were forced to remove
and rewrite a scene of the Tardis flooding in the show because Karen can’t
swim. Makes you wonder if she was embarrassed or relieved about that.
6.
She Dated Co-Stars Before
Karen Gillan is no
stranger to having sparks fly at work. She’s dated a few co-stars including
Matt Smith and Andrew Brooke. She was also in a long term relationship from
2006 to 2012 with photographer Patrick Green. But she finds it difficult to
maintain a relationship because of the hectic schedule and the nature of her
work so she remains single at the time.
7.
Her Mom’s A Hardcore Whovian
Karen Gillan’s mother is
a proper Whovian, she even has Dalek bubble bath. She grew up watching the
original DW series and we can only imagine how excited she was when she found
out her daughter was going to be on the show. She probably weeps with joy every
day. Karen has mentioned that it was really hard keeping the secret from her
mom, and also, later on, not telling her any spoilers or plot twists.
8.
She Once Shipped A Tumbleweed
Karen was 24 the first time she went to America, and at first, it was a bit disappointed. You see her main reference for America was the TV show Friends, with their young people and big apartments in New York, which turned out to be not true. And her other point of reference was Westerns, so she expected to see cowboys on the street, which also didn’t happen. She did, however, really enjoy filing in the desert in Utah, it looked like the America she imagined. And one day on set she just saw a tumbleweed go past her, she was so excited she chased it, caught it and then proceeded to bring it to the post office and ship it to Scotland. Her parents then got really excited and then decided “we know what to do with this” and released it onto the streets of Scotland. So if you ever see tumbleweeds in Scotland – it’s probably because of Karen.
