Karen Gillan

Biography:

Karen Sheila Gillan was born on November 28, 1987, in Inverness, Scotland, to Marie and Raymond John Gillan. Her father is originally from Sunderland, England. Though raised in a Catholic household, she has stated that she was never baptized and does not practice any religion. She began learning piano at the age of eight and continues to play.

At sixteen, Gillan moved to Edinburgh to pursue an HNC in Acting and Performance at Telford College. Two years later, she relocated to London to study at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, where she was discovered by a modelling agency. Before beginning her acting career, she modelled professionally, debuting at London Fashion Week in 2007. Despite her success, Gillan has said that acting was always her true passion and that she would not give up acting to return to modelling.

Gillan’s early acting work included guest appearances on several British television shows, beginning with a role in the ITV crime drama Rebus, which required her to leave school. She later spent two years as part of the ensemble cast on The Kevin Bishop Show, where she played multiple comedic characters, including impressions of Cheryl Cole, Katy Perry, and Angelina Jolie. She also starred in the BBC horror miniseries The Well, which combined online and television storytelling, and appeared in the Channel 4 film Stacked in 2008.

Her breakthrough came with the role of Amy Pond, companion to the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), in Doctor Who. Before being cast as Amy, she had appeared in a minor role in the episode “The Fires of Pompeii.” She debuted as Amy in “The Eleventh Hour,” with her cousin Caitlin Blackwood portraying the younger version of the character. Gillan remained on the show from 2010 to 2012 and returned for the 2013 Christmas special.

In 2011, Gillan made her stage debut as Shirley in John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence at the Donmar Warehouse. That same year, she began work on the romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending, filmed in Scotland and released in 2013. She also portrayed model Jean Shrimpton in the BBC film We’ll Take Manhattan.

Gillan moved to the United States in 2013, where she starred in the horror film Oculus, earning critical acclaim and a Fright Meter Award nomination for Best Actress. Around the same time, she joined the cast of NTSF:SD:SUV:: and appeared in A Touch of Cloth and The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.

In 2014, she took the lead role in ABC’s sitcom Selfie, playing social media-obsessed Eliza Dooley. Although the show was cancelled after one season, it later gained a dedicated fanbase, particularly in China. That same year, Gillan portrayed the blue-skinned assassin Nebula in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, shaving her head for the role. She later reprised Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Gillan also appeared in In a Valley of Violence (2014), The Big Short (2015), and the 2017 films The Circle and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the latter of which became a major box office success. She reprised her Jumanji role in The Next Level (2019).

Expanding into filmmaking, Gillan wrote and directed the short films Coward and Conventional in 2015. Her feature directorial debut, The Party’s Just Beginning (2018), which she also wrote and starred in, explored suicide and mental health in the Scottish Highlands. The film was nominated for Best Feature Film at the BAFTA Scotland Awards.

In later years, she starred in Gunpowder Milkshake (2021), earning a Critics’ Choice nomination, and the sci-fi film Dual (2022), where her dual performance drew critical praise. She also voiced and executive produced the Disney animated series Rhona Who Lives by the River and appeared in The Call of the Wild (2020) and Late Bloomers (2023), the latter earning her strong critical reviews.

Her 2024 credits include Sleeping Dogs with Russell Crowe and Douglas Is Cancelled, a British comedy-drama series that marked her return to UK television. That same year, she reunited with director Mike Flanagan for The Life of Chuck, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She is set to portray Queen Mary Tudor in the upcoming film Fools and has expressed interest in pursuing more romantic comedies and horror projects.

Outside of acting, Gillan has supported various charitable causes. She has campaigned for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and worked with the mental health charity Mikeysline, inspired by the themes of The Party’s Just Beginning. In 2024, she joined other UK creatives in raising funds for humanitarian relief in Gaza.

Gillan married American comedian Nick Kocher in May 2022 at Castle Toward in Scotland. In September 2024, she announced her pregnancy at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in December 2024, the couple welcomed their daughter, Clementine.