Gemma Christina Arterton is an English actress and producer who was born on February 2, 1986. Arterton made her feature film debut in the comedy St Trinian's after making her stage debut in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre in 2007. (2007). She was nominated for an Empire Award for Best Newcomer for her performance as Bond Girl Strawberry Fields in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008).
Since then, Arterton has appeared in several films, including The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009), Tamara Drewe (2010), Clash of the Titans (2010), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), Their Finest (2016), The Escape (2017), and Vita and Virginia (2017). (2018). She was named Harper's Bazaar Woman of the Year for her work in and production of The Escape. Her theatrical credits include The Duchess of Malfi (2014), Made in Dagenham (2014), Nell Gwynn (2016), and Saint Joan (2017). (2017). Arterton received Olivier nominations for both Nell Gwynn and Made in Dagenham, and she won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for the latter.
Arterton has been running her own production company, Rebel Park Productions, since 2016, with a focus on creating female-led content in front of and behind the camera. She has produced four feature films and two short films as an executive producer. She has also spoken out in support of the Time's Up, ERA 50:50, and MeToo movements. Arterton was instrumental in convincing actresses to wear black to the 2018 BAFTAs in support of Time'sUp, and she has been involved with ERA 50:50, a UK equal pay campaign, since its inception.
Childhood and education
Arterton was born at North Kent Hospital in Gravesend with polydactyly, a condition that causes extra fingers that were removed by a doctor shortly after her birth. Sally-Anne Heap, her mother, owns a cleaning company, and her father, Barry J. Arterton, is a welder. They divorced when Arterton was young, and she grew up on a council estate with her mother and younger sister, actress Hannah Arterton. Her maternal great-grandmother was a concert violinist of German-Jewish descent.
Arterton attended Gravesend Grammar School for Girls (now Mayfield Grammar School), a state grammar school in Kent, where she made her amateur stage debut in a production of Alan Ayckbourn's The Boy Who Fell Into a Book. Her performance earned her the best actress award at a local festival competition.
Arterton left Gravesend Grammar School at the age of 16 to attend acting school at North Kent College's Miskin Theatre in Dartford. She later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she graduated in 2008.
Career
While still in drama school, Arterton landed her first professional role in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary. In July 2007, she made her stage debut as Rosaline in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost at London's Globe Theatre before graduating later that year. She made her film debut as Head Girl Kelly in St Trinian's (2007).
She made an appearance in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace in 2008. Chosen from around fifteen hundred candidates, Arterton plays Bond Girl Strawberry Fields, in what is described as a "nice-sized role". "The thinking man's crumpet," says Arterton of her character. In the same year, she starred as the title character in the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. She also portrayed Elizabeth Bennet in the ITV series Lost in Austen in 2008. Her most controversial role to date was in The Disappearance of Alice Creed, a 2009 film in which her character is kidnapped and abused in several graphic nude scenes. She had to be handcuffed to a bed and wear a ball gag in her mouth the entire time. She asked to be tied to the bed even when the camera was not on her to aid her performance. She joked that if she talked too much, the crew would bring back the ball gag. "Arterton... handles the rigorous physical and emotional demands of her role with great skill," wrote Frank Scheck for The Hollywood Reporter of the film.
When Avon's Bond Girl 007 fragrance was released in October 2008, Arterton was the face of it. Arterton made her West End debut in 2010 with the UK premiere of The Little Dog Laughed. She was originally cast as Catherine Earnshaw in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, but she later dropped out.
Arterton played the lead in Tamara Drewe and played pivotal roles in the 2010 films Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Arterton also appeared in Travis Preston's production of The Master Builder at the Almeida Theatre in 2010, where she received critical acclaim for her performance as Hilde Wangel. For her roles in Tamara Drewe and The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Arterton was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Rising Star Award in 2011 and was considered for Leading Actress. She was chosen as a member of the main competition jury at the 2012 International Film Festival of Marrakech in November 2012.
Arterton played Gretel in the action horror film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, alongside Jeremy Renner as Hansel. The story takes place 15 years after Hansel and Gretel kill the witch who kidnaps them. It was released on January 25th, 2013. In January 2014, she played the title role in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the first production at Shakespeare's Globe's new indoor theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Both the play and Arterton herself received favourable reviews, according to Paul Taylor of The Independent. "The luminous Gemma Arterton beautifully captures the multi-faceted quality of the Duchess". She co-starred in The Voices, a psychological thriller film, with Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick, and Jacki Weaver the same year.
Arterton played the title character in Gemma Bovery in 2015. Anne Fontaine directs this re-imagining of Gustave Flaubert's 19th century classic Madame Bovary. Arterton learned to speak French for the role, despite never having done so before.
Arterton at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.
Arterton starred in Made in Dagenham, a stage musical about the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike over equal pay for women, in 2014-2015. She has publicly expressed her support for their cause since its premiere on November 5, 2014 at the Adelphi Theatre in London. Her performance as Rita O'Grady, a fictional character, received mixed reviews from critics. According to Simon Edge of the Daily Express, Gemma Arterton's "underpowered central performance as Rita" was disappointing. However, Matt Trueman for Variety praised Arterton for her "all-out star turn" and Paul Taylor, for The Independent, praised how "Arterton holds the show together beautifully". Despite the fact that the show only lasted five months, Arterton was nominated for an Olivier Award for best actress in a musical and went on to win the Evening Standard award for Best Newcomer in a Musical.
Arterton stated in a 2015 interview with the Independent newspaper that she was director Jonathan Glazer's choice for the lead role in his film Under the Skin. Glazer, on the other hand, was forced to recast because Arterton was not well-known enough to secure funding for the film.
In February 2016, Arterton began a run at the West End's Apollo Theatre as the title character in the Shakespeare's Globe transfer of Nell Gwynn. Critics lauded Arterton, citing her "natural sparkle" in The Guardian's Michael Billington. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance. She was named to the main competition jury for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in July 2016. This year, Arterton was nominated for a BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Girl with All the Gifts as teacher Helen Justineau. Her performance, a story set in a dystopian future world ravaged by a zombie pathogen, received mostly positive feedback.
Arterton founded Rebel Park Productions in 2016 to produce female-led and female-centric film and television projects. In support of Time's Up, she produced the well-received short film Leading Lady Parts. The film, which starred Emilia Clarke, Tom Hiddleston, and Gemma Chan, raised funds for the UK Justice and Equality Fund. In the same year, she appeared as one of four lead characters in Arnaud des Pallières' French language film Orpheline (Orphan), in which she put her French language skills to use.
Arterton played Joan in Josie Rourke's 2017 adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's classic story Saint Joan. While the play received mixed reviews, Arterton's performance was widely regarded as the show's high point. In the same year, she played Catrin Cole, a fictional young screenwriter, in Their Finest, a wartime romcom about a propaganda film crew working during WWII. Among the impressive ensemble of supporting actors (Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin, and Eddie Marsan), Arterton's performance was generally well received.
Arterton produced and co-wrote The Escape, a largely improvised film about a mother coping with the breakdown of her marriage, in 2018. Arterton was nominated for a BIFA award for Best Actress in a British Independent Film for her performance in the film, which received rave reviews. Harper's Bazaar magazine named her Woman of the Year for her work on the film. Arterton was also one of 928 new members invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018, with 49% of them being female as part of the Academy's ongoing effort to increase representation.
Arterton was cast as late singer Dusty Springfield in a biopic about her life in 2018. However, no further information about the project has been made public since then.
Arterton appeared in the Netflix comedy Murder Mystery in 2019. (which stars Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Luke Evans). Despite receiving mostly negative reviews, the film was watched by 30.9 million Netflix account holders in its first three days of release, a record for the streaming service at the time. In the same year, Arterton portrayed socialite and author Vita Sackville-West in Vita and Virginia, a film about Arterton's character and Virginia Woolf's romantic relationship, which inspired Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography. Arterton is listed as the film's executive producer. Her sister and co-star, Hannah Arterton, wrote and directed the short film Hayley Alien, which she also produced and starred in.
Summerland, directed by Jessica Swale, was an executive producer and star vehicle for Arterton. Arterton had previously collaborated with Swale on the stage production Nell Gwynn.
On the set of Quantum of Solace, Arterton met production assistant John Nolan, with whom she lived in London. She was in a relationship with Spanish stuntman Eduardo Muoz, whom she met on the set of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, in 2008. They shared a London flat for six months before splitting up.
Arterton married Stefano Catelli in 2010; however, they divorced in 2013, and their divorce was finalised "by consent" in August 2015 at the Central Family Court in High Holborn. Arterton said she "never really believed in exchanging vows" and that she was not sure she would "want to walk down the aisle again". Arterton stated in 2013 that she wants to wait until she has achieved something in the acting world before having children.
She married actor Rory Keenan in 2019.
On November 4, 2022, she announced that she and Keenan were expecting their first child. In December, their son was born.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | St Trinian's | Kelly Jones | |
2008 | Three and Out | Frankie Cassidy | |
RocknRolla | June | ||
Quantum of Solace | Strawberry Fields | ||
2009 | The Boat That Rocked | Desiree | |
The Disappearance of Alice Creed | Alice Creed | ||
St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold | Kelly Jones | ||
2010 | Clash of the Titans | Io | |
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Tamina | ||
Tamara Drewe | Tamara Drewe | ||
A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures | Shelly | Voice role, UK version | |
2012 | Byzantium | Clara | |
Song for Marion | Elizabeth | ||
2013 | Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters | Gretel | |
Runner Runner | Rebecca Shafran | ||
2014 | The Voices | Fiona | |
Gemma Bovery | Gemma Bovery | ||
2016 | 100 Streets | Emily | |
The Girl with All the Gifts | Helen Justineau | ||
The History of Love | Alma Mereminski | ||
Orpheline | Tara | ||
Their Finest | Catrin Cole | ||
2017 | The Escape | Tara | Also executive producer |
2018 | Vita & Virginia | Vita Sackville-West | |
2019 | Murder Mystery | Grace Ballard | |
My Zoe | Laura Fischer | ||
How to Build a Girl | Maria von Trapp | ||
2020 | StarDog and TurboCat | Voice role | |
Summerland | Alice Lamb | Also executive producer | |
2021 | The King's Man | Pollyana "Polly" Wilkins/Galahad | |
2022 | The Amazing Maurice | Peaches | Voice role |
Rogue Agent | Alice Archer | ||
TBA | The Critic | Nina Land | Filming |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Capturing Mary | Liza | Television film |
2008 | Lost in Austen | Elizabeth Bennet | Television miniseries |
Tess of the d'Urbervilles | Tess Durbeyfield | Television miniseries | |
2014 | Inside No. 9 | Gerri | Episode: "Tom & Gerri" |
2016 | Sport Relief 2016 | Jessica Spencer | Segment: "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" |
2018 | Watership Down | Clover | Television miniseries; voice role |
Urban Myths | Marilyn Monroe | Episode: "Marilyn Monroe and Billy Wilder" | |
2020 | Unprecedented | Ellie | Episode: "#1.2" |
Black Narcissus | Sister Clodagh | Television miniseries; lead role | |
2023 | Funny Woman | Barbara Parker | 6 episodes; lead role |
TBA | Culprits | Dianne | Main role, upcoming series |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Love's Labour's Lost | Rosaline | Globe Theatre |
2010 | The Little Dog Laughed | Ellen | Garrick Theatre |
The Master Builder | Hilde Wangel | Almeida Theatre | |
2014 | The Duchess of Malfi | The Duchess | Globe Theatre |
Made in Dagenham | Rita O'Grady | Adelphi Theatre | |
2016 | Nell Gwynn | Nell Gwynn | Apollo Theatre |
2017 | Saint Joan | Joan | Donmar Warehouse |
2021 | Walden | Stella | Harold Pinter Theatre |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Empire Award | Best Newcomer | St Trinian's | Nominated |
National Movie Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
2009 | Empire Award | Best Newcomer | Quantum of Solace | Won |
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards | Best Actress | Tess of the D'Urbervilles | Nominated | |
2010 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie: Female Breakout | Clash of the Titans | Nominated |
Teen Choice Award | Choice Fantasy Actress | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Clash of the Titans | Nominated | |
Scream Award | Best Breakout Performance Female | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Nominated | |
2011 | BAFTA | Rising Star Award | Herself | Nominated |
Glamour Awards | Woman of the Year – Film Actress | Won | ||
2014 | The WIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards | The Barbara Tipple Award for Best Actress | Gemma Bovery | Won |
2015 | Whatsonstage.com Awards | Best Actress in a Musical | Made in Dagenham | Nominated |
Laurence Olivier Award | Best Actress in a Musical | Nominated | ||
Evening Standard Theatre Award | Newcomer in a Musical | Won | ||
2016 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best Actress | Nell Gwynn | Nominated |
Evening Standard Theatre Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
British Independent Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The Girl With All The Gifts | Nominated | |
Glamour Awards | Best Theatre Actress | Herself | Won | |
2018 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Actress | The Escape | Nominated |
Harper's Bazaar | Woman of the Year | Herself | Won |
Full Name | Gemma Christina Arterton |
Nick Name | Gemma Arterton |
Date Of Birth | February 2, 1986 |
Birth Place | Gravesend, Kent, England |
Religion | Christian |
Horoscope | Aries |
Nationality | British |
Career Start | 2007 |
Profession | Actress and Film Producer |
Height | In feet- 5 feet 7 inch In centimeter- 170.18 |
Weight | In kilogram- 68 kg In Pound- 149.9 lbs |
Age in 2022 | 36 Years |
Eye Colour | Hazel |
Hair Colour | Black |
Shoe Size | 8 US |
Figure | 34-28-37 |
Father | Barry J. Arterton |
Mother | Sally-Anne Heap |
Marital Status | Married |
Husband | Rory Keenan |
Instagram Fan Account | @queen_gemma_arterton |
Facebook Official Page | Gemma Arterton |
Hobbies | Listening to Music and Shopping |
Food | Pizza |
Music | Electronic Dance |
Sports | Swimming |