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.