Describe
Karen Gillan here.
"
Funny, clever, gorgeous and sexy. Or Scottish, which is the quick way of saying it."
That'll do just fine.
A 25-year-old Scottish actress, who you'd probably never heard of before, unless you watched
The Kevin Bishop Show.
You've probably heard of her now, though - she plays Amy Pond, the first companion of
Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor in
Doctor Who, having previously appeared as a soothsayer in an earlier story, "
The Fires of Pompeii".
Not related to Ian Gillan of
Deep Purple.
In September, 2012, she and
Arthur Darvill's episodes of series 7 of
Doctor Who aired, where they left in the fifth episode. Technically, their characters "left" the TARDIS in the late series 6 episode, "The God Complex", but they still managed to appear in the next 8 episodes in a row until they no longer could. At 2½ seasons, Karen is the single longest lasting Companion on the 2005 revival of the show.
Post
Doctor Who she's still quite active in the acting circuit, with her most recent TV role being part of the cast of NTSF:SD:SUV:: (on
[adult swim]) as well as scoring two movie roles, one of which includes being one of the villains in the upcoming film adaptation of Marvel's
Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Tropes
- Acting for Two: There have been quite a few Other-Amys during her time on the show. Caitlin Blackwood takes some of the burden, but there are still Time Shifts and Teselectas.
- Adorkable
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Just watch any interview with her, even the slightest mention of anything off-subject and she'll go wide-eyed and start excitedly going on about whatever caught her attention.
- Butt Monkey: All three members of the Who cast described their off-screen relationship as "Two big brothers teasing their younger sister." On ''Confidential,''
she showed where Matt scribbled all over her set chair, including "Wide Load" in the seat. - Cloud Cuckoolander: Just look at her Twitter feed.
- Confusion Fu: She participated in an All-Star Celebrity Bowling game against Chris Hardwick's Nerdist team while promoting Doctor Who on BBC America. Since bowling isn't all that popular in the UK, and since Karen can out-Klutz Matt and Arthur at times, she shocked everybody when her "Throw, scream, and hope" approach to bowling actually worked and gave her one of the highest scores in the game.
- Fiery Redhead: Amy Pond. In real life, she veers more toward "sweet and hyper" instead of sassy.
- Forgot I Couldn't Swim: One of the reasons the swimming pool scene got cut from "The Doctor's Wife".
- Genki Girl
- I Can't Dance: There are a couple of videos that imply she really can't, although it's not clear if she really can't or if she just can't keep up with Matt Smith and his randomness.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Even those that don't particularly like Amy the character (mostly due to some of Amy's Bitch in Sheep's Clothing tendencies, especially toward Rory) still like Karen the person (who has really endeared herself to fans by being very sweet, polite, and more than a little dorky.)
- Noodle Incident: When filming Who, she was renting a house owned by John Barrowman in Cardiff, and did something to ruin the counter-top in his kitchen. He described the damage in an interview as "scraping," but any time anyone (including Barrowman) asks Karen about it, she just blurts out "I'm sorry" and goes into hysterical giggling.
- One of Us: She's an admitted fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She even admitted that if she went to Comic Con not as part of the Doctor Who cast, she would love to go as a Klingon.
- Real-Life Relative: Caitlin Blackwood, who plays miniature-Amy whenever she appears, is in fact Karen's cousin. They met for the first time while filming "The Eleventh Hour."
- She's Got Legs: Karen is famous for her thighs.
- Statuesque Stunner: About 5'11''. They had to redesign the Daleks because of it (they were originally designed to match height with Billie Piper, who was about six inches shorter.)
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill.
- Zettai Ryouiki: She's pulled this off on◊ occasion◊.
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