Karen Gillan's Biography

Karen Gillan's father John was a care worker at the Corbett Centre. He lives with Karen's mother Marie in Kinmylies in Scotland.

Karen, who was born in 1987, grew up in Inverness and as a youngster joined several youth theatre groups.

Karen Gillan went to the Charleston Academy and then studied acting at Edinburgh's Telford College, before gaining a place at the Italia Conti stage school in London.

During her first year at the Italia Conti, Karen Gillan was cast in 2006 in an episode of Rebus.

Her other TV credits include regular appearances on The Kevin Bishop Show, as well as being cast in the ITV medical drama Harley Street.

Significantly, Karen Gillan was cast in 2008 as a soothsayer in the Doctor Who episode, The Fires Of Pompeii.

In May 2009 the BBC announced that in the next series of Doctor Who Karen Gillan, aged 21, would be the Doctor's assistant and will star alongside Matt Smith in Doctor Who from spring 2010.

As the assistant in Doctor Who, Karen Gillan followed in the footsteps of the likes of Bonnie Langford, Bille Piper, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate, and Elisabeth Sladen.

Before being cast in Doctor Who as the Doctor's assistant, Karen Gillan had been filming roles in Outcast starring James Nesbitt, a short film called Thinspiration for a Channel 4 series Coming Up, The Newtown Killers directed by Richard Jobson, and Hippie Hippie Shake with Sienna Miller.

Karen Gillan is 5'11" and likes rummaging through vintage clothes shops. She has modelled at London Fashion Week for designer Allegra Hicks' autumn/winter catwalk show.

Metro reports that since being cast as Amy Pond in Doctor Who, Karen Gillan has been regularly the subject of the paparazzi's attention, for example, being photographed looking at bonsai trees with her boyfriend, photographer Patrick Green.

In 2013, Karen Gillan shaved her head for her role Nebula in the science fiction film Guardians of the Galaxy.

In November 2016, it was revealed that Karen Gillan was to make her feature film directorial debut with Tupperware Party, which she also wrote, with filming scheduled for January 2017.

Her subsequent acting credits include reprising her role as Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: The Next Level and playing the lead in the assassin movie Gunpowder Milkshake.

In 2019, she revealed that she struggled to win roles in school plays and the local pantomime when she was a young girl in Inverness.