Gemma Christina Arterton
,
Gravesend, Kent, England
Birthday
1986-02-02
Occupation
Actress
Spouse(s)
Stefano Catelli(2010-present; separated)
Years Active
2007–present
Biography
Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in St Trinian's (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), Clash of the Titans (2010), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013). Arterton has upcoming roles in the crime thriller film Runner, Runner with Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake and Byzantium with Saoirse Ronan. Arterton was born in Gravesend, Kent, the daughter of Sally-Anne Heap, a cleaner, and Barry Arterton, a welder. Arterton was born with polydactyly, and at her birth a doctor tied off the boneless sixth digits to remove them. She attended Gravesend Grammar School for Girls, in Kent, and made her stage debut there in an amateur production of Alan Ayckbourn's The Boy Who Fell Into a Book; it was entered into a competition at a local festival, where she won the best actress prize. At the age of 16, Arterton left school to attend the Miskin Theatre School in Dartford. She then received a full government grant to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, although, she said in 2008, she "got up to my eyes in debt with a student loan". She graduated from RADA in 2008. Arterton won her first professional role in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary, while she was still at drama school. Similarly, she made her stage debut as Rosaline in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre, London in July 2007 before graduating later that year. She made her film debut in St Trinian's (2007) as Head Girl Kelly.
Gemma Arterton at the Toronto Film Festival 2012 In 2008, she appeared in the James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Chosen from around 1,500 candidates, Arterton plays Bond Girl Strawberry Fields, in what is described as a "nice-sized role". On her character, Arterton describes Strawberry Fields as "the thinking man's crumpet". In 2008, she played the eponymous protagonist in the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Also in 2008, she played the role of Elizabeth Bennet in the ITV serial Lost in Austen. Her most controversial role was in the 2009 film The Disappearance of Alice Creed in which Arterton's character is kidnapped and abused in several graphic nude scenes. She is the face of Avon's Bond Girl 007 fragrance, which launched in October 2008. Having already started in a series of advertisements for Avon, Arterton in May 2008 requested a role opposite model Kate Moss for Rimmel, but was blocked on contractual terms under her Avon contract. In 2010, she made her West End debut in the UK premiere of The Little Dog Laughed. She was originally attached to star in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights as Catherine Earnshaw, however, she later left the project. She is set to star in Burden of Desire. Arterton was seen in the 2010 films Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and played the lead in Tamara Drewe. In 2011, Arterton was nominated twice by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for her performances in Tamara Drewe and The Disappearance of Alice Creed. Arterton starred in the action horror film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters as Gretel opposite actor Jeremy Renner who played Hansel. The 3-D film was set 15 years after Hansel and Gretel killed the witch who kidnapped them. It was released on January 25, 2013.
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