Karen Gillan

Karen Gillan (born 1987) is a Scottish actress, who played the Soothsayer in The Fires of Pompeii, and will play Amy Pond ,the first companion of the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, in Series 5.



Early Life
Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland. Her father, Raymond John, a Day Centre Manager, and mother, Marie, live in Kinmylies. She attended school at Charleston Academy. Aged 16, she decided to pursue her acting career further, studying acting at Edinburgh's Telford College. Later, she secured a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school in London on the BA (Hons) Acting degree course.

Before Doctor Who
Gillan gained her first television role in Rebus while still studying at Italia Conti, and has since had parts in The Kevin Bishop Show, Channel 4's Stacked and James Nesbitt's forthcoming film Outcast. On The Kevin Bishop Show, Gillan played several roles in various skits, including one in which she parodied both Angelina Jolie and Jolie's interpretation of video game heroine Lara Croft.

While not acting, she has taken on occasional modelling roles, including 2007 London Fashion Week for designer Allegra Hicks' autumn/winter catwalk show.

The Well
Gillan also stars in the BBC's upcoming interactive digital thriller The Well.

Drama The Well features a group of teens renovating a house in Liverpool who uncover a well that is the resting place of a “dark and malevolent force”.

The 4 x 12-minute drama stars new Doctor Who assistant Karen Gillan and will air on BBC2 on consecutive Saturdays up to Halloween.

It will also be available online, where it will link to a “deeply immersive” multi-level game, in which users can explore the house and try to solve a puzzle at the heart of the story.

BBC Switch head Geoff Goodwin told Broadcast: “It’s in a pre-watershed slot so it’s more like The Blair Witch Project, where the tension is psychological, than adult horror, but we have really tried to up the scariness. This is a classic teen genre which we needed to exploit.”

Head of Conker Lee Hardman added: “The Well shows the creative potential of multi-layered drama in terms of storytelling.”

Goodwin pointed to the project as evidence that the BBC is investing in teen drama - despite criticism from leading industry figures that it is “neglecting” the genre. He said he wanted to grow the TV presence of forthcoming Switch soap The Cut beyond the 25-minute weekly omnibus currently planned, if funds are available.

“We’re respecting the way teens access content but we would love to get to two television episodes a week. Look at EastEnders and Hollyoaks- they all show the hallmarks of expansion. We’re doing the same thing.”

Burgess’s novels include drugs drama Junk, which was adapted for BBC2 in 1999.

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Doctor Who
In 2008, Gillan had her first direct involvement with the Doctor Who franchise when she portrayed the Soothsayer in the fourth season episode The Fires of Pompeii.

Following the departure of Catherine Tate from the series and the announcement that David Tennant was leaving the programme in 2009, speculation ran rampant as to who might play the Eleventh Doctor's companion. This speculation increased when young actor Matt Smith was cast as the Doctor.

Gillan's casting as companion Amy Pond was announced on 29 May 2009 by the BBC. Writer and executive producer Steven Moffat described her as being "funny, and clever, and gorgeous, and sexy". No further details of her character have been released so far, and in fact for several weeks only a first name was known, until the BBC later indicated the character's last name.

Gillan said she won the audition hands down. She said she is thrilled to have been cast for the part.

She is one of only a handful of actors to return to the series in an ongoing role after having previously appeared in a different role. Others have included Colin Baker, Peter Purves, Jean Marsh, Nicholas Courtney, Ian Marter, Lalla Ward, and Freema Agyeman (plus Eve Myles, who was cast in Torchwood after guesting on Doctor Who as another character). In addition, David Tennant recorded vocal performances as different characters in several Big Finish audio dramas and a BBC Webcast before his casting as the Doctor.

Gillan is not the only member of her family appearing on Doctor Who as it's been announced that her nine-year-old cousin, Caitlin Blackwood, has also filmed an appearance in a Season 5 episode.