Gwendoline Christie Biography

Gwendoline Christie (born 28 October 1978) is an English actress and model. She is known for portraying the warrior Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy-drama series Game of Thrones and Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: Episode IX.

Career

Christie's mentor since drama school has been actor and author Simon Callow. Her theatrical career includes a performance as the Queen in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, portraying Mag Wildwood in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and "standing out" as Lucifer in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (2010). On screen, Christie played supporting roles in Terry Gilliam's 2009 and 2013 films The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and The Zero Theorem, the BBC television production Seven Ages of Britain, and the 2012 television series Wizards vs Aliens, among others.

Christie's height, , attracted the attention of photographer Polly Borland, who made Christie the subject of a noted series of photographs, entitled Bunny, between 2002 and 2008. According to Christie, she felt then that the photographs"?in which she appears mostly nude"?could help her come to terms with her body, and challenge notions of femininity. However, she later said that she was shocked in retrospect that she had agreed to them.

In July 2011, Christie was cast as the warrior Brienne of Tarth in the second season of HBO's fantasy TV series Game of Thrones. Her character - an unusually tall, muscular, and plain-looking woman - is a favourite among many readers of the novels, and Christie had been proposed for the role by fans long before auditions took place.

Christie said that she could draw on her own experiences of having been bullied for her height and androgynous looks to play the part of Brienne, a role that she was passionate to play after reading the A Song of Ice and Fire novels which the show adapts. To prepare even for the auditions, she started wearing unisex clothing to help her get into her character's more masculine mindset, and took up an intensive training regime, gaining over a stone (6.4 kg, 14 lb) of muscle mass. According to series co-writer, producer, and author of the novels, George R.R. Martin, she obtained the role practically without debate after an arresting audition at which she appeared already made up and costumed as Brienne. After being cast in the role, she prepared for it by taking horsemanship, sword-fighting, and stagefighting lessons.

Her debut in the second season's third episode on 15 April 2012 was well received by critics. Nina Shen Rastogi praised her "eloquent and economical physical performance", noting that her walk, stance, and mien effectively conveyed Brienne's single-minded devotion to her self-given quest to become a knight. For her role as Brienne, Christie was nominated for the 2013 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2015, Christie played Commander Lyme in the final film in the The Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. Actress Lily Rabe had signed on for the part previously, but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. Also that year, Christie co-starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as Captain Phasma, one of the film's main antagonists. She has confirmed that she will reprise the role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In June 2015, Christie joined the cast of Swallows and Amazons as Mrs. Blackett, but she later dropped out. In March 2017, it was reported that she is in talks to join the movie Darkest Minds, an adaptation of the trilogy The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken.

Personal life

Christie was born in Worthing, West Sussex, to a housewife mother and a father who worked in sales and marketing. She grew up in a hamlet near the South Downs. She trained as a gymnast as a child, but after a spine injury forced her to abandon that career, she took up acting. Christie graduated from Drama Centre London in 2005.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	The Time Surgeon	The Tape	Short film
2009	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus	Classy Shopper 2
2013	The Zero Theorem	Woman in Commercial
2015	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2	Commander Lyme
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Captain Phasma
2016	Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie	Herself	Cameo
2016	The Dress	The Woman	Short
2017	Star Wars: The Last Jedi	Captain Phasma	Post-production
2018	The Darkest Minds		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Seven Ages of Britain	The Operator	Episode: "Age of Ambition"
2012-present	Game of Thrones	Brienne of Tarth	Main role; 32 episodes Empire Hero Award (2015, together with the cast) Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television (2013) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2013-15)
2012-2013	Wizards vs Aliens	Lexi	Main role; 26 episodes
2017	Top of the Lake

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Pravda	Cindy	Chichester Festival Theatre
2006	Mirandolina	Ortensia	Royal Exchange Theatre
2007	Cymbeline	Queen	Barbican Theatre
2009	Giantbum	Sir Boss	London's Tate Britain
2009	Skin Deep	Susannah Dangerfield	Leeds Grand Theatre
2009	Breakfast at Tiffany's	Mag Wildwood	Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
2010	Dr. Faustus	Lucifer	Royal Exchange, Manchester

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Captain Phasma	Voice