Emilia Clarke, it’s obviously not just Game of Thrones! Did you know that the role of Daenerys Targaryen almost escaped her? That she is an accomplished singer? That she turned down “50 Shades of Grey”? Here are 7 anecdotes about the actress.
Since its revelation in Game Of Thrones in 2011 and a well-deserved launch into orbit, Emilia Clarke seems ready to try out all genres (drama, SF or even theatre), overflowing with hidden talents and an unequaled love for comedy. And it’s not the spin-off failures Solo: A Star Wars Story and Terminator: Genisys that sank his energy. We will soon find the actress in the series Marvel Secret Invasion.
Here are seven things to know about the actress.
She discovered her vocation at the age of three
Emilia Clarke knew early on that she wanted to be an actress. In an interview given in June 2013 to theIndependentshe even joked saying: “I came out of my mother’s womb saying: I want to be an actress!”
In reality, it was a little later, at the age of three, that little Emilia discovered the magic of the game when she went to see Showboat, a piece his father, a sound engineer, is working on. At 11, she tried her luck for the first time at an audition for a Broadway show.
Totally unaware of the preparation that an audition requires, she arrives with her hands in her pockets a little before realizing that it would have been better to prepare something. At the time, one of the only songs that comes to her – and that she sings – is “If You Want To Be My Lover” Spice Girls!
A first role in tears … And facing the camera
After completing a three-year course at Drama Center from London and starred in several plays, and just a year before landing the role of Dany in Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke appeared in 2009 in an episode of the series doctors but also in an advertising spot for the charity association Samaritans.
An association whose mission is to help people in emotional distress and in particular dedicated to the prevention of suicides, as well as the fight against domestic violence. In this campaign called Lisa’s Story (Emilia being Lisa), four actors show face to camera a face that has reached the limit of an emotion, delivering touching and wordless portraits. Clarke appears in front of the camera, destitute, letting her tears flow little by little.
In 2010, she was one of the UK’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’…along with her future ‘Game of Thrones’ sibling!
After filming in the TV movie Triassic AttackEmilia Clarke is noticed and is chosen as one of the “Young stars of tomorrow in the United Kingdom”, a selection of talents concocted every year and with care by the magazine Screen International.
A very followed selection since it has, in the past, had the flair to announce the future outbreaks ofAaron Taylor Johnson, Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, Gemma Arterton or Carey Mulligan. For its 2010 ranking, Screen therefore elected Emilia but also Harry Lloyd who would soon become his crazy brother in Game Of Thrones ! This 2010 vintage also elected another future GOT actor, Iwan Rheonwho will lend his features to the sadistic and ignoble Ramsey Bolton.
The little shot for posterity!
She almost wasn’t the Khaleesi
Can you imagine today another actress in the skin of Daenerys Targaryen? Yet that is what almost happened! Originally, it is indeed Tamzin Merchantseen in The Tudors, who had been cast for the role of the Mother of Dragons. The English actress even filmed the pilot but in the end, the producers decided to recast the role and cast Emilia Clarke. So she shot all the scenes for the pilot again.
The opportunity to review the video of his audition!
She’s a great singer
Trained on stage and fascinated by Broadway since childhood, Emilia Clarke is a musical ace. Not only is she able to play the piano, the guitar and the flute, but she also masters singing and likes to vary registers and genres.
For example, it has distinguished itself outside of Game Of Thrones in the musical adaptation of the short story Truman Capote, Diamonds on Couch. As Holly Golightly, made cult by Audrey Hepburn in the film adaptation, Clarke was able to show off her singing skills.
The proof in pictures!
In the movie Last Christmasit is she who sings in this sequence…
She turned down the role of Anastasia Steele in ’50 Shades of Grey’
In the first two seasons of Game Of Thrones, Emilia Clarke appears naked on numerous occasions. From the third season, when the series is already a global hit, the actress decides to have her contract modified, believing that nudity is not applied as much to male characters.
When she was offered the role of Anastasia Steele, ultimately played by dakota johnsonin the sado-maso flavored romance of 50 shades of graythe actress meets the director Sam Taylor Johnson twice, but prefers to decline politely: “I have accepted nudity before and was afraid of being labelled”had declared to the Hollywood Reporter the one who had also revealed herself naked on stage in a theatrical adaptation of Diamonds on couch.
She suffered two ruptured aneurysms during the filming of Game of Thrones
In an article written for the New Yorker in 2019 titled A Battle For my Lifethe actress revealed that she suffered two ruptured aneurysms during the filming of Game Of Thrones; in 2011 and 2014.
The first came while she was training at a gym in London. A terrible headache at first, vomiting and severe pain followed after a few minutes. Taken to the nearest hospital, she had an MRI.
Verdict: A ruptured aneurysm, a life-threatening type of stroke caused by bleeding into the space around the brain. “Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I almost lost my mind, then my life” she said.
Undergoing brain surgery, she was stricken with aphasia when she woke up, unable to remember her name and unable to answer routine questions. “I had never known such fear. I am an actress, I need to remember my text.” Intensive care for a week allowed him to regain his speech. But the healing process was very difficult. “In my worst moments, I wanted to pull the plug” she remembered.
Some time after leaving the hospital, she returned to the film set of Game Of Thrones, but was constantly tired. It was during a routine check that doctors detected the formation of a new aneurysm, forcing her to undergo a second brain surgery. “The healing was even more painful than it had been after the first surgery. I looked like I had been through a more horrific war than any Daenerys had known.”
Just recently, in an interview with the BBC broadcast this Sunday, the actress returned to this painful moment: “It’s remarkable that I’m able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life quite normally without any repercussions. I’m one of the very, very, very small minority of people who can survive this”.
In 2019, in the wake of her moving testimony, she launched SameYoua charity whose mission is to facilitate access to treatment and rehabilitation for people who have suffered brain injuries and strokes.
Here is his presentation video of his charity project..