Personal Life
Karen Sheila Gillan was born on 28th November in 1987. Born and raised in Inverness, to parents Raymond John and Marie, Karen stayed here until the age of 16, when she left home to go to Edinburgh to study acting.

Whilst in Edinburgh, Karen attended the Telford College to study acting, and later moved to London to the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. It was whilst here that Karen achieved the BA (Hons) Acting degree.

Career
Karen got her first career break in modelling, and has modelled in a number of shows including 2007′s London Fashion Week for designer Allegra Hicks’ autumn/winter catwalk show. Karen has also modelled for the Dainty Doll make-up range launch party, which was founded by Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts – this was shown in the television episode The Passions of Girls Aloud, and originally aired on 4th April 2008.

Karen’s first television break was in Scottish detective drama Rebus, playing Terri Cotter in an episode entitled A Question of Blood. This aired in 2006, and was part of series 4.
Next came Harley Street, in which Karen played a model called Holly. This was part of the first and only series of the show, which was axed due to poor viewing figures. It originally aired in 2008, and Karen featured in the first episode of the series.
In 2008, Karen got her first longer term acting job – a regular in The Kevin Bishop Show. In this spoof comedy sketch show, Karen plays a range of characters, as well as mimicking celebrities such as Angelina Jolie. Series 1 aired in the summer of 2008, and Series 2 aired the following summer. The show was nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2008 British Comedy Awards, and for Best Sketch Show the following year.
In 2008, Karen also appeared as a Soothsayer in the Doctor Who episode The Fires of Pompeii alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

In 2009 it was announced that Karen would be the new companion to the newly announced Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, for Series 5 of Doctor Who. Her character was to be called Amy Pond. The first episode of this new series aired in April 2010, to a mostly positive response both for Matt and Karen. However, some fans were unhappy with the new direction, particularly Amy Pond’s wardrobe choices which were deemed a little risqué for family viewing. But, as Karen pointed out several times in interviews, Amy’s choices only mirrored what girls of her age were actually wearing on the streets of the UK.

Karen went on to appear in the full 2011 series of Doctor Who (Series 6), once again as Amy Pond. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, as she experienced the ‘death’ of the Doctor, gave birth to daughter Melody (who was then kidnapped) and was then revealed to be the mother of River Song (the grown up Melody Pond). Amy appeared to exit the show in Episode 11, but has subsequently appeared in every episode since (albeit briefly in some).

In 2011, Karen also went on to appear in her first theatre role, playing Shirley in the John Osborne play “Inadmissible Evidence”, in which she stared alongside Douglas Hodge. The play debuted at the Donmar Warehouse on October 16th.

During August 2011, it was announced that Karen will star in an indie comedy called Not Another Happy Ending along with Emun Elliott. This is to be directed by John McKay (We’ll Take Manhattan), and is currently scheduled to start filming in May/June 2012, once Karen has completed scenes on Series 7 of Doctor Who.

Whilst at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Karen did reveal that she would be returning to Doctor Who for series 7, it was later revealed in December that Karen would exit the show mid-season. Karen (and screen husband Arthur Darvill) are due to exit the show in a “heartbreaking” end to their story, according to show runner Steven Moffat. Little else is currently known, except that their final episode will be set in New York and feature the return of the Weeping Angels.

At the beginning on 2012, Karen starred in BBC Four film We’ll Take Manhattan – a drama which told the story of model Jean Shrimpton and photographer David Bailey, and how their trip to New York in the 1960′s for a prestigious Vogue cover shoot changed the face of fashion and also how love blossomed.

Karen has also been cast as Brittney in a re-working of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet called Romeo & Brittney by David Baddiel, alongside Misfits star Robert Sheehan.

Biography written by webmaster, please do not redistribute. Information collected from a number of sources including Wikipedia and IMDB.