Gwendoline Christie’s full name is Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie and she was born on the 28th of October 1978 in Worthing, West Sussex. Her life would have turned out rather differently as she trained as a gymnast when she was a child. Unfortunately, she had a spine injury that forced her to abandon the path. However, Gwendoline Christie did not let that setback disadvantage her much and she soon found a new passion and welcoming career in acting.
With a career in acting as her new goal, she went to the Drama Centre London from where she graduated in 2005. The school was not exactly easy for her as there was discouragement at every turn. She was told by several people that her look which included a large physique was not exactly right for an actor and so she would probably never work. Even the agent that was to represent her told her “good luck with that” when she voiced her desire to actually get screen roles. Her courage was bolstered by one performance – Tilda Swinton in Orlando. She considered Tilda Swinton to not fit exactly into the Hollywood normal and since she was in a film, she took it as a sign that she could also make it too.
Like most actors before hitting it big, Gwendoline Christie worked some odd jobs. She once worked in a boutique in Brighton for funky interiors called Pussy. While working at that job which she held in 2002, she caught the attention of a photographer because of her height. Christie became the subject of the photographer’s series which he named Bunny. They were mostly nude and Gwendoline Christie has admitted to being shocked that she ever agreed to them, but then, she equally explained that she thought going nude for the camera would help her feel more comfortable with her body.
She has a pretty good theatrical career record with her roles as the Queen in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and also her depiction of Mag Wildwood in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her dreams of appearing in a film, however, began to come true with a 2007 short film titled The Time Surgeon. Christie feature film debut came two years later in the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus by Terry Gilliam. Her career has shown a great range of talent from appearing in The Zero Theorem (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) to her portrayal of Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones since 2012.
