Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986 in Gravesend, England) is an English actress. She gained wide recognition for her role as Bond girl Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace.
She was married to Stefano Catelli from 2013 to 2015. In 2019, she married Rory Keenan. They became parents of a son in 2022.
She has appeared in
- St Trinians (2007) as Kelly Jones
- Lost in Austen (2008) as Elizabeth Bennet
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008) as Tess Durbeyfield
- RocknRolla (2008) as June
- Quantum of Solace (2008) as Strawberry Fields
- The Boat That Rocked (2009) as Desiree
- The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) as Alice Creed
- Clash of the Titans (2010) as Io
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) as Princess Tamina
- Tamara Drewe (2010) as Tamara Drewe
- Byzantium (2012) as Clara Webb
- Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) as Gretel
- The Voices (2014) as Fiona
- Gemma Bovery (2014) as Gemma Bovery
- The Girl With All the Gifts (2016) as Helen Justineau
- Their Finest (2016) as Catrin Cole
- Watership Down (2018) as Clover
- Vita and Virginia (2018) as Vita Sackville-West
- Murder Mystery (2019) as Grace Ballard
- Black Narcissus (2020) as Sister Clodagh
- Summerland (2020) as Alice Lamb
- The King's Man (2021) as Polly
- The Amazing Maurice (2022) as Peaches
- Funny Woman (2023-) as Barbara Parker; also exective produced
This actress provides examples of:
- Brownface: She's a fair-skinned Englishwoman who was given a considerable tan while playing the Persian princess Tamina in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Curiously enough, Arterton's actual skin tone would be unremarkable in Iran itself, but rather her very European facial features and mannerisms, not to mention her English accent, would make her stand out.
- Creator Backlash:
- Although she doesn't regret taking them overall, she has been critical of many of her earlier roles, especially Strawberry Fields, due to them emphasizing sex appeal over anything else, and she's stated she would avoid any such roles again.
Arterton: As I got older I realised there was so much wrong with Bond women. Strawberry should have just said no [to having sex with Bond], really, and worn flat shoes.- In interviews she has expressed distaste for the Clash of the Titans remake, where she played Io, to the point where she refused to appear in the sequel Wrath of the Titans (thus explaining why Io was killed off between movies). Arterton stated that the initial script sounded interesting but that when it came to the filming and editing process, it was very rushed and ended up completely different, to her disappointment. She even stated she felt Prince of Persia was the better film of the two and didnt understand how Clash made more money.
- The Danza: As the titular character in Gemma Bovery.
- Dawson Casting: As Kelly in St Trinian's and its sequel; Kelly is a high schooler while Gemma Arterton was in her early twenties during filming.
- Dyeing for Your Art: She's naturally a brunette and retains this hair colour in the majority of her roles, though she dyed her hair red to play Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace.
- Hollywood Hype Machine: It got behind her big time after her role as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace. Her attempted breakout roles — Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters — didn't amount to much due to either receiving lacklustre reviews or flying under the radar. She's still been working steadily in the years since, but mostly in indie projects and/or supporting roles. She's indicated she actually prefers indie stuff, stating in an interview
with the Guardian:"My taste in film and theatre has always been very marginal, very arthouse, very out there, and then it always surprised me that I got these mainstream roles." - Money, Dear Boy: She's stated one of the main reasons she took the role of Strawberry Fields was because she was 21, "poor as a church mouse" and trying to pay off her student loan.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's been naked or in sex scenes in a lot of her films. In some cases it gets played more for Fan Disservice though, such as a particular scene in Quantum of Solace (her character's naked corpse is found covered in oil), Byzantium (she plays a vampire who was once a Sex Slave and still works as a stripper/prostitute purely to support herself), and The Disappearance of Alice Creed (where her character is forcibly stripped by her kidnappers).
- What Could Have Been:
- It was announced that she would play Catherine Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights but she eventually left the project. As this was in 2009, presumably this was the miniseries with Tom Hardy as Heathcliffe. The role was eventually played by Charlotte Riley.
- She was considered for the role of Valentina in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
- She was in the running to play Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger.
- She was one of several actresses considered for Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus.
- She was reportedly among many actresses considered for Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot, before the casting of Alicia Vikander.
