Gwendoline Christie (born 28 October 1978 in Worthing, England) is an English actress and model. She is best known for portraying Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones and Captain Phasma in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
She hails from the South Downs, and started doing gymnastics at school there, but a spinal injury caused her to switch to acting. She was trained by actor-author Simon Callow and graduated from Drama Centre London in 2005. After finishing her studies, Christie settled down in London and began acting in stage plays, notably as Lucifer in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.
Christie is well-known for her height (6 feet 3 inches, making her one of the tallest prominent actresses in the industry) and her androgynous physique (she's an A-cup, and her bust looks even smaller due to her height). While both of these features made her the subject of bullying from peers and even opposition from professors and agents who doubted that she'd be able to find work, they are now recognized as defining aspects of her characters.
One of Christie's earliest noted projects, a photo series by photographer Polly Borland titled Bunny, resulted from her catching Borland's attention due to her height. She was also a popular fancast for the role of Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, and considering Brienne is also an unusually tall and muscular woman, it was a role Christie grew passionate about playing, as she stated it would allow her to draw on her experiences. According to George R. R. Martin, her audition for the part was practically uncontested, owed in no small part to her showing up already in full makeup and armor alongside prepping in ways including gaining over a stone (6.4 kg, 14 lbs) of muscle mass.
Roles
- Great Expectations (2005 stage version) as Mrs. Hubble
- Cymbeline (2007) as The Queen
- Gilgamesh (2009 stage version) as Ishtar
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (2009 stage version) as Mag Wildwood
- Doctor Faustus (2010 stage version) as Lucifer
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) as Ursula Bond Street
- Game of Thrones (2012 - 2019) as Brienne of Tarth
- Wizards vs. Aliens (2012 - 2013) as Lexi
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) as Commander Lyme
- Star Wars as Captain Phasma
- The Force Awakens (2015)
- The Last Jedi (2017)
- Resistance (2018) (voice)
- Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017) as Miranda Hilmarson
- The Darkest Minds (2018) as Lady Jane
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (2019 stage version) as Titania
- The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020) as Jane Murdstone
- The Sandman (2022) as Lucifer
- Wednesday (2022) as Larissa Weems
- Flux Gourmet (2022) as Jan Stevens
Tropes:
- Career-Ending Injury: As a child, she originally trained as a gymnast but turned to acting after suffering a spinal injury that prevented her from pursuing gymnastics professionally.
- Chainmail Bikini: Her two most prominent roles avert this; Brienne Of Tarth dresses in plate armour like most other knights in the series and Captain Phasma is clad in silver stormtrooper armour, even keeping her helmet on for the entirety of her screentime.
- Gender Flip: As Lucifer in a stage performance of Doctor Faustus and as the comic book version in The Sandman. Besides the Biblical character of course being male, this particular version was also previously played by Peter Stormare and Tom Ellis (although in fairness, Neil Gaiman has pointed out that in the comic, his version of Lucifer doesn't actually have a biological sex).
- Playing Against Type:
- Phasma is actually a rare female Smug Snake and a Faux Action Girl.
- In Top of the Lake, she plays a female cop who is neurotic, a bit bumbling, downtrodden by her married boyfriend, and desperately wanting a child, and is finally ambushed and seriously injured by a suspect without managing to fight back.
- On Wednesday, she portrays Principal Larissa Weems as a soft-spoken but highly intelligent and dangerous woman, a departure from her usual physical and less feminine roles.
- Star-Making Role: Her acclaimed role as Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones made her a household name and led to her getting more prominent roles in films and TV shows (prior to Game of Thrones, she'd done well-received theatre work and had bit parts in a few films).
- Typecasting: Her portrayal of Brienne of Tarth established her as the go-to actress for brawny, credible Action Girls, be it in the Star Wars or The Hunger Games franchises.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who portrays Jamie Lannister, get along like a house on fire and are never afraid to insult one another.
