Gemma Chan
Birthdate: Nov 29, 1982
Birthplace: London, England, UK
Gemma Chan (born 29 November 1982) is a British film, television, and theatre actress and former fashion model. She played Charlotte in season four of the Showtime and ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007); Ruth in Channel 4's Fresh Meat (2011); Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), and Soo Lin in The Blind Banker (2010). She also appeared in the feature films Exam (2009) and Paramount Pictures' action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). Chan made a film for Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Chan was born at Guy's Hospital in London, England. Her father grew up in Hong Kong and was an engineer. Her mother, a pharmacist at Guy's Hospital, emigrated from pre-Cultural Revolution Communist China via Hong Kong with her parents (Chan's maternal grandparents) and younger sister, growing up in Greenock, Scotland. Chan was raised near Sevenoaks, Kent, and attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Orpington, Bromley, London. She later went on to read law at Worcester College, Oxford.
Following graduation, Chan gained a training contract offer as a graduate at the law firm Slaughter and May, but instead pursued an acting career and studied at the Drama Centre London. Spotted at her showcase by British film producer Damian Jones, she signed to acting agent Nicki van Gelder. In 2006, Chan was one of the models in series one of Project Catwalk, the UK version of Project Runway. She has been photographed by Rankin for a campaign for Nivea Visage, having previously worked as a model in order to fund her studies and drama school training.
Chan played geologist Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan, which aired 15 November 2009 in the UK. She was cast as a series regular in Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007), the fourth and final series airing on ITV2 in the UK and Showtime in the US in 2011. She also appeared in Sherlock (2010), and the fourth series of The IT Crowd (2006) for Channel 4.
In 2012, Chan was a regular in series two of Sky Living's supernatural drama Bedlam (2011) and in True Love (2012), a five-part semi-improvised television series produced by Working Title for the BBC One. In 2013, she starred in new BBC One crime drama Shetland (2013), alongside Douglas Henshall and Steven Robertson, and guest starred in the BBC's Death in Paradise (2011). She was a cast-member of Channel 4 romantic drama, Dates (2013).
Chan played the synthetic Anita/Mia in the AMC/Channel 4 eight-part science-fiction drama Humans (2015). Filming commenced in autumn 2014 with a June 2015 premiere. The second series premiered on 30 October. For her portrayal, she was nominated for numerous awards. In July 2016, Chan provided the voice "Dewdrop" in BBC One's animated television series Watership Down (2018). She appeared in the World War II drama film Shanghai (2010) and the comedy-drama Submarine (2010). Chan starred in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Families (2015).
She made her professional stage debut in the British Premiere of Bertolt Brecht's last play, Turandot, at the Hampstead Theatre, London, directed by Anthony Clark. In November 2012, she performed in The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, a new play by Anders Lustgarten at the Finborough Theatre. In June 2013, she performed in the UK premiere of Yellow Face by American playwright David Henry Hwang at The Park Theatre, London, directed by Alex Sims. It was revived in 2014 at the Royal National Theatre with the original London cast returning. In November 2013, Chan performed in the world premiere of Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Wertenbaker chose her to play the war goddess Athena after she saw her performance in Yellow Face.
Filmography
actor
Previous (18)
- 2023 | The Boy and the HeronasNatsuko
The Boy and the Heron
In the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy named Mahito ventures into a dreamlike world shared by both the living and the dead.
- 2023 | The CreatorasMaya
The Creator
Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child.
- 2022 | Don’t Worry DarlingasShelley
Don’t Worry Darling
While her husband leaves home everyday to work in a top secret facility, a young 1950s housewife begins to question her life when she notices strange behavior from the other wives in the neighborhood.
- 2021 |
- 2021 | Raya and the Last Dragon
Raya and the Last Dragon
In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon.
- 2020 | Crazy Rich Asians Spinoff
- 2020 | Let Them All Talkas Karen
- 2019 | Intrigo: Dear Agnes
- 2019 | Captain MarvelasMinn-Erva
Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.
- 2018 | London FieldsasPetronella
London Fields
Clairvoyant femme fatale Nicola Six has been living with a dark premonition of her impending death by murder. She begins a tangled love affair with three uniquely different men: one of whom she knows will be her murderer.
- 2018 | Crazy Rich AsiansasAstrid Young Teo
Crazy Rich Asians
This contemporary romantic comedy based on a global bestseller follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family.
- 2017 | Stratton
- 2017 | Transformers: The Last KnightasQuintessa
Transformers: The Last Knight
A deadly threat from Earth's history reappears and a hunt for a lost artifact takes place between Autobots and Decepticons, while Optimus Prime encounters his creator in space.
- 2015–2018 • 24 eps | Humansas AnitaMia
- 2010 | Pimp
- 2010 | The Actor
- 2009 | Exam
- 2009 | Hold Still, Vincent
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