Glamour Awards

Gemma Arterton: 18 interesting facts about the actress

8 June 2016

Image may contain Gemma Arterton Clothing Apparel Human Person Evening Dress Fashion Gown Robe and Interior Design

You may know Gemma Arterton as the cooly seductive Head Girl Kelly in St Trinian's (who didn't want to be her?), or more recently as Strawberry Fields opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, and as our Cointreau Theatre Actress award winner at the GLAMOUR Awards 2016.

But what do we really know about the actress?

From her favourite sport, to her punk rock past and her polydactyly, we share 18 fascinating facts about the former-Bond Girl...

Getty Images
She thought she was too tall
She thought she'd lost her role in Quantum of Solace on account of her height. When realising she had to wear high stilettos for her audition (and would tower over Daniel Craig) she remembered: "I said something really stupid, trying to break the ice. I blurted out, 'I hope you don't feel inadequate because I'm taller'!"
Getty Images
She has a sister - who is also an actress
Gemma has a younger sister – Hannah Arterton - who has also done some acting work. She's most famous for her role as Taylor in Walking on Sunshine.
Wenn
Her barmaid past
Gemma was working as a karaoke hostess in Honest Dave’s Karaoke Bar: “It was in this rough, gangster pub near Waterloo. The pub owner, ‘Honest Dave’, said ‘if things get fraught, sing the Titanic song’ – Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On. I did and it chilled them all out!”
Getty Images
Her other job
Before her pub work, Gemma worked on a beauty counter as a make-up salesgirl to pay the rent and bills, before she got the offer to play the role of Kelly in St Trinians.

Getty Images
Her ancestory
Gemma is interestingly of English, Polish Jewish, and distant German and Scottish, ancestry.
Rex Features
Her punk band roots
Gemma played in “dodgy” punk band, Violent Pink, as a teen. “We were angsty girl punks, I think that's my thing. I am a punk rock star underneath that's dying to come out.” Her musical influences: “Limp Bizkit, Cypress Hill, those cockroach ones. Papa Roach!”
Wenn
She was born polydactyly
The starlet was born with polydactyly, meaning she had six fingers on each hand: “It's my little oddity that I'm really proud of. People are really interested but repulsed at the same time." Gemma also had a ‘crumpled ear’ at birth, which she had surgically corrected as a child. “I was a freakish baby. A bit of an oddball. And I still feel like that now."
PA Photos
Her drunk technique
Gemma’s technique for determining if she’s drunk is try to multiply 12 X 12. "Then after a few years I realised I'd just memorised the answer 144 and I was actually pissed! What an idiot!"

rex features
Her favorite designer
The red carpet regular’s favourite label is Louis Vuitton. In fact, Gemma accidentally wore her Louis Vuitton dress back-to-front at the St Trinian's premiere. “I didn't know until I was on the red carpet,” she confesses. "I got out of the car and the wind blew, exposing my bum. Pippa, my publicist, came over and said, 'Gemma, I think you've got your dress on back to front.'" Whoops!
Her favourite film
The original Clash of the Titans is one of her favorite films. “When I was a kid I must have watched [it] on video about 50 times. I saw it so often with my sister Hannah that we could actually quote dialogue from the film. I also have to admit that I had a massive crush on Harry Hamlin.” Gemma starred in the remake this summer.
PA Photos
Her favourite sport
Favorite athletic activity? Trampolining! Gemma hates the gym, but was made to go six times a week for her role as the princess in Prince of Persia. “Unless you're really famous and successful then they're going to bully you into going to the gym. It's a side of the industry that I find uncomfortable.”
rex features
Her tattoo
Gemma has a tattoo of an angel’s wing behind her left ear, which she had inked after finishing filming on Prince of Persia: “All the men [on set] warned me in advance it would hurt a lot. It wasn't that bad, though. Try having your bikini zone waxed, guys. Then you will know what real pain feels like."

Rex Features
Where she grew up
Despite her seemingly posh British accent, Gem grew up on a council estate in Gravesend. “People expect me to be more posh in person, they expect me to speak a certain way and then when they hear my normal accent they grimace. [At the audition for Prince of Persia], the director Mike Newell said to me, 'Can you do a posh accent because she's a princess,' to which I said, 'I trained at the Royal Academy of f***ing Dramatic Arts, I can do whatever you want me to do!'”
rex features
She beat Sienna Miller to a part
Gemma won the role of Head Girl Kelly Jones in St Trinian’s over Sienna Miller, who also auditioned for the part. “I was just gutted when I hear she really wanted it,” she admits. “I mean… Sienna Miller! I never really thought I was in with a chance anyway, but when her name was bandied about, I felt like throwing in the towel.” When Gemma DID land the part, she claims she jumped so high she hit her head on the ceiling!
WENN
Her party trick
Gemma reportedly does a stellar, accurately nasal impression of Carry On star Kenneth Williams. Now there’s a party trick…
PA Photos
Her Sunday ritual
Despite her ever-climbing career and the fact she’s starred opposite some of Hollywood’s sexiest leading men (Daniel Craig and Jake Gyllenhaal, anyone?) Gemma is still as down-to-earth as ever. The starlet still goes to for a pub lunch in south London with her mates every Sunday, and remains a devout supporter of Charlton Athletic FC.

How her friends would describe her
When asked how her friends would describe her, Gemma says: “Crumpled, prim and sunny.”
PA Photos
Her marriage
The actress married Italian sales manager Stefano Catelli at a secret Spanish ceremony in June 2010, but the pair split in 2013. There were rumours at the time that her ex husband was Daniel Craig’s stunt double in Bond flick, Quantum of Solace.