Actress Gemma Whelan has numerous iconic roles under her belt – but Game Of Thrones’ Yara Greyjoy just may be the one to top them all.
But that doesn’t mean the star, who also has leading roles in favourites including Gentleman Jack, Upstart Crow, and The End of The F***ing World to name a few, doesn’t drop the ball when it comes to auditions.
Now starring in Killing Eve, Gemma spoke about how her entire career could’ve changed if she hadn’t made some fatal errors auditioning for Doc Martin, the heartwarming ITV drama starring Martin Clunes.
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Gemma revealed: ‘Even in times when I thought that was ‘my’ role, and I wanted it so badly, if I got it, I wouldn’t have been able to do Game of Thrones.
‘So, it sort of goes to show [things work out].’
‘It was Doc Martin for the receptionist [Morwenna], which my lovely friend Jess Ransom got, who’s brilliant. I just really stuffed up the third audition,’ she said of one of the roles that didn’t work out.
‘My third recall I just got it completely wrong,’ the star admitted. ‘I wanted it so desperately. And by some really weird twist of fate I found out from Jess, that it had gone her way.
‘We’ve talked about it, it’s not a secret or something I’m bitter about, she’s brilliant in it.
‘I felt “Oh my God, that was the one that got away”… and then I got Game of Thrones.’
‘If I had got that [Doc Martin] it would have been very difficult if not impossible to make that work,’ Gemma concluded. ‘Things work out so it’s just trusting it.’
The lesson the star learned in that moment has helped her cement some of the strongest roles of her career following, and Gemma added that it was just one of her first auditions, with dozens of other rejections coming her way after.
‘I was sore about it but then it works out in a different way that I couldn’t have predicted,’ she said. ‘So, it’s funny how these things always sort of, they fall into place eventually it just sometimes takes them yeah.’
‘You know, you can get dispirited and despondent certainly if you had sort of several, I don’t even like to call them rejections, because you’re not being rejected,’ the star explained. ‘It’s not, you know, you’re not right for what they want and that’s okay, that should be completely acceptable.
‘But it hurts nonetheless because you know you’ve got an ego and you want to pay the mortgage, be wanted and be good at what you do.’
‘So, trusting timing I suppose and believing in your abilities and, yeah, keep going,’ she concluded.
Now Gemma has joined the ranks of Killing Eve, playing the mysterious character of Geraldine, the daughter of MI-5 boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw).
Moving back in with her mum after a family tragedy, what Geraldine has lined up is yet to be seen.
But Gemma has promised a whole lot of shock moments, which we are absolutely ready for.
Killing Eve season 3 drops new episodes on Mondays on BBC iPlayer, and airs 9pm the following Sunday on BBC One.
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