Karen Gillan Biography

Karen Gillan is a Scottish actress and filmmaker who gained widespread recognition for starring as Nebula in multiple films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2014 to 2023 and Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level. She first gained recognition for her performances in British film and television, especially as Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who between 2010 and 2013.

Karen Gillan Age

Gillan was born Karen Sheila Gillan on November 28, 1987, in Inverness, Scotland. She is 37 years old as of 2024. Gillan celebrates her birthday on November 28th.

Karen Gillan Height

Gillan stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 10¾ inches.

Karen Gillan Family

Gillan was born to Marie Paterson and Raymond John Gillan in Inverness. Her father hails from Sunderland in North East England. Her father is English while her mother is Scottish and has seven siblings. Even though she has a Catholic background, she says that she was not baptized and does not practice a religion. She took piano lessons since she was eight years old and still plays today.

Karen Gillan Husband

Gillan got married to Nick Kocher in May 2022 in a ceremony at Castle Toward in Dunoon, Scotland. Nick is an American comedian of the sketch duo BriTANicK. She shared that they were expecting their first child at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. She gave birth to her daughter, Clementine, in December 2024. When she’s not acting, she enjoys playing the piano and rummaging through vintage clothes shops.

Karen Gillan Net Worth

Gillan has an estimated net worth ranging between $1 million – $5 million, which she has earned through being an actress and filmmaker.

Karen Gillan Doctor Who

Gillan portrayed Amy Pond on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who. Amy serves as the companion to the Eleventh Doctor. She previously appeared as a soothsayer on Doctor Who in the Series 4 episode “The Fires of Pompeii” before she landed the role of Amy in May 2009. She debuted on screen as Amy in “The Eleventh Hour” with her cousin Caitlin Blackwood, who played a younger version of the same character.

Gillan won the 2010 Young Scot Entertainment Award and the 2010 Cosmopolitan’s Ultimate Women of the Year Best Actress Award. The following year, she won the SFX Award and TV Choice Award in the Best Actress category. She also starred in the sixth series.

In 2012, Gillan appeared in the first five episodes of the seventh series. Subsequently, her character and  Rory Williams (portrayed by Arthur Darvill) left the series. She made an appearance in the Christmas special “The Time of the Doctor” to match Matt Smith’s departure as the Doctor

Karen Gillan Marvel/Nebula

Gillan starred as Nebula in multiple films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2014 to 2023, starting with Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2017, Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, What If…?, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023.

Nebula is a blue-skinned alien warrior, the adoptive daughter of Thanos, and sister to Gamora. Initially, a ruthless assassin, she hates Gamora for always being “the favorite.” Thanos killed her blood family before taking her as his daughter.

Nebula finds forgiveness and change through her experiences as her character arc expands in the MCU. In the Guardians of the Galaxy, she is motivated by jealousy and sibling rivalry. She starts questioning her blind devotion to Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and shares that she was tortured every time she lost to Gamora in combat. Thanos would replace a piece of Nebula with a cybernetic part with every loss, ultimately transforming her into a cyborg.

In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos captures her and uses her as bait to manipulate Gamora. She later joins Gamora as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, becoming a member of the Avengers. In preparation for her role as Nebula, Gillan underwent intensive prosthetic makeup and shaved her head for the early roles. Marvel transformed her shaved hair into the wig she wore during the production of Selfie.

Karen Gillan Jumanji

Gillan starred in the leading female role of Martha Kaply/Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 and Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019. She stars opposite Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas. She won the MTV Movie & TV Best On-Screen Team Award and Teen Choice Comedy Movie Actress Award for her performance in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Martha is a quiet and shy high school student and Spencer Gilpin’s primary love interest. While playing Jumanji, she changes into a scantily-clad commando named Ruby Roundhouse. She is a lethal warrior with exceptional martial arts skills and “killer dance moves,” but is weak to venom.

Karen Gillan Education

At the age of 16, Gillan relocated to Edinburgh, where she finished an HNC Acting and Performance course at Telford College. 2 years later, she moved to London to study at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. There, she was scouted by a modeling agency, launching her modelling career at London Fashion Week in 2007. She said that she wouldn’t give up her acting career to return to modelling as acting has always been her main goal and interest since she was a child.

Karen Gillan Career

Gillan’s early TV roles were marked by guest roles on multiple TV shows, with her first role being in an episode of ITV’s Rebus. She dropped out of school for the role. For 2 years, she served as a member of the ensemble cast of the sketch comedy series, The Kevin Bishop Show. In this capacity, she played several characters, including celebrities like Katy Perry and Angelina Jolie. She also starred in a leading role on TV in The Well on BBC Two. She appeared in Channel 4’s Stacked in 2008.

Gillan portrayed Amy Pond on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who. She previously appeared as a soothsayer on Doctor Who in the Series 4 episode “The Fires of Pompeii” before she landed the role of Amy in May 2009. She debuted on screen as Amy in “The Eleventh Hour” with her cousin Caitlin Blackwood, who played a younger version of the same character.

Gillan debuted on theatre as Shirley in John Osborne’s play, Inadmissible Evidence, with  Douglas Hodge in 2011. After appearing in Outcast, an announcement revealed that she would appear in an indie Scottish romantic comedy named Not Another Happy Ending with mun Elliott in August 2011. Director John McKay chose her because he became familiar with her during the production of We’ll Take Manhattan, which he also directed, and felt that she perfectly fit the character.

2012 to 2016

Gillan played the role of supermodel Jean Shrimpton in We’ll Take Manhattan in 2012. We’ll Take Manhattan followed Shrimpton’s relationship with the photographer David Bailey. In November of the following year, she appeared on Broadway in Time to Act to benefit the non-profit Urban Arts Partnership. Moreover, she was cast to appear in Season 3 of  A Touch of Cloth. She became part of the regular cast of Adult Swim’s NTSF:SD:SUV:: for the show’s third season in 2013. That same year, she relocated to the United States, securing her first leading Hollywood role in Oculus. Her performance in Oculus won her a nomination for a Fright Meter Best Actress Award.

In May 2013, Gillan joined the cast of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy as Nebula. She shaved her head bald for the role, which Marvel transformed into the wig she wore during the production of Selfie. She joined the cast of ABC’s Selfie as socialite Eliza Dooley, who is obsessed with social media, in February 2014, marking her first time in the lead role of an American TV series. In May, she joined the cast of In a Valley of Violence opposite John Travolta, Ethan Hawke, and Taissa Farmiga. She starred as Ellen, the older sister to Farmiga’s character.

2014 to 2016

Gillan was featured in the music video for TV on the Radio’s “Happy Idiot,” which was released on October 3, 2014. The following year, she played a small role in The Big Short with Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Melissa Leo. She served as the writer and director of her first short film, Coward, which won nominations for multiple awards. In late 2015, she wrote, directed, and starred in the short film Conventional. Her performances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Oculus won her the Best Female Newcomer Award at the 20th Empire Awards. That same year, she joined the cast of HBO’s pilot titled The Devil You Know.

A November 2, 2016, announcement revealed that Gillan would write, direct, and star in her directorial feature film debut in Tupperware Party. The film’s title was later changed to The Party’s Just Beginning and won a nomination for the British Academy Scotland Best Feature Film Award. In 2017, she reprised her role as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She also co-starred with Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, and John Boyega in The Circle. That same year, she starred in the leading female role of Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas.

Gillan recurred in her role as Nebula in Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Besides her leading role in Avengers: Endgame, she co-starred in Stuber and Spies in Disguise in 2019, as well as, reprising her role as Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: The Next Level and starring in Neurotica.

2020 to present;

Gillan starred in The Call of the Wild in 2020. The following year, she starred in Gunpowder Milkshake, a role that won her a nomination for Best Actress in an Action Movie at the 2nd Critics’ Choice Super Awards. That same year, Disney Branded Television declared that she would star in Rhona Who Lives by the River as the titular character and act as the executive producer for the series.

Gillan starred in Dual with Aaron Paul in 2022, where she starred in a double role. She won a nomination in the Best Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie category at the 3rd Critics’ Choice Super Awards. She starred in Late Bloomers and Sleeping Dogs in 2023. Gillan reunited with Mike Flanagan, with whom she last collaborated on Oculus, when she appeared in The Life of Chuck. She is scheduled to star in Fools as Queen Mary Tudor, Let’s Have Kids! as Emma, and The Trip. Moreover, she shared her desire to star in more romantic comedy projects and horror films.

Advocacy and philanthropy

Gillan assisted in promoting Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC) and the launch of Squirrel Ward at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in 2011. She went to the Mikeysline disaster support centre in Inverness in 2018 after presenting her film, The Party’s Just Beginning, which covers the high suicide rate in the Scottish Highlands. Additionally, she publicly pledged her support to the mental health charity. She and other British film and TV creatives gave donations to an auction to crowdfund for humanitarian relief in Gaza in 2024.

Karen Gillan Movies and TV Shows

Gillan has starred in several movies and TV shows such as

• Rebus
• Stacked
• Coming Up
• Not Another Happy Ending
• The Kevin Bishop Show
• The Well
• We’ll Take Manhattan
• The Big Short
• In a Valley of Violence
• Selfie
• Alex & the List
• 7 Days in Hell
• All Creatures Here Below
• Emo Dad
• Spies in Disguise
• The Bubble
• The Life of Chuck
• Douglas Is Cancelled