ACTOR
Gemma Arterton
- Known for
- The Voices (2014), Byzantium (2012), The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009), St. Trinian's (2007)
29 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Gemma Arterton is an actor best known for The Voices, Byzantium and The Disappearance of Alice Creed.
All facts (29)
- #001
Gemma Arterton was born with an extra finger on each hand, a benign condition known as polydactyly, and the extra fingers were removed when she was a baby. The scars from the surgery are now almost imperceptible.
- #002
She beat out 1,500 other actresses for her role in Quantum of Solace (2008).
- #003
Clash of the Titans (1981) was one of her favorite films as a child, and although the script was very different from the original, she was eager to take part in the remake.
- #004
After Emily Blunt dropped out, Gemma Arterton was considered for the role of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (2010), but Scarlett Johansson was cast instead. She also auditioned for the role of Maya Hansen in Iron Man 3 (2013), but Rebecca Hall was cast.
- #005
She auditioned for the role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), but Anne Hathaway was cast instead.
- #006
Her grandmother Helen Sarfas (b. 1939) died at her home in Kent on 8 January 2010 after stabbing herself in the chest. She had struggled with depression and bipolar disorder for years.
- #007
She was raised by a single mother.
- #008
While she was a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, she worked as a makeup salesperson.
- #009
She lost the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) to Hayley Atwell.
- #010
She learned French while filming Gemma Bovery.
- #011
She had a relationship with Spanish stuntman Eduardo Ivan Munoz, whom she met on the set of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010).
- #012
While filming the final scene of A Deal Is a Deal (2008), she was told she had won her role in Quantum of Solace (2008).
- #013
She was in a relationship with French assistant director Franklin Ohannessian between 2013 and 2016, having met him on the set of The Voices (2014) in April 2013. They worked together again on Gemma Bovery (2014), her first film in France. When she took the role, she did not speak a word of French.
- #014
She graduated from RADA in 2007.
- #015
From 2007 to 2008, she had an 18-month relationship with British animator John Nolan. They met on the set of Quantum of Solace (2008) and lived together in London.
- #016
Gemma's maternal great-great-grandmother, born Jean Specterman, was Jewish (of Polish Jewish descent). The rest of Gemma's ancestry is English, with more distant German and Scottish roots.
- #017
In early 2013, she separated from her husband of two years, Stefano Catelli, and they later divorced.
- #018
After Keira Knightley withdrew from the project, Gemma Arterton was considered for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but Carey Mulligan was cast instead.
- #019
Gemma Arterton's parents are welder Barry J. Arterton and cleaner Sally-Ann Heap.
- #020
She has a younger sister named Hannah Arterton (b. 1989).
- #021
She starred in two film adaptations of Posy Simmonds's graphic novels: Tamara Drewe (2010) (a modern reimagining of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd) and Gemma Bovery (2014) (a modern reimagining of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary).
- #022
She won the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Newcomer for her performance in the musical version of Made in Dagenham.
- #023
Her West End theatre work includes the lead role in Nell Gwynn (Apollo Theatre, 2016), Rita in Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre, 2015), The Duchess of Malfi (Shakespeare's Globe, 2014), Ellen in The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick, 2010), Hilde Wangel in The Master Builder (Almeida, 2010) and Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare's Globe, 2007).
- #024
(15 September 2019) She married her boyfriend of two years, Rory Keenan, two weeks earlier at the exclusive Ballybeg House in Co Wicklow.
- #025
She is a big fan of Kate Bush. In 2014 she attended the first night of Bush's comeback concert series at the Hammersmith Apollo, and was subsequently interviewed about it on Newsnight (1980).
- #026
She married Stefano Catelli in a secret hilltop ceremony in the Spanish village of Zuheros in front of family and close friends. Arterton wore a cream-coloured dress and carried a bouquet of white roses (6 June 2010). Photographs of her wedding were published in the British newspaper the Daily Mail.
- #027
She replaced Natalie Portman as Catherine Earnshaw in the film Wuthering Heights (2011) but later withdrew from the project. Kaya Scodelario was subsequently cast in her place.
- #028
She stated that she would not have children before winning an Oscar.
- #029
She announced her engagement to Italian businessman Stefano Catelli, who works at a British fashion marketing company and has been in a relationship with her since March 2009.
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