Early life

Clarke was born in London, and grew up in Berkshire. Her father is a theatre sound engineer. She has a younger brother. Clarke's interest in acting began at the age of three after seeing the musical Show Boat on which her father was working. She was educated at Rye St Antony School and at St Edward's School, Oxford. She attended Drama Centre London, and graduated in 2009.

Career

Clarke's early work includes two plays at St. Edwards, ten plays at Drama Centre London, the 2009 Company of Angels production of Sense, and two 2009 commercials for Samaritans. One of her first film roles was for a University of London students' short film. Her first television roles were Saskia Mayer in a 2009 episode of the British soap opera Doctors and Savannah in Syfy's 2010 film Triassic Attack. Screen International magazine named her as one of the "UK Stars of Tomorrow".

In 2010 Clarke was cast as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones, based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. She was cast after fellow British actress Tamzin Merchant was replaced for undisclosed reasons. She did the funky chicken and robot dance during her audition. The show debuted in April 2011 to positive reviews and was quickly picked up by the network for a second season. She has appeared in all five broadcast seasons, and is attached to the sixth. Clarke won the 2011 Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role as Daenerys. In 2013, Clarke was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. She was nominated again in the category in 2015. She was voted the most desirable woman in the world by Askmen readers in 2014.

In 2012 Clarke appeared in Spike Island, a film named after the location of The Stone Roses's seminal 1990 gig. From March to April 2013, Clarke played Holly Golightly in a Broadway production of Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 2013, she also starred in Dom Hemingway alongside Jude Law. In May 2014, it was announced that she had joined the feature film Garden of Last Days alongside James Franco, but the movie was scrapped two weeks before production was due to begin. Clarke was offered the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey but turned down the part because of the nudity required. She played Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys (2015), opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jai Courtney, and Jason Clarke. She also stars in the movie adaption of the best selling book (of the same name), Me Before You, set for release on June 3, 2016, as one of the main characters, Louisa Clark.

She will play the lead as Nurse Verena, in the up-coming movie Voice from the Stone. She was named Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2015. She is also rumoured to be attached to the films The Guns of August opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Set It Up opposite Glen Powell, Above Suspicion opposite Jack Huston, and Rothschild opposite Logan Lerman.

Personal life

In September 2012, Clarke was reported to be dating Seth MacFarlane. In March 2013, it was reported that she and MacFarlane had ended their relationship. Clarke currently resides in Hampstead, London.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Spike Island	Sally Harris
2012	Shackled	Malu	Short film
2013	Dom Hemingway	Evelyn Hemingway
2015	Terminator Genisys	Sarah Connor
2016	Me Before You	Louisa Clark
2016	Voice from the Stone	Verena
2017	Above Suspicion

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Doctors	Saskia Mayer	Episode: "Empty Nest"
2010	Triassic Attack	Savannah Roundtree	Movie
2011-present	Game of Thrones	Daenerys Targaryen	Main role
2013	Futurama	Marianne (voice)	Episode: "Stench and Stenchibility"
2016	Robot Chicken	Valley girl (voice)	Episode: "Joel Hurwitz Returns"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2015	Game of Thrones	Daenerys Targaryen

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2013	Breakfast at Tiffany's	Holly Golightly	Cort Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2011	Scream Awards	Breakout Performance - Female	Game of Thrones	Won
		Best Ensemble		Nominated
2012	Gracie Awards	Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Drama Series or Special		Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Golden Nymph Award	Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series		Nominated
2013	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated
2014	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Young Hollywood Awards	Fan Favorite Actor-Female		Nominated
2015	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Empire Awards	Empire Hero Award		Won
	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress on Television		Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer Movie Star: Female	Terminator Genisys	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Game of Thrones	Nominated
2016	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Jupiter Awards	Best International Actress	Terminator Genisys	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]