Early life

Arterton was born at North Kent Hospital in Gravesend, Kent, to Sally-Anne (née Heap), a cleaner, and Barry Arterton, a welder. Her mother's cousin is singer-songwriter Wreckless Eric. Her ancestry is English, German, Scottish with her matrilineal great-grandmother was a German Jewish concert violinist.

She attended Gravesend Grammar School for Girls in Kent, and made her stage debut there in an amateur production of Alan Ayckbourn's The Boy Who Fell into a Book, which was entered into a competition at a local festival, where she won the best actress prize.

At age 16, Arterton left school to attend the Miskin Theatre at North West Kent College in Dartford. She then received a full government grant to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), although she said in 2008 that she "got up to her eyes in debt with a student loan". She graduated from RADA in 2008. Her sister, Hannah Arterton, is also an actress.

Career

Arterton won her first professional role in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary while she was still at drama school. She made her stage debut as Rosaline in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre in London in July 2007 before graduating later that year. She made her film debut in St Trinian's (2007) as Head Girl Kelly.

In 2008, she appeared in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Chosen from around fifteen hundred candidates, Arterton plays Bond Girl Strawberry Fields, in what is described as a "nice-sized role". Arterton describes her character as "the thinking man's crumpet". In the same year, she played the eponymous protagonist in the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Also in 2008, she played Elizabeth Bennet in the ITV serial, Lost in Austen. Her most controversial role to date was in the 2009 film The Disappearance of Alice Creed, in which her character is kidnapped and abused in several graphic nude scenes. The role required her to be handcuffed to a bed and wear a ball gag in her mouth throughout. She requested that she be left tied to the bed even when the camera was not on her to help her performance. She joked that the crew would put the ball gag back in if she was chatting too much.

Arterton is the face of Avon's Bond Girl 007 fragrance, which launched in October 2008. Having already started in a series of advertisements for Avon, Arterton in May 2008 requested a role opposite model Kate Moss for Rimmel, but was blocked on contractual terms under her Avon contract.

In 2010, Arterton made her West End debut in the UK premiere of The Little Dog Laughed. She was originally attached to star in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights as Catherine Earnshaw; however, she later left the project. In 2008 Arterton announced that she was "soon to be in the film adaptation of the book, Burden of Desire" in a starring role but as of 2016 the film has not been produced.

Arterton was seen in the 2010 films Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and played the lead in Tamara Drewe. In 2010 Arterton also starred in the Almeida Theatre's production of "The Master Builder." In 2011, Arterton was nominated twice by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for her performances in Tamara Drewe and The Disappearance of Alice Creed. In November 2012, she was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2012 International Film Festival of Marrakech.

Arterton starred in the action horror film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters as Gretel opposite the actor Jeremy Renner who played Hansel. The 3-D film was set 15 years after Hansel and Gretel killed the witch who kidnapped them. It was released on 25 January 2013. In January 2014, she took the title role in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the inaugural production at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the new indoor theatre at Shakespeare's Globe. In the same year, she starred with Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick and Jacki Weaver in the psychological thriller film, The Voices.

In 2014-2015, Arterton was starring in Made in Dagenham, a stage musical about the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 concerning equal pay for women. She played a woman named Rita O'Grady. Since its premiere on 5 November 2014 at the Adelphi Theatre in London, she has publicly expressed her support for their cause.

In a 2015 interview with the Independent newspaper, Arterton stated that she was director Jonathan Glazer's choice for the lead role in his movie Under the Skin. However, Glazer was forced to recast due to Arterton's perceived lack of 'star power'.

In February 2016, Arterton started a run playing the title role in the Shakespeare's Globe transfer of Nell Gwynn, at the West End's Apollo Theatre.

Personal life

On 5 June 2010, Arterton married Italian Stefano Catelli, who works in fashion marketing, in a private ceremony in Zuheros, Spain. In early 2013, Arterton and her husband separated, and in August 2015 their divorce was finalised "by consent" at the Central Family Court in High Holborn. Arterton stated she "never really believed in exchanging vows," and that she's not sure she would "want to walk down the aisle again." By early 2016, she was in a relationship with French film assistant director Franklin Ohanessian.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	St Trinian's	Kelly Jones
2007	Capturing Mary	Liza	TV film
2008	Lost in Austen	Elizabeth Bennet	TV series (2 episodes)
2008	Tess of the d'Urbervilles	Tess Durbeyfield	TV series (4 episodes)
2008	Three and Out	Frankie Cassidy
2008	RocknRolla	June
2008	Quantum of Solace	Strawberry Fields
2009	Boat That Rocked, TheThe Boat That Rocked a.k.a. Pirate Radio	Desiree
2009	St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold	Kelly Jones
2010	Clash of the Titans	Io
2010	Disappearance of Alice Creed, TheThe Disappearance of Alice Creed	Alice Creed
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Princess Tamina
2010	Tamara Drewe	Tamara Drewe
2011	A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures	Shelly
2012	Song for Marion	Elizabeth
2012	Byzantium	Clara
2013	Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters	Gretel
2013	Runner Runner	Rebecca Shafran
2014	Inside No. 9	Gerri	TV series (episode "Tom & Gerri")
2014	Gemma Bovery	Gemma Bovery
2015	The Voices	Fiona
2016	She Who Brings Gifts	Helen Justineau
2016	Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em	Jessica Spencer	Sketch for Sport Relief 2016
2016	Their Finest Hour and a Half		Filming
2016	The History of Love
2016	Orpheline
2017	Watership Down	Clover	Miniseries

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Result
2008	Empire Award for Best Newcomer	St Trinian's	Nominated
2008	National Movie Award for Best Actress	St Trinian's
2009	Empire Award for Best Newcomer	Quantum of Solace	Won
2010	Teen Choice Award for Choice Breakout Female	Clash of the Titans	Nominated
2010	Scream Award for Best Breakout Performance Female	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
2010	Teen Choice Award for Choice Fantasy Actress	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Clash of the Titans
2011	BAFTA Rising Star Award	Herself
2011	Glamour Award for Woman of the Year - Film Actress	Herself	Won
2014	Whatsonstage.com Awards for Best Actress In A Musical	Made in Dagenham (musical)	Nominated
2015	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical	Made in Dagenham (musical)
2016	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress	Nell Gwynn (play)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]