biography of Gemma Chan

Gemma Chan (born 29 November 1982) is a British film, television, and theatre actress and former fashion model. She played Charlotte in season four of the Showtime and ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007); Ruth in Channel 4's Fresh Meat (2011); Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), and Soo Lin in The Blind Banker (2010). She also appeared in the feature films Exam (2009) and Paramount Pictures' action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). Chan made a film for Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Chan was born at Guy's Hospital in London, England. Her father grew up in Hong Kong and was an engineer. Her mother, a pharmacist at Guy's Hospital, emigrated from pre-Cultural Revolution Communist China via Hong Kong with her parents (Chan's maternal grandparents) and younger sister, growing up in Greenock, Scotland. Chan was raised near Sevenoaks, Kent, and attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Orpington, Bromley, London. She later went on to read law at Worcester College, Oxford.

Following graduation, Chan gained a training contract offer as a graduate at the law firm Slaughter and May, but instead pursued an acting career and studied at the Drama Centre London. Spotted at her showcase by British film producer Damian Jones, she signed to acting agent Nicki van Gelder. In 2006, Chan was one of the models in series one of Project Catwalk, the UK version of Project Runway. She has been photographed by Rankin for a campaign for Nivea Visage, having previously worked as a model in order to fund her studies and drama school training.

Chan played geologist Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan, which aired 15 November 2009 in the UK. She was cast as a series regular in Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007), the fourth and final series airing on ITV2 in the UK and Showtime in the US in 2011. She also appeared in Sherlock (2010), and the fourth series of The IT Crowd (2006) for Channel 4.

In 2012, Chan was a regular in series two of Sky Living's supernatural drama Bedlam (2011) and in True Love (2012), a five-part semi-improvised television series produced by Working Title for the BBC One. In 2013, she starred in new BBC One crime drama Shetland (2013), alongside Douglas Henshall and Steven Robertson, and guest starred in the BBC's Death in Paradise (2011). She was a cast-member of Channel 4 romantic drama, Dates (2013).

Chan played the synthetic Anita/Mia in the AMC/Channel 4 eight-part science-fiction drama Humans (2015). Filming commenced in autumn 2014 with a June 2015 premiere. The second series premiered on 30 October. For her portrayal, she was nominated for numerous awards. In July 2016, Chan provided the voice "Dewdrop" in BBC One's animated television series Watership Down (2018). She appeared in the World War II drama film Shanghai (2010) and the comedy-drama Submarine (2010). Chan starred in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Families (2015).

She made her professional stage debut in the British Premiere of Bertolt Brecht's last play, Turandot, at the Hampstead Theatre, London, directed by Anthony Clark. In November 2012, she performed in The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, a new play by Anders Lustgarten at the Finborough Theatre. In June 2013, she performed in the UK premiere of Yellow Face by American playwright David Henry Hwang at The Park Theatre, London, directed by Alex Sims. It was revived in 2014 at the Royal National Theatre with the original London cast returning. In November 2013, Chan performed in the world premiere of Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Wertenbaker chose her to play the war goddess Athena after she saw her performance in Yellow Face.

Chan dated English comedian Jack Whitehall from 2011 to 2017  She began a relationship with English actor Dominic Cooper in 2018. They reside together in London.

In September 2013, Chan appeared at the Old Bailey in central London as a witness to a fatal stabbing outside Putney Bridge tube station. 

Chan and her partner Dominic Cooper participated in the People's Vote March, expressing support for a second Brexit referendum, in October 2018.  She has criticised both the Conservative and Labour parties for their processes in choosing leadership

Year	Film	Role
2006	When Evil Calls	Molly Nelson
2009	Exam	Chinese woman
2010	Pimp	Bo
	Shanghai	Shin Shin
	Submarine	Kim-Lin
2013	The Double	Glamorous Judge
2014	Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit	Amy Chang
2015	Love Is a Four Letter Word: Worth Seven Points	Wife
	Families	Chen-Lin
2016	Everyday Performance Artists	Melody
	Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them	Madam Ya Zhou
2017	Transformers: The Last Knight	Quintessa (voice and motion capture)
	Stratton	Aggy
2018	Crazy Rich Asians	Astrid Leong-Teo
	London Fields	Petronella
	Mary Queen of Scots	Elizabeth Hardwick
	Intrigo: Dear Agnes	Henny
	Leading Lady Parts	Herself
2019	Captain Marvel	Minn-Erva
2020	Let Them All Talk	Karen
2021	Raya and the Last Dragon	Namaari (voice)
	Eternals	Sersi
2022	Don't Worry Darling	Shelley
2023	The Creator	Maya Fey / Nirmata
	The Boy and the Heron	Natsuko (voice)
2025	The Actor	Edna
TBA	Josephine †	TBA

Year	Award	Category	Project
2015	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards	Best Actress	Humans
2018	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Crazy Rich Asians
	National Board of Review	Best Ensemble
	Music City Critics' Association	Best Supporting Actress
2019	MTV Movie Awards	Best Fight	Captain Marvel
	National Film and Television Awards	Best Actress
2022	Gold List Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Eternals

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