Trivia

She was working three to six jobs to survive before being cast in Game of Thrones (2011) including barmaid, restaurant waitress, call centre, etc. She replaced Tamzin Merchant in the role of Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones (2011) after the original pilot episode was filmed.

She's an avid backpacker and has travelled through India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and South Africa. Her sports skills include horseback-riding, ice skating, rowing, running, sailing, skiing, swimming and tennis.

Her eyes have central heterochromia. Both irises of her eyes are greyish blue coloured on the outer rim and hazel coloured on the inner rim.

In a March 2019 personal essay she wrote for The New Yorker, Emilia revealed she had a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a form of stroke caused by a ruptured aneurysm, in 2011. She underwent urgent endovascular coiling surgery, and subsequently suffered from aphasia, at one point she was even unable to recall her own name. Emilia had a second aneurysm surgically treated in 2013.

Emilia tattooed three flying dragons on her right wrist after completing the principal photography for Season 8 of Game of Thrones (2011). She had done this to celebrate her eight-year long journey of playing the character Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones (2011).

Has a tattoo of a bumblebee on her left pinky finger. She had done this to celebrate her joyous experience of working in Me Before You (2016).

She was included in FHM magazine's list of '100 Sexiest Women in the World' in 2013 (#33), 2014 (#11), 2015 (#9), 2016 (#8) and 2017 (#1); Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women in 2014 (#49), 2015 (#38) and 2018 (#41); AskMen's Top 99 Women of 2012 (#88), 2013 (#15) and 2014 (#1); and was named Esquire magazine's 'Sexiest Women Alive' on October 12, 2015.

She can sing and play some piano, flute and guitar.

Studied acting at the prestigious Drama Centre London. This acting school's alumni include Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender and Gwendoline Christie.

Is the second actress from Game of Thrones (2011) to portray Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys (2015), her co-star Lena Headey played Sarah Connor in the short-lived television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008), which is based on the Terminator films.

In a 2013 interview with Allure magazine, Clarke stated that her mother had rules when she was growing up: "Don't do drugs, don't have sex, and don't touch your eyebrows." She also stated that she was bullied as a child for "having ridiculous eyebrows".

Her favourite show as a child was The Simpsons (1989). She said she knew that Game of Thrones (2011) was a hit when her brother told her that Season 23 of "The Simpsons" spoofed her show. She also liked The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), Saved by the Bell (1989) and Sister, Sister (1994).

Clarke grew up on Arnold Schwarzenegger's films and idolized him and couldn't believe she was working with him on Terminator Genisys (2015). She first met Schwarzenegger at the read-through and inwardly started geeking out. To hear him say "I'll be back" in the film was a major moment for her.

Clarke took special weapons training to play Sarah Connor. Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't sure if Clarke had ever fired a gun before Terminator Genisys (2015), but thought her training paid off and she handled herself well in the fight scenes and seemed believable.

Ranked #1 on the Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2012.

Her favourite television series is the sitcom Friends (1994).

She's highly skilled at alto vocals, ballads, blues, cabaret singing and jazz singing.

Clarke was persuaded to watch The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) by her nine year old brother when she was seven years old. She eventually became a huge fan of the series.

In April 2018, she was named as the ambassador for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in the United Kingdom. Since then, she has organised fundraising events and promoted awareness campaigns for the betterment of the working condition of the nurses in the United Kingdom.

Claimed that if she weren't an actress, she would be either an architect, a singer, or a graphic designer.

At the age of three, she went to see "Show Boat" with her mother, a stage musical on which her father worked behind the scenes as a sound engineer at a theatre in London's West End. She has wanted to become an actress ever since.

Arnold Schwarzenegger thought Clarke did an amazing job following in the footsteps of Linda Hamilton on Terminator Genisys (2015), which is really tough to do, but she thought she was naive to accept the role of Sarah Connor so early in her career.

Her maternal grandmother was born in Lucknow (capital of the United Provinces state in erstwhile British India) and was of Indian and English ancestry. Emilia claims to have one-eighth Indian ancestry through her, which she said she is proud of. She was sixteen at the time of her maternal grandmother's death and she went to India herself to scatter her grandmother's ashes in the Ganges river.

Counts the comedy film Clueless (1995) as one of her favorite movies.

Auditioned for the role of Sharon Carter/Agent 13 in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), which eventually went to Emily VanCamp.

When Clarke was cast in Game of Thrones (2011), she watched films and television series with lead female characters to help her get into character; she did the same thing in Terminator Genisys (2015).

Her father, a theatre sound engineer, passed away from cancer on July 10, 2016. Three weeks after her father's death, Clarke began filming the seventh season of Game of Thrones (2011).

She was born in London, but grew up in the Oxfordshire countryside. Her mother is a businesswoman and her father was a theatre sound engineer. She also grew up with her older brother, who has studied political science.

Not related to co-star Jason Clarke, who played her son in Terminator Genisys (2015).

Has two dogs named Roxy and Ted "Teddington".

Kirsty Mitchell portrayed her mother in the television movie Triassic Attack (2010) and Kerry Ingram's mother in the limited series Barbarians Rising (2016); both of whom appear on the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011).

Emilia currently resides in the London Borough of Islington. She also owned a house in the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles, which she purchased in 2016 and sold in December 2020.

Her older brother, Bennett Clarke, has worked as a cinematographer on Game of Thrones (2011).

Was on the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. (2019)

Emilia speaks highly about working with Iain Glen, who really helped her as a young actress on Game of Thrones (2011). She has also said that she's not often recognized in public without the extremely long platinum blonde wig she wears on Game of Thrones (2011).

After her own battle with brain aneurysms, Emilia founded a charity called SameYou which aims to broaden access to a medical process for young people suffering from brain disease. On September 26, 2019, she also co-hosted a YouTube live stream with Irish YouTuber Seán McLoughlin that raises over $200,000 for the organisation.

She and her mother, Jennifer Clarke, were awarded the MBEs (Members of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2024 King's New Years Honours List for services to people with brain injuries. She is an actress in London, England. She and her mother, Jennifer Clarke, are Co-Founders and Trustees of SameYou.

In September 2020, Clarke joined Dame Emma Thompson, Robert Lindsay and Sanjeev Bhaskar in a virtual reading of Sir Noël Coward's comedy play "Private Lives". It was announced that all funds raised from the performance would be used as a crisis giant to support those in the theatre industry who were struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2015, the luxury goods company Dior signed Emilia as the face of their Rose des Vents jewellery collection. In 2018, Dolce & Gabbana announced her as the brand ambassador for the fragrance "The Only One". In early 2020, the cosmetic company Clinique publicly announced her as their first global ambassador.