Part of Game of Thrones featuring Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Sophie Turner.
Rise to Fame
A casting agent spotted her in a school play at 17 and that was the entire plan. No drama school, no audition circuit. She bounced through British TV and Disney films before 300 put her on billboards in 2007. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles drew 18 million viewers at its premiere. Still, neither prepared her for Cersei. Peter Dinklage recommended her to the Game of Thrones producers, and she reportedly filmed the first season while pregnant, her bump hidden under costumes and carefully blocked camera angles.
In the Spotlight
Beacon 23, reportedly her first lead role after GoT ended, got cancelled by MGM+ after two seasons, with Season 2 deliberately cutting her screen time (a decision audiences loudly hated). She's kept moving: The Abandons, a Netflix western from the Sons of Anarchy creator, dropped in December 2025, and she's filming a Charlie Brooker four-part crime thriller. She's also directing, with short films and music videos already done and a feature in development. Post-GoT Headey is busy. Whether any of it sticks is another question.
Side Notes
In 2017, she publicly accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, describing two separate incidents and saying she wondered if refusing him 'maybe...impacted a decade of my working life.' The Miramax era in question was exactly the decade before Game of Thrones. She also spent part of her GoT peak claiming less than $5 in her bank account during divorce proceedings, while her ex's lawyers argued she earned over $1 million per episode. She has 16+ tattoos, including one of an ex-boyfriend's name in Thai that she's been covering since 2003.