I quit top drama school because it wasn’t much cop
Star ditched London academy after she landed role in Rebus
Karen Gillan has revealed she dropped out of a prestigious acting school because she found it didn’t have a “safe, creative atmosphere” and was “quite judgemental”.
The Hollywood star said she left the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts after only two months.
The 32-year-old, who has starred in hit films Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji, was 18 when she joined the London-based school.
Former pupils include comedian
Russell Brand, supermodel Naomi
Campbell and Kelly Brook.
Karen, from Inverness, quit after being cast in an episode of TV drama Rebus and said she felt she learned more during a one-year acting course at Edinburgh
College.
Karen said: “When
I first left college, I went to drama school in London but lasted about two months and then dropped out.
“It was funny. I didn’t value that education as much as I did that education from my college lecturer.
“It was good education but it didn’t feel like a safe, creative atmosphere where I could really express myself. It felt quite judgemental so that didn’t feel good.
“Also, I’d booked a job in Scotland on a detective drama called Rebus, which was only eight days of filming, and I was like, ‘I’ve made it, I’m going to leave’. eave .
“So I did that and then I was not working as an actress and I was working in a pub in
London. I remember thinking, ‘I need to figuree this out now’. That’s whenn you need to get creative..
“I remember nott knowing what to do andd
I emailed the director off
Rebus on the off-chance he would even remember me and help in some way.
“That’s how I then got an agent and was able to audition for things.”
Karen landed the part of Amy Pond in Doctor
Who, alongside Matt Smith, in 2010. But she said she found the audition “truly terrifying”.
Karen added: “One day my agent told me, ‘ You’ve got an audition for Doctor Who’. I was like, ‘ Wow, that’s insane – that’s one of the game-changer ones’.
“I was like, ‘It’s never going to happen but I’ll go for it anyway’
“It was truly terrifying. It was such a small room and they were all sitting in a semi- circle and then there was me just reading. I had full palm sweats before it but it went well in the moment. Then I found out that night I’d got it, which is totally crazy.”
Karen has since appeared in a series of blockbuster movies and most recently appeared with Harrison Ford in adventure film Call Of The Wild.
She was speaking during an online question- and- answer session with students from Edinburgh College, where she is now a patron.
The Sunday Mail contacted the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts for comment. It did not respond.
I quit drama school and ended up working in a pub in London