Game Of Thrones Star Gwendoline Christie's Movie Debut Was In A Tragic Fantasy Epic

Gwendoline Christie is, of course, best known to audiences for her portrayal of Brienne of Tarth on HBO's "Game of Thrones." The actor rose to prominence on the HBO fantasy series, where her impressive 6 '3” stature allowed her to embody the powerful and imposing Brienne introduced in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" books, on which the show was based. Brienne was the heir to House Tarth and a warrior who aspired to knighthood, despite that honor being denied to the women of Westeros. Over the course of the series, she formed a close bond with her one-time prisoner Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who would go on to fulfill Brienne's wish and eventually knight her, making her the first female knight in the Seven Kingdoms.

Naturally, "Game of Thrones" put Christie on the radar of many fantasy fans — and, apparently, many casting directors as well. In 2015, she joined the "Star Wars" franchise when she appeared as Captain Phasma, the leader of the First Order's stormtroopers, in "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens." She would go on to reprise the role of Phasma in 2017's "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi," as well as in the animated series "Star Wars Resistance." Since then, Christie has also played Larissa Weems in Netflix's "Wednesday" (a character whose sense of style was directly inspired by the lead in an Alfred Hitchcock classic) and Lucifer in "The Sandman." Interestingly, that was actually her second time playing Lucifer, having previously portrayed the fallen angel in a 2010 stage production of Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus."

Before Christie landed any of these roles, though, she made her big screen debut in a fantasy film marred by tragedy both on- and off-screen: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

Gwendoline Christie's first ever film role was in a short titled "The Time Surgeon" in 2007. However, her first mainstream appearance in a movie or TV show came in 2009's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." Directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, the film is notable for featuring Heath Ledger's last ever movie appearance. The actor tragically passed away after beginning work on the film, with a few scenes left to shoot. In those scenes, which saw his character of Tony traveling through a dream world, it was decided the character's appearance would change as a result of the dream reality. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell — all friends of Ledger — were cast to play the role in those sequences.

Christie's appearance in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" was only fleeting. She showed up as one of several shoppers persuaded by Tony into trying out the fantastical Imaginarium, which transports people into imagined worlds where they must choose between hard-won enlightenment or blissful ignorance. Christie's character was unnamed, one of a crowd of women who were convinced to try the Imaginarium by Ledger's smooth-talking Tony.

Despite only having a minor role in the movie, Christie was subsequently cast in "Game of Thrones" after giving what was clearly an impressive audition. Indeed, prior to trying out for the fantasy series, Christie had started wearing more stereotypically masculine clothing and building muscle, all to get into the mindset of Brienne of Tarth.