Gemma Chan

Gemma Chan is a British actress and model born on 29 November 1982 at Guy's Hospital in London. Raised in Locksbottom in the London Borough of Bromley, she attended Newstead Wood School for Girls before earning a degree in law from Worcester College, Oxford. Although offered a graduate training contract at the law firm Slaughter and May, she turned it down to train at Drama Centre London and pursue an acting career.

Chan made her professional acting debut in the 2006 miniseries When Evil Calls and appeared on the reality series Project Catwalk. Her early stage debut came in 2008 with Turandot at London's Hampstead Theatre. In 2009, she made her film debut in Exam and guest-starred in the Doctor Who special "The Waters of Mars". During the early 2010s, Chan appeared in television shows such as The IT Crowd, Sherlock, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Fresh Meat, Bedlam, True Love, Shetland, Death in Paradise, and Dates. Her film appearances from this period included Pimp, Shanghai, Submarine, The Double, and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Chan gained widespread recognition for her starring role as the anthropomorphic robot Anita/Mia in the science fiction series Humans from 2015 to 2018. During this decade, she continued performing on stage, appearing in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face, Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Ajax, and a West End revival of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. She also appeared in films such as Belles Familles in 2015 and London Fields in 2018, and lent her voice to the 2018 animated miniseries Watership Down. In 2018, Chan gained international prominence starring as Astrid Leong in the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians and playing Elizabeth Hardwick in Mary Queen of Scots.

In 2019, Chan joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel. She later starred as Sersi in the 2021 Marvel Studios film Eternals. Her subsequent film credits include Steven Soderbergh's Let Them All Talk, Disney's animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, Olivia Wilde's psychological thriller Don't Worry Darling, Gareth Edwards' science fiction film The Creator, and Duke Johnson's feature film The Actor. She also provided voice work for the English dub of The Boy and the Heron and appeared in the series Extrapolations.

Offscreen, Chan is recognized as a fashion icon and has frequently appeared on high-profile red carpets, including the Academy Awards, Met Gala, and Cannes Film Festival. She was featured on the cover of British Vogue in September 2019 and again in 2024. In addition to her creative work, Chan is active in advocacy. She was appointed a celebrity ambassador for UNICEF UK in 2021, has worked with organizations such as Save the Children, Help Refugees UK, and ActionAid, and launched the #StopESEAHate campaign to support victims of East and Southeast Asian hate crimes.