Gwendoline Christie was told she would "probably never" make it as an actress because of the way she looks.
Gwendoline Christie
The 38-year-old actress is most known for her role as Brienne of Tarth in the hit HBO fantasy drama 'Game of Thrones', but the blonde beauty - who stands at an impressively tall 6' 3" - was told when she graduated from The London Drama Centre in 2005 that she'd find work scarce because of her height.
She told Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "I went to a brilliant drama school but was made aware that I would probably never work because I didn't look the same as most actors. I told my agent that I'd love to work on screen, he said, 'Well, good luck with that'."
It isn't the first time the star has opened up about her body either, as she previously credited the hit drama with forcing her to face up to her insecurities.
She said: "I remember when I had my hair cut off, the armour, the mud ... I completely changed the way that I looked. I knew I had to overcome the things that I was uncomfortable with, like my androgyny, my height, my physical strength, feeling like an outsider, being told I was an outsider. It's definitely given me more confidence."
Meanwhile, Gwendoline loves playing strong women on-screen because she never understood why women are portrayed as being secondary to men.
She explained: "Even when I was very young, I didn't understand why the women had to have the boring parts. I didn't understand why the women had to be submissive. They predominantly seemed to be of one type - they were often beautiful, but I didn't understand the relationship between virgin or w***e, mother or sex object."
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