Happy Birthday: Emilia Clarke

Born: October 23, 1986 in London, England, UK

[on her Game of Thrones (2011) character] I felt for Daenerys. I felt for her situation as a woman. Being in such a male-dominated society, where she was being abused by the men around her–it was that sort of sympathy, I suppose it started off as that. But then as you track her story, the problems that she overcomes and the way that she deals with them with such grace and the way that she deals with them when she has no training. The only thing that she has is herself and her iron will–that’s just a fabulous, incredible side to her character, really. And the fact that you watch her fall in love. You know, she meets the man that she loves more than anything else. She goes through painful events but she is still this strong, independent woman. And I think that, as a female, is what I really connected with.