Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke
In Game of Thrones, Clarke dons a long platinum wig that gives her an otherworldly look, which is perfect since she portrays Khaleesi, the Mother of Dragons (yes, you can interpret that literally). Currently playing Holly Golightly on Broadway'sBreakfast at Tiffany's, she's back to her brunette roots and thinking of other future wig-free roles in her favorite shows. "I'd give my right arm to be, like, a random extra on Girls.... Or, like, a meth head onBreaking Bad," she told GQ.
Peter Dinklage
As Tyrion Lannister, Dinklage outwits and outsmarts anyone in his path on the hit HBO fantasy. But Tyrion saves much of his disdain for his royal family -- particularly sister Cersei. Off-screen, though, according to Entertainment Weekly, Dinklage and Lena Headley, who plays Cersei, share a strong bond that belies their on-screen rivalry.
Lena Headey
As Cersei Lannister, the ruthless queen who's lost control of her even more ruthless, sadistic boy-king son and who is in love with her twin brother (and not just in an Angelina Jolie way), Headey is at once terrifying and terrifyingly relatable. She's that good. She told Us Weekly, at The Academy of Televison Arts & Sciences Presents -- An Evening With Game of Thrones, that fans generally tell her, "'You're a real f---ing bitch.' And I take that as a compliment."
Kit Harington
Jon Snow, the bastard brother of the Stark clan, spent all of season 2 in the frigid hinterlands defending The Wall. Which means that Harington, the breakout actor who plays him, had to shoot in, well, frigid places -- like Iceland. "It's a big show over there. So all the background artists are keen to be [on it]. They grew their beards for months so they could be part of the Wall crew," he told Us Weekly at The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' An Evening With Game of Thrones.
Maisie Williams
As Arya Stark, Williams gives her tomboy character charm, moxie and, as Entertainment Weekly calls it, "a devastating dead stare." How does she do it? "I'm really good at convincing myself somebody's killed my dad and sometimes I get myself really annoyed," she revealed.
Richard Madden
As Robb Stark, Madden wages bloody war (successfully) even as he falls in love with a field medic with pacifist leanings. He's also a proud Stark, fiercely loyal to his family, yet he imprisons his beloved mother for defying him. Despite his character's inner conflicts, Madden isn't at all conflicted about Robb Stark's ability to lead. "There's no one else that can do it better than he can," he told E!
Sophie Turner
Turner plays Sansa Stark, who's betrothed to the cruel boy-king Joffrey. For the entirety of season 2, she had to endure his verbal lashings and the constant threat of violence. Not much fun -- but the actress did manage to find joy on the set: She adopted Zunni, the dog who played direwolf Lady. "I want to paint her nails, but my mom said that's animal cruelty," she told Us Weekly at the show's season 3 premiere.
Michelle Fairley
Nearly every character on Game of Thrones has sex -- and lots of it -- but not the protective mother bear of the Stark clan, Catelyn Stark. Fairley, who plays her with grace and gumption, told Digital Spy, "I got a no-nudity clause so I always get to keep my clothes on.... I'd like to play Tyrion [Peter Dinklage] because he gets lots of sex and my character doesn't."
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
A person doesn't get much more messed in the head than Jaime Lannister, the blood-thirsty, incestuous twin brother of Cersei. Which is why it's astonishing that the actor who portrays him so convincingly is actually a well-rounded, balanced, normal dude. The actor is a father of two who enjoys downward dogging with his yoga enthusiast wife and cyclo-cross biking during his downtime.
Gwendoline Christie
Two sentences Christie must hear all the time. "You're so tall!" and "You're so much prettier in real life!" The 6-foot-3 actress, who plays the sword-wielding woman warrior Brienne of Tarth, told Digital Spy that her agent had reservations about her taking the unattractive, manly role. But Christie herself had no such hesitations. Having been bullied for her height when she was a teen, she hoped the role would "challenge some prejudices."
Rose Leslie
She's a Wildling, a savage who lives in an unforgiving and bitter-cold landscape far away from civilization. In real life, Leslie is a Scottish actress with a degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. About the only thing she has in common with her character is her fondness for Jon Snow (Kit Harington). "Kit is a very good friend of mine and we got on well," she told The Huffington Post. "The fact that we are friends off-set really does help with our characters on-screen."
Carice van Houten
Van Houten will forever be remembered for this scene: As the mysterious pregnant priestess Melisandre, she lies down on the floor of a cave, completely nude, and proceeds to push out a "baby" of smoke and shadows. It's hard to imagine anyone else in the role, but it turns out that the Dutch actress had to be convinced of the show's merits. "I called my friend Seth Meyres [of SNL]," she told The Los Angeles Times. "I asked him, 'What is this? Is it good?' He said, 'Are you crazy? Say yes!'"
Isaac Hempstead
As young Bran Stark, Hempstead barely cracks a smile. Why would he? He's paralyzed, his dad's head was put on a stake, his mom left home to avenge his death. Thankfully, the teenage actor doesn't seem to let his dark storyline phase him. "I love both Simpsons and Spongebob.... Spongebob never fails to cheer me up if I'm ever sad," he told Zap2it.
Natalia Tena
It may seem impossible that a Wildling would be maternal and loving, but according to Tena, who plays Osha, the unlikely protector of the two younger Starks, Bran and Rickon, it's not a stretch. "If you read the books, they say that the Wildlings are very, very, very close to their children.... So I think that's what's happening. She loves these kids a lot, which is interesting. She tries to kill them at the beginning," she told Zap2it.
Sibel Kekilli
When Tyrion asks Shae, the sexy, dark-haired prostitute where her accent hails from, she replies, "Foreign." Turns out Kekilli, who plays the whore with a heart of a gold, is German-born with Turkish roots.
