Emilia Clarke was born in London, and grew up in Berkshire. Her father is a theatre sound engineer. She has a younger brother. Clarke's interest in acting began at the age of three after seeing the musical Show Boat on which her father was working. She was educated at Rye St Antony School and at St Edward's School, Oxford. She attended Drama Centre London, and graduated in 2009. Clarke's early work includes two plays at St. Edwards, ten plays at Drama Centre London, the 2009 Company of Angels production of Sense, and two 2009 commercials for Samaritans.
One of her first film roles was for a University of London students' short film, among her first television roles was "Savannah" in Syfy's 2010 film Triassic Attack. In 2012, Clarke appeared in Spike Island, a film named after the location of The Stone Roses's seminal 1990 gig. From March to April 2013, Clarke played "Holly Golightly" in a Broadway production of Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 2013, she also starred in Dom Hemingway. In May 2014 she joined the feature film Garden of Last Days alongside James Franco, but the movie was scrapped two weeks before production was due to begin. She played "Sarah Connor" in 2015's Terminator Genisys. She also stars in the movie adaption of the best selling book, Me Before You (2016).
