Karen Gillan has found the good life since moving to the US – by growing her own veg.
The Avengers and Jumanji actress, from Inverness, said her busy schedule gives her little time for hobbies but she has found a new passion for gardening in Los Angeles.
She’s now looking forward to tucking into the fruits of her labour and enjoying her own homegrown vegetables.
Karen, 33, said: “I don’t have hobbies outside of acting – because this is my hobby. I love it. But I’ve recently gotten into gardening.
“I’ve been growing all sorts of herbs and carrots. I don’t know if that’s going to work but I’ll let you know.”
Film-maker Karen, who stars in new action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake with Games of Thrones’ Lena Headey, said her earliest memory of performing dates back to recording herself singing as a young child.
She said: “I remember my dad giving me a karaoke machine – one of these things where you could sing through them but you could also record on to tape.
“That was my first introduction to this idea of recording something and then being able to listen to it back and it’s there forever.
“I remember becoming so obsessed with this – it was unreal.
“I had these little diaries from when I was a kid and every day I wrote, ‘Record, record, record…’ I don’t know what I was recording. I was just talking into the microphone and recording myself talking gibberish. So, that, combined with my dad’s massive interest in music, introduced me to the world of performance.
“Then I graduated from a karaoke machine recorder to a video camera. My parents got me a second-hand video camera for my birthday and that was my new prized possession. I’d make horror films around my house.
“That’s when the obsession began. So it makes sense I’m now working in an industry where I mainly do that.”
Karen’s big break came when she was 21 and cast as Doctor Who’s companion Amy Pond, opposite Matt Smith.
She told Foxes magazine: “It’s one of those life-changing, instant things. Like, you go to sleep one night and wake up in this role and it just changes everything.”
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