If you've been watching House of The Dragon on HBO, you have seen Emma D'Arcy play Rhaenyra Targaryen in the episode 6 time jump.
D'Arcy stars in the Game of Thrones prequel as Rhaenyra Targaryen, daughter of King Viserys and heir to the Iron Throne. Rhaenyra has been compared to Daenerys Targaryen due to her fierce spirit and strong mind.
The princess was played by Milly Alcock in the opening episodes. In the sixth episode, entitled 'The Princess and the Queen', the fantasy show picks up after a time skip and shows Rhaenyra as a married woman and the mother of three sons.
So, who is the new star of the show, Emma D'Arcy?
8 Emma D'Arcy Is A Non-Binary British Actor
Emma D’Arcy is a 30-year-old English actor who was born in London. They attended Oxford University and studied fine art at the Ruskin School of Art. They identify as non-binary and use the pronouns they/them.
“It’s complicated! In terms of queerness, the only good reason for being out as a non-binary person, publicly and professionally, is that I hope it will let younger people who may feel similar know that there is room in this industry for them," they told The Independent. "Because there was definitely a point where I thought, ‘Oh no, this is not going to work. I definitely need to have long hair and make-up to do this job.’ And that’s just not true.”
7 What Has Emma D'Arcy Been In Before?
Before starring in House of the Dragon as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Emma D'Arcy had a number of roles in TV shows
They starred opposite Nick Frost in the Amazon Prime Video comedy horror series Truth Seekers, which was canceled after one season, alongside Toni Collette in the Netflix show Wanderlust, and the second season of the Amazon Prime Video drama series Hanna.
They also starred in the films Misbehaviour and Mothering Sunday.
6 Emma D'Arcy Was Nearly An Artist
Emma was nearly an artist, meaning we nearly didn't see their fantastic performance in the hit HBO show.
“I probably decided to be an actor twice,” they recall. The first time was when they played Titania in a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at school in Cheltenham. “I was this tiny 11-year-old full of adrenaline, running around the football pitch, just high on the drug of the thing.” The second time, when the decision really stuck, was after art school.
“When I was there [at the Ruskin School of Art, part of Oxford University], I started making bits of theatre. Initially I was doing quite a lot of set design. And then some acting and set design, and then some directing, some acting, and some set design,” laughs D’Arcy, who still knows their way around a toolbelt.
It was the idea of working along in the art studio that made them decide to pursue acting. “Realities are what we make them, but commonly, once you leave art school, you spend a lot of time in a studio on your own, and I could see how badly that would go for me. I found that in theatre, I could explore similar stuff, but that there would have to be other people around.”
5 Did Emma D'Arcy Watch Game of Thrones?
In an interview with Vogue, Emma D'Arcy revealed that they auditioned for the role without knowing any details about the role, aside from it being in the fantasy genre. “I’m very naive, and the job was untitled," D'Arcy explained. They also revealed that they submitted what they called a "very speedy audition tape," recorded on an iPhone propped up by a bag of chips.
"So I thought it was just another fantasy series." At that point in time, D'Arcy hadn't ever seen Game of Thrones. Although, they believe they wouldn't have been able to cope with the pressure of auditions if they had known the scale of the show and the source material.
4 Is Emma D'Arcy In A Relationship?
When discussing auditioning for House of the Dragon, Emma D'Arcy mentioned that their partner helped them prepare for auditions in a very unique way. They helped D'Arcy get the long Targaryen hair despite having a buzzcut hairstyle.
"All I had were some hair extensions left over from a job. No way of attaching them to me, no idea how to do that,” D’Arcy said.
They haven't publicly identified their partner's identity.
3 Believes House Of The Dragon Character Is Pushing Womanhood
When speaking to an EW reporter, Emma D'Arcy explained about their character's gender, “I think to say she’s gender-questioning would be too extreme because the language doesn’t exist, but I think she is someone who’s pushing at the edges of womanhood and has a really decisive, interrogative eye for how gender affects power, affects how one may occupy space, affects even the right to construct one’s life.”
“Basically,” added Emma D’Arcy, “the interaction or the continued consolidation of male power and patriarchy is probably what really excited me about the script when I first read it.”
2 What Emma D'Arcy Thinks About The House Of Dragon's Time Jump
The first five episodes of House Of The Dragonstarred Milly Alcock as the feisty princess before jumping ahead to an older Rhaenyra. D'Arcy had complicated feelings about appearing so late in the show.
"It's complicated, isn't it?" D'Arcy explained. "It's a difficult point at which to meet an audience. They only get me when they lose Milly, so they meet me in a place of grief, of losing someone they just spent five hours with. I'm... I'm well aware of that."
"I had a nice chat with Matt the other day, and he said it's like the 'Doctor Who' curse. You've got to regenerate," they explained in regards to their co-star Matt Smith, "And yeah, unfortunately, Rhaenyra is going to completely change body and face in a couple of hours."
1 How Emma D'Arcy Feels About Fame
Emma D'Arcy's profile has skyrocketed since being cast in the show. “I don’t love this moment,” they say of the purgatory before the show made it to our screens. “I really liked the bit before the show started airing though, I enjoyed that liminal space.”
“I don’t know if it’s a natural environment for anyone really,” they say, the world of press, red carpets and photoshoots. “But I feel like doing press for House of the Dragon has taught me that, you know, a full mask and armour is the minimum that I require.”
“I guess part of it is that you’re offering up a version of yourself, right? I’m very early in the journey of understanding what it means to have any part of yourself in the public domain, but I feel more comfortable with that being a version of myself that’s two steps to the left. And I really do derive a lot of energy from the transformative power of makeup: it’s literally a mask.”
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