Gemma Chan

Chan made her professional debut in Horror Channel's 2006 miniseries When Evil Calls.[10][11] She was a competitor on the first series of the reality series Project Catwalk.[12] Chan appeared in the autumn 2009 special of the BBC's Doctor Who, titled "The Waters of Mars", playing geologist Mia Bennett.[13] The episode later won a Hugo Award.[14][15] In the same year, Chan starred in Exam (2009) which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to mixed reviews.[16] [17] The following year, Chan appeared in Channel 4's The IT Crowd and BBC's Sherlock.[18][19] Chan's next releases, Pimp, (2010) and Shanghai (2010), were panned by critics, while Submarine premiered at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. [20][21]

Chan was cast as a series regular in the final series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, as the rival of Billie Piper's character.[22] The series aired on ITV2 in 2011.[23] Later that year, she appeared in Channel 4's Fresh Meat.[24]

Chan at the 2013 BAFTA Awards

In 2010, she appeared in the World War II drama film Shanghai and the 2011 comedy-drama Submarine. A supporter of human rights, she has made a film for Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[9] In 2012, Chan was a regular in series two of Sky Living's supernatural drama Bedlam[25] and in True Love, a five-part semi-improvised television series produced by Working Title for BBC One,[26] In November 2013, Chan performed in the world premiere of Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Wertenbaker chose her to play the war goddess Athena after she saw her performance in Yellow Face.[27]

Also in 2013, she starred in BBC One crime drama Shetland[28] and guest starred in the BBC's Death in Paradise. She was a cast member of Channel 4 romantic drama Dates.[29]

On 6 August 2013, Chan appeared as a guest on the "Cultural Exchange" feature of the BBC Radio 4 series Front Row, where she nominated the film The Princess Bride as a film she loves.[30]

She appeared in the action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.[31] The Double, and London Fields. Chan starred in Belles familles, by French director and screenwriter Jean-Paul Rappeneau, which premiered in 2015.[32] She also featured in the 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.[33]

Chan made her professional stage debut in the British premiere of Bertolt Brecht's last play, Turandot, at the Hampstead Theatre, London, directed by Anthony Clark. In November 2012, she performed in The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, a play by Anders Lustgarten at the Finborough Theatre. In June 2013, she performed in the UK premiere of Yellow Face by American playwright David Henry Hwang at The Park Theatre, London, directed by Alex Sims. It was revived in 2014 at the Royal National Theatre with the original London cast returning.[34]

Chan with promoting Crazy Rich Asians (2019)

Chan played the anthropomorphic robot Anita/Mia in Humans, an AMC/Channel 4 science-fiction drama, from 2015 to 2018.[35]

In July 2016, Chan provided the voice for the character of Dewdrop in BBC One's animated miniseries Watership Down.

In 2018, Chan co-starred as Astrid Leong-Teo in the film Crazy Rich Asians.[36] She first heard about the novel Crazy Rich Asians from a text from her sister, read it on holiday, and "fell in love with Astrid".[37] On 29 April 2019, CNBC reported that Chan is to reprise her role as Astrid in the back-to-back filming of two sequels to Crazy Rich Asians set for filming in 2020.[38] She also featured in the short film titled Leading Lady Parts in support of the Time's Up movement.[39]

In August 2019, she joined the cast of Marvel Studios' Eternals, which is set to be released in November 5, 2021. This is her second role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after previously appearing as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel.[40]

In 2020, Chan appeared in Steven Soderbergh's comedy Let Them All Talk which premiered on HBO Max. The film starred Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest, with Chan playing most of her scenes opposite Lucas Hedges.