Hannah Arterton

Arterton was born on 26 January 1989 in Gravesend, Kent, England.[2][3] Her mother Sally-Anne (née Heap) is a cleaner and runs a cleaning business and her father Barry J. Arterton is a metal worker welder.[4][5][6] Her parents divorced during her early childhood with Arterton growing up with her older sister Gemma Arterton and mother in a council estate.[4][7][8] She reports being initially drawn to acting at the age of seven after watching a rehearsal of the musical The Wizard of Oz performed by The Miskin Theatre in Dartford. Arterton recalled: "I'd never seen anything like that. I was absolutely blown away... A whole different world just opened up."[5] Her matrilineal great-grandmother was a German-Jewish concert violinist.[9]

Her early education was at the Gravesend Grammar School for Girls.[10] She subsequently studied Performance and Music Technology at North Kent College's Miskin Theatre.[11] While studying there, she provided backing vocals for a skiffle band which resulted in a record deal offer which later collapsed. She commented on the experience: "'Argh, I can't do this. It's too hard to trust people in the music industry. It's full of sharks and guys latching on to a young artist and wanting to make money. I found it all quite scary." A lecturer at The Miskin Theatre subsequently convinced her to apply for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), from which she later graduated in 2011.[5][12] During her final year at RADA, she was cast by Stephen Poliakoff in his play My City.[5] Also while at RADA, Arterton formed a seven-piece covers band The Hitmen and Her for which she is the lead singer.[5]

After performing in the play, My City (2011) with Tracey Ullman and Tom Riley at the Almeida Theatre, Arterton was then cast as Korinna in the BBC television series Atlantis (2013).[5][13]

Her feature film debut was as a woman caught in a love triangle in the romantic musical Walking on Sunshine (2014).[5][14] Her performance received generally positive reviews from critics.[2][15][16] In the same year, she starred in Hide and Seek (2014), a romantic drama about a polyamorous commune which received the Edinburgh International Film Festival's award for Best British Feature Film.[17][18]

In 2016, she played a detective in American crime novelist Harlan Coben's television series The Five.[19] Two years later, Arterton reunited with Coben to play detective Emma Castle in Netflix original series Safe.[20] In the same year, she appeared in two horror films directed by Paul Hyett, The Convent, and Peripheral.

Arterton is in a relationship with Chris Hyson, a musician and composer. They live together in South Norwood, London.[21]

• Hannah Arterton on IMDb