Gemma Whelan

Gemma Elizabeth Whelan was born in Leeds in 1981 and grew up in the Midlands. She attended The King's High School for Girls in Warwick and the London Studio Centre. She was hospitalised for anorexia nervosa as a teenager. She regards her recovery from the illness as her greatest achievement, and says that the experience has shaped her personality and how she approaches things. As a stand-up comedian, Whelan won the 2010 Funny Women Variety Award. She performed at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe with her show Chastity Butterworth & The Spanish Hamster. In 2014, she recorded a pilot chat show as her character Chastity Butterworth for BBC Radio 4, which was in development in October 2015. She also featured in other shows as this character. On screen, she has played supporting roles in several films and TV shows, including in the 2010 films Gulliver's Travels and The Wolfman. She played Kate (appearing in all 18 main episodes, as well as three Christmas specials) in Ben Elton's BBC Two comedy Upstart Crow, and was a series regular on The End of the F***ing World. She also played roles in other comedies, including Uncle and The Agency. In August 2011, she was cast as Yara Greyjoy, elder sister of Theon, of House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, in the HBO fantasy-drama television series Game of Thrones, and appeared as a recurring cast member from the second season onward. In 2017, she portrayed Karen Matthews in the two-part TV drama The Moorside, based on the 2008 disappearance of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews. In 2019, she appeared as Marian Lister in the BBC drama Gentleman Jack. In February 2020, a stage adaptation of Upstart Crow opened at the Gielgud Theatre, London, Whelan reprising the role of Kate. Whelan returned to the West End stage as Kate when the play was revived at the Apollo Theatre in 2022. Whelan appears as DCI Kerry Henderson in the police drama series, DI Ray, written by Maya Sondhi and produced by Jed Mercurio, as superior officer to DI Ray, played by Parminder Nagra. Her role extends from the first series in 2022 to series 2 in 2024.