<P> Emilia Isabelle Euphemia Rose Clarke was born in London on 23 October 1986, and grew up in Berkshire . Her father (died 10 July 2016) was a theatre sound engineer from Wolverhampton, West Midlands . Her mother, Jennifer Clarke, is the director of the charity The Anima Foundation . She has an older brother . Clarke's interest in acting began at the age of three after seeing the musical Show Boat, on which her father was working . She was educated at Rye St Antony School and at St Edward's School, Oxford, graduating in 2005 . She attended Drama Centre London, and graduated in 2009 . </P> <P> Clarke's early work includes two plays at St. Edwards, ten plays at Drama Centre London, the 2009 Company of Angels production of Sense, and two 2009 commercials for Samaritans . One of her first film roles was for a University of London students' short film . Her first television roles were Saskia Mayer in a 2009 episode of the British soap opera Doctors and Savannah in Syfy's 2010 film Triassic Attack . Screen International magazine named her as one of the "UK Stars of Tomorrow". </P> <P> In 2010 Clarke was cast as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin . She was cast after fellow British actress Tamzin Merchant was replaced for undisclosed reasons . In an interview, Clarke stated that she did the funky chicken and robot dance during her audition . The show debuted in April 2011 to positive reviews and was quickly picked up by the network for a second season . Clarke won the 2011 EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role as Daenerys . In 2013, Clarke was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards . She was nominated again in the category in 2015 and 2016 . </P> <P> Clarke has received widespread praise for her performance . Her acting, as she closed Daenerys's arc initiated in the first episode from a frightened girl to an empowered woman, was praised . Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe called her scenes "mesmerizing", adding that "Clarke doesn't have a lot of emotional variety to work with as Daenerys, aside from fierce determination, and yet she is riveting ." Todd VanDerWerff for The A.V. Club commented on the difficulty of adapting such an evolution from page to screen, but concluded that "Clarke (...) more than seal (s) the deal here . In 2017, Clarke reportedly became one of the highest paid actors on television, earning £ 2 million per episode of Game of Thrones . </P>

Who plays daenerys in the game of thrones