Over the past five seasons of Game of Thrones, we've come to know Emilia Clarke by her ferocious ambition, her flame-breathing dragon babies, and her many colorful names: Daenerys Targaryen, Khaleesi of the Dothraki, Mother of Dragons. A portrait of unstoppable womanly power, Khaleesi can pivot from deep maternal sweetness to enemy-obliterating fieriness in seconds. She's like the Beyonce of the Seven Kingdoms. (In fact, Jay Z reportedly bought a dragon egg from the GoT set for Bey.) The show has become a cultural behemoth, with Clarke at its center. Fans name their babies Khaleesi, buy "Obey Khaleesi" T-shirts, and create Khaleesi memes by superimposing sunglasses on pictures of her or adding captions like "Queen of Badassness." Which amuses and gratifies Clarke—in part, she says, because she feigns that badass aura for cameras. "I've spent a lot of time trying to be like, 'I can handle anything,'" she says, "but the core of me is mush."
That vulnerability has been with Clarke since she was a girl in England's countryside. The daughter of a business-executive mom and sound-designer dad, she did theater and never quite fit in with the popular kids; at home, her parents and brother were a captive audience. She found her footing at the Drama Centre, a London acting conservatory. After graduating, she booked all of two jobs—a soap and a TV movie—before landing GoT. During her audition, among more role-appropriate behavior, she did the funky chicken (and gave showrunners a glimpse of her goofball streak).
Today, at 29, Clarke says she has a good thing going: She's got GoT's sixth season airing now, and next month she stars in Me Before You, the film adaptation of the best-selling tear-jerking novel. As Louisa, a small-town Englishwoman with a head full of neuroses and unrealized dreams, she takes a job caring for a depressive, recently paralyzed hunk (The Hunger Games' Sam Claflin). The character, she says, comes closer to her true self than any other she's played. Turns out she doesn't have Khaleesi's fireproof skin, and that's a good thing. Over coffee in Venice, California, she talked about growing out of her insecurities, and the highs and lows of playing the most powerful woman—no, human—on TV.
Read Jonah Weiner's interview with Clarke below and see more from her cover shoot here. For more, pick up the May issue of Glamour on newsstands, subscribe now, or download the digital edition.
GLAMOUR: What kind of kid were you?
EMILIA CLARKE: I was the drama kid. I wanted to be in the popular crowd, desperately, and I never was. I was hanging on to their coattails like, "Be my friend!"
GLAMOUR: Your mother is a vice president at a management consultancy. What did you learn from her?
EC: My dad worked away a lot, on tour, so my mom would pick my brother and me up from school. She'd be on a conference call on loudspeaker while hanging out with us, so I'd be listening and saying things like, "I don't think John knows what he's talking about." I absorbed a business mentality. In terms of feminist issues, my mom never told me, like, "It's gonna be tough. You've got boobs." But I saw that there was no difference between my mom and my dad in terms of what they were capable of because of their genders.
GLAMOUR: You went to acting school. Can great acting be taught?
EC: They taught me to invest myself, feel vulnerable, commit to a character. But it was an uphill struggle. I never got cast as Juliet. There were some rarefied beauties my year; they were blond, knew Shakespeare, had all the right things. With me, they'd be like, "Can you play the Jewish grandmother?" "Uh-huh! Sure!"
GLAMOUR: You've joked that after you told your dad you wanted to become an actress, he said the only line you'd ever need to learn would be "Do you want fries with that?"
EC: He gets so upset with me [for joking about that]: "Milly, stop saying that I've said these terrible things."
GLAMOUR: But there is an element of genuine worry in that: Jesus, that's a tough job.
EC: If I had kids and they asked, Do you want [me] to be an actor? I would say, If there's anything else that you can imagine doing, do that—'cause there's so much heartache and failure and sh-ttiness that doesn't get on the front of the magazine.
GLAMOUR: Before you landed Game of Thrones, you worked as a telemarketer to make your rent. Were you good at it?
EC: I was upselling for charities: "Thank you for giving five pounds a month; have you considered giving six-pounds-fifty?" Soul-destroying. People responded by saying things like, "You evil person. I've just lost someone close to me." I did four shifts and walked out.
GLAMOUR: Let's talk about GoT. One report said women are 40 percent of the audience. That female viewership might be surprising, given our attitudes about who's typically into watching fantasy.
EC: I love that so many women watch the show. If you look at Game of Thrones on face value—blood, tits, dragons, swearwords—you're like, Oh, this must be for guys. But if you take that away, the story lines are fascinating depictions of the struggle for power. And women are in on that conversation!
GLAMOUR: Khaleesi has become shorthand for an annihilating female strength. Can you pinpoint when she permeated culture?
EC: I'm gonna be on my deathbed and still never quite realize that.
GLAMOUR: What's it like day to day to encounter the show's fans?
EC: This gorgeous girl once said to me, "Watching Khaleesi makes me feel like I can be a strong woman." I remember being like, "That's proper." That is a wonderful thing. Then there are times with certain dudes where I'm like, "You've seen my tits. OK, sure, you can have a selfie." Awkward!
GLAMOUR: You've spent much of your twenties playing Khaleesi. Are there ways you've realized your own power while playing her?
EC: Within the space of time between them saying "You've got the part of Khaleesi" and now, I lost my power. I found it. I lost it. I found it. As a woman—no, as a young adult you spend your twenties figuring out who you are and what you want to do; it's a scary time. There are days when I feel like the less strong version of myself.
GLAMOUR: How do those days impact filming? Can you act supremely confident without being supremely confident yourself?
EC: For sure. I know I'm gonna put the f--king wig on and go out there and let her refulfill me.
GLAMOUR: Do you ever borrow from Khaleesi in real life? During a contract negotiation? In romantic relationships?
EC: Like, "I'm gonna throw some Khaleesi down on this situation"? My God. No. I think I can safely say that Khaleesi has never come out in my relationships. I don't think. Possibly. There might have been moments when I've had to pull her out at the last minute! However, if I feel like something is really unjust, I wouldn't turn on Khaleesi. I'd turn on my other alter ego, Cali from the Valley.
GLAMOUR: Wait, really? When would Cali pop out?
EC: Say, if I'm in a shopping market, and a woman with three kids is fumbling with her change, and the dude behind her is trying to hustle her along. I'd bring out Cali [in Valley Girl uptalk]: "Excuse me, sir?" The accent puts me in that head zone to lay it down.
GLAMOUR: You mentioned the nudity on Game of Thrones, and I want to talk about that, specifically the asymmetry between—
__EC:__My breasts? I think they're pretty even.
GLAMOUR: Ha! I was going to say the asymmetry in female to male nudity. How come, in a show full of women's breasts, butts, even the occasional vagina, we never saw your husband Khal Drogo's dong?
EC: Oh, I did. I saw his member, but it was covered in a pink fluffy sock. Showing it would make people feel bad. It's too fabulous. No, I don't know why. But I'd like to bring your memory back to Mr. Michiel Huisman [Khaleesi's love interest in seasons four and five] and I copulating for the first time, which began with me saying, "Take off your clothes," and then you got to see his perfect bottom.
GLAMOUR: Another criticism that's been pointed at the show concerns its depictions of rape. Khaleesi—
EC: —was raped in season one.
GLAMOUR: By her husband. A lot of people came away from that arc with the unsettling impression that almost immediately after the rape she falls in love with and dedicates herself to her rapist.
EC: Yes. Well, Daenerys and Khal Drogo's arranged marriage, and the customary rape that followed—ask George R.R. Martin why he did that, 'cause that's on him. But I thought the consensual sex she has thereafter was genius. She is physically saying, "You can't rape me again. I'm going to be in control and show you something you've never seen before." At the heart of it, we're telling a story; you need that part of the story to feel empathy for Daenerys. You see her attacked by her brother, raped by her husband, and then going, "F--k all of you, I'm gonna rule the world." That's where we are now.
GLAMOUR: Let's talk about your broader acting career. Do you approach it in a systematized way? Do you have a list of goals?
EC: No. But I have a [motto] that a friend of mine perfectly put into words for me: "Take the meeting." He asked you out? Take the meeting. They want you to do this job? Take the meeting.
GLAMOUR: Is there a role you wanted that went to someone else?
EC: [The robot] in Ex Machina. I mean, Alicia Vikander is brilliant in it. Looking at the performance now, I was so wrong for it. Aside from Daenerys, I've never wanted a role as much as Louisa—
GLAMOUR: The character you play in Me Before You. She's very different from Khaleesi. The movie is kind of like Cinderella, except Prince Charming is a paraplegic with a death wish.
EC: That's going to go on the back of the DVD.
GLAMOUR: Louisa's very meek; she has wit and drive, but it takes time for those traits to bust out. Did that aspect of the character interest you?
EC: Oh yeah, I was obsessed with My Fair Lady growing up. As an actor, you want to be able to show a character's growth. It's fulfilling. And I'm very close to Lou as a person. At school I was uncertain and unsure. So there was a sincerity that I was so desperate to play, because with Daenerys I've spent a career putting armor on.
GLAMOUR: You bring something winningly comic to Louisa. You seem to like humor; you quote from Anchorman on Instagram—
EC: My sense of humor comes from having an older brother and growing up in a very liberal household.
GLAMOUR: Are you actively going out for comedies right now?
EC: I'm writing one with my friend Lola; it's in the world of Clueless.
GLAMOUR: Speaking of funny people, Kristen Wiig parodied Khaleesi on The Tonight Show last spring. That's got to be an honor.
EC: Absolutely. I bow at the altar of Kristen Wiig. I'm like, "Who's making fun of me? The funniest person in Hollywood? Good!"
GLAMOUR: You also dated Seth MacFarlane. Any pros and cons of dating someone who's in the public eye versus someone who's not?
EC: Well, a con is you have strangers giving you love-life advice like, "I'm a big fan of the show, and I'm not sure what you're doing with that guy," which I didn't react well to. That happened in New York when Seth and I were together. This guy started to give me advice: "Can I get a selfie? And by the way…" Unh-unh, bro.
GLAMOUR: That's a con for sure. Are you dating someone now?
EC: No. I'm just chilling. I've got a good thing going.
GLAMOUR: You know you have the same tattoo artist as Drake.
EC: Amazing! He gave me a bumblebee [on my pinkie finger]. Up next is a dragon—obviously a metaphorical dragon, a single-line drawing or something. I'm not getting a cartoon dragon on my tits!
GLAMOUR: Khaleesi's got her dragons. Who do you rely on most?
EC: My family. My drama school friends—some of them aren't acting anymore. The gorgeous thing about having friends who aren't in the entertainment world is they're like, "You're letting important moments pass you by. Don't be cool about it." Like, we're at a Hollywood party, whatever. Stop. Appreciate this.
GLAMOUR: If you were writing some Game of Thrones fan fiction, what story line would you like to see unfold?
EC: I want to see Daenerys and her three dragons share the throne. Eat goat they've barbecued. And bring back all the pretty boys, get them to take their trousers down, and be like, "I'm now the queen of everything! I'd like close-ups of all the boys' penises, please."
For more, pick up the May issue of Glamour on newsstands, subscribe now, or download the digital edition.
