Today's Birthday 23/10
Today's Birthday, October 23: English actress Emilia Clarke ( 1986 - )
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has chosen a personal and permanent way to remind herself of the TV series that launched her career.
The English actress revealed on Instagram a new tattoo on her wrist featuring three dragons to mark her years playing the part of Daenerys Targaryen.
Next year her time as a Targaryen will come to an end in a role she told Rolling Stone "saved my ass in so many ways - propelled my ass, really".
Clarke was born in London in 1986 and grew up in Berkshire in southeast England.
She was just three when she was drawn to the sparkle of the stage after seeing musical Show Boat, which her father was working on as a sound engineer.
Following school she applied for multiple acting institutions, which rejected her. She later got into the Drama Centre London due to a girl breaking her leg.
Clarke scored some early TV work in Britain and was cast in 2010 film Triassic Attack before Game of Thrones came calling the same year.
She has also starred in action movies Solo: A Star Wars Story as Qi'ra and Terminator Genisys as Sarah Connor.
Outside of her serious roles, Clarke is known for her humour.
"She's goofy," Game of Thrones creators DB Weiss and David Benioff told Vanity Fair.
"We have tried to let some of Emilia's humour and light seep into Daenerys whenever possible. Who says conquerors can't be funny?"
Clarke also appeared on Broadway as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's in 2013, and in romantic drama Me Before You in 2016.
She is a strong advocate for equality in the entertainment industry and has negotiated her pay to be the same as her male co-stars. She is an active member of Time's Up, a movement founded by Hollywood celebrities to fight sexual harassment, and she wants to work with as many female filmmakers as she can.
The death of her father to cancer hit Clarke hard in 2016.
She was filming in America when things turned for the worse but by the time she arrived in London he had gone.
"I definitely think I'm still in varying degrees of shock," she told Rolling Stone.
