{"id":2593,"date":"2025-10-16T11:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T11:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2025-10-16T11:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T11:16:09","slug":"i-borrowed-20-pounds-and-changed-my-life-emilia-clarke-reveals-she-almost-missed-her-game-of-thrones-audition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=2593","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Borrowed 20 Pounds and Changed My Life\u201d: Emilia Clarke Reveals She Almost Missed Her Game of Thrones Audition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before she was the Mother of Dragons<\/strong>, Emilia Clarke was a broke young actress in London \u2014 juggling side jobs, chasing dreams, and nearly missing the audition that would define her career. In a new interview, Clarke admits that she was \u201ctoo broke to take the train\u201d to her Game of Thrones<\/em> tryout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI borrowed 20 pounds and changed my life,\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cI almost didn\u2019t bother because I couldn\u2019t afford the fare.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A Chance Almost Lost<\/span><\/h3>\n

It was 2009, and Clarke had just graduated from drama school. Between shifts at a call center and late nights working in pubs, she got a call from her agent about a new HBO series based on fantasy novels. \u201cGame of Thrones?<\/em> I thought it sounded like a board game,\u201d she jokes.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Clarke was exhausted \u2014 emotionally and financially. With barely \u00a312 left, the cost of a train ticket felt like a wall between her and her future. \u201cI sat there debating if I should skip it,\u201d she recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

A friend \u2014 another struggling actor \u2014 noticed her hesitation and handed her \u00a320. \u201cHe said, \u2018If you get famous, you can pay me back.\u2019 And I did \u2014 with interest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Audition That Changed Television<\/span><\/h3>\n

Clarke arrived late, nervous, and wearing a borrowed dress. Yet, once she began reading lines as Daenerys Targaryen, something ignited inside her. \u201cI felt her pain, her quiet power,\u201d Clarke remembers. \u201cIt was like I knew her before I met her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came the now-legendary moment. A casting director asked her to \u201clighten the mood.\u201d Clarke\u2019s response? She did the robot dance<\/strong>. \u201cI thought, if I\u2019m going down, I\u2019m going down weird,\u201d she laughs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Days later, she got the call. The role was hers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fire, Fear, and Second Chances<\/span><\/h3>\n

The success that followed came with both triumph and tragedy. Clarke later suffered two brain aneurysms<\/strong> during the show\u2019s production, a struggle she publicly shared in The New Yorker<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything after that felt like borrowed time,\u201d she reflects. \u201cSo I made a promise \u2014 if I\u2019m ever scared again, I\u2019ll do it anyway. Fear gave me Daenerys.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Train That Changed Everything<\/span><\/h3>\n

Today, Clarke\u2019s Daenerys stands as one of the most iconic television characters of all time \u2014 a symbol of power, resilience, and rebirth. Yet it all started with one small act of courage and a borrowed \u00a320.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI almost didn\u2019t take that train,\u201d Clarke says with a grin. \u201cSometimes I think \u2014 maybe the dragons were just waiting for me to get on it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before she was the Mother of Dragons, Emilia Clarke was a broke young actress in London \u2014 juggling side jobs, chasing dreams, and nearly missing the audition that would define her career. In a new interview, Clarke admits that she was \u201ctoo broke to take the train\u201d to her Game of Thrones tryout. \u201cI borrowed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}