Here's How Tall Karen Gillan Really Is

Karen Gillan will be most familiar to Brits from her role as the Eleventh Doctor's companion Amy Pond in "Doctor Who." But to the rest of the world, the actress is known best for her portrayal of Nebula — the blue-skinned alien warrior and adopted daughter of Thanos in the Marvel universe. First introduced in "Guardians of the Galaxy," Gillan undertook quite the transformation to become Nebula.

Described by special effects artist David White as the "most complex and interesting" prothetic to apply on the film (via Business Insider), it takes around four hours and 15 minutes to transform Gillan into Nebula during each shoot — and around 30 minutes to remove. Gillan is famously dedicated to the role, having shaved her head when she was first cast to make it easier to transform in to the character, the Daily Record reported.

But during a press conference for "Avengers: Endgame," she revealed that she "negotiated more hair" when it came to the process of becoming Nebula, meaning she doesn't have to shave her head anymore. "It's actually quite liberating being bald," she explained, adding that "the only downside is that being bald and this tall led to a lot of people mistaking me for a man."

While it can be hard to determine on-screen, Karen Gillan is very tall. According to Celeb Heights, the actress is 5 foot 10 inches which she used in her favour when working as a model before making the switch to acting, per The Guardian. Despite her height being a non-issue for her, Gillan has had to adhere to some rules on set so her male co-stars can stand beside her in frame.

During an appearance on the "Beauty Fashion Friends" podcast, Gillan explained that it's rare for her to wear heels on a film and that she's "100 per cent" been stopped from wearing them during certain projects, Mail Online reported. "It's happened usually during kissing scenes because it doesn't look good when the guy is looking up to kiss," she explained, adding that she's even had some actors stand on boxes to correct the height mismatch.

But there was a time when Gillan wanted to be a "normal" height. "When you're a teenager and you're growing up you just want to fit into [...] the normal version of what you think beauty is and mine was Britney Spears," she explained. Spears is reportedly 5 foot 4 inches, according to Celeb Heights. "I was thinking I couldn't be more different than Britney." Gillan has a totally different outlook on this now, though. "I'm glad to be tall. It's good to be gangly sometimes," she concluded.