Gemma Chan (born on 29 November 1982) is an English actress and model. She is perhaps best known for playing Mia Bennett in the Autumn 2009 special of the BBC's Doctor Who The Waters of Mars with David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan. Gemma Chan was born in London, England on 29 November 1982 but was raised in Kent, a county located in southeast England.

Her mother is of Scottish-Chinese heritage and her father grew up in Hong Kong. She majored in law at Worcester College, a constituent college of Oxford University. When she graduated, she was offered a job with a leading law firm.

In lieu, she decided to pursue an acting career, and wound up at the prestigious Drama Centre London where such actors as Paul Bettany, Anne-Marie Duff, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan trained. Spotted at her showcase by British film producer Damian Jones (The History Boys, Kidulthood, Welcome to Sarajevo), she then signed to acting agent Nicki van Gelder, who has guided the careers of Samantha Morton and Helena Bonham Carter. In 2006, Gemma was one of the models in Project Catwalk, the UK version of Miramax's Project Runway.

She was one of the top three models who made it to the final competition, but did not win the final challenge. Even so, she continued to work as a fashion model to fund her drama school training, appearing in campaigns for Nokia and Selfridges & Co and numerous magazines including Elle, Cosmopolitan and the Sunday Times Style. Gemma was recently photographed by Rankin for a campaign for Nivea Visage, having previously worked as a model in order to fund her studies and drama school training.

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