Game of Thrones Cast in Real Life
The Game of Thrones show has a very complex plot filled with events, action scenes and dialogues. In addition, there are lot of characters deaths in Game of Thrones. In order to achieve this level of details, they are using hundreds of actors. Large number of those actors were not famous before the show started and became wildly famous afterwards (for example, Lena Headey). Another surprising fact is that many of the leading role actors and actresses had their first professional acting part in Game of Thrones (for example, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and more). Check out the flip boxes below if you are wondering how the Game of Thrones cast looks in real life.
Melisandre
We didn't like The Red Woman all that much to begin with. But burning our adorable princess Shireen is what really caused us resentment for the witch.
Carice van Houten
Melisandre's character is a beautiful, seductive lady who wears a long red dress with nothing under it. Carice van Houten, who plays Melisandre, looks even more beautiful in her real-life photo.
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane
It was clear since the show started, The Hound is a deep character that travel between good and bad without staying too long on any side.
Rory McCann
Rory McCann who plays the character of The Hound, is much less intimidating in real-life than Sandor Clegane.
High Sparrow
When we first saw the High Sparrow we thought he was the savior of King's Landing. We really hoped he could put some sense into that evil Cersei.
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce is critically acclaimed and award winning actor. He is very famous for the roles he played in both the theater and the movies.
Cersei Lannister
What best describes Cersei? A queen? A crazy, evil lady? Maybe a mother?
We didn't like her since the beginning. And now, 8 seasons later, we still don't.
Lena Headey
Lena Headey is a British actress that played in close to 100 movies. But she will probably always be known as Cersei Lannister.
Grand Maester Pycelle
That Grand Maester Pycelle is not a lovable character. In a false pretenses of wisdom, he uses young girls and play nasty games with Tyrion.
Julian Glover
Julian Glover has a natural gift for playing a villain characters. How else can you explain his ability to play the villain in James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the voice of the giant spider Aragog from Harry Potter.
Ros
The character of Ros is a great example for the amount of details Game of Thrones provides us for supporting characters. We grew fond of her and were sad when bad things happened to her.
Esmé Bianco
This is how Ros look in a real-life photo. Hard to imagine she was originally meant to play in only one episode.
Olenna Tyrell
Lady Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns. With that stupid looking hat and those facial expressions, she brought a lot of color to the show.
Diana Rigg
The actress Diana Rigg had her 80th birthday after Jaime gave her poison to drink. She is a well-known actress both on TV and stage and won a lot of awards including a Tony Award.
Theon Greyjoy
Theon Grejoy is one of the most complex characters in Game of Thrones if not the most. When you feel sorry for him, he does something that make you hate him. When you think you can't hate him anymore, you suddenly feel sorry for him.
Alfie Allen
The actor Alfie Allen looks much a like Theon Greyjoy he plays. Good? Bad? We don't know.
Robert Baratheon
Robert Baratheon is the first king we meet in Game of Thrones. And to be honest, we weren't that impressed. He seems to care more about wine, women and killing Targaryens then actually ruling.
Mark Addy
Mark Addy has done a great work in transferring himself from the pleasant looking person he is into King Robert the first of his name.
Septa Unella
We first meet Septa Unella in season 5 not long after the High Sparrow is introduced. We can't say we weren't a little happy when she punished Cersei.
Hannah Waddingham
Hannah Waddingham is an English actress and she looks NOTHING like her character!
Brienne of Tarth
All Brienne of Tarth ever wanted was to be a knight. However, in Westeros, women can't be knights. That is until season 8 arrived.
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline is probably the only actress in Game of Thrones that has a name that is more medieval than her character's.
Tormund Giantsbane
Tormund is one of the surprising supporting characters. He is adding a lot of color to the show (no pun intended).
Kristofer Hivju
Kristofer Hivju who plays Tormund is a true ginger. He is doing a great job in acting, whether he is talking or just "looking".
Night King
The Night King. What else can be said about him. We feared him since the first season until the last. Created by the children of the forest to save them from the humans.
Vladimir Furdik
Vladimir Furdik had to put a lot of makeup in order to become the Night King. There was only one single scene when we saw the actor's real face, and it was when the children of the forest stuck a knife to his heart.
Lyanna Mormont
Lyanna Mormont was initially planned to be a single scene character. But as soon as we saw that strong little kid, we wanted more.
Bella Ramsey
When you look on that picture of Bella Ramsey you have hard time to imagine it was the strong Lady of house Mormont.
Rickon Stark
Rickon is the youngest Stark. He was trying to escape Theon Greyjoy with Bran but was later captivated by Ramsay and we all remember what happened next 🙁
Art Parkinson
One can only imagine how it feels to be a part of the Game of Thrones enormous family especially at the age of 10. This is how old Art was on the first season.
Missandei
Missandei, also known as Missandei of Naath is the closest adviser of Daenerys Targaryen ever since she was freed by her in Astapor.
Nathalie Emmanuel
Nathalie Emmanuel in her Missandei character is showing a lot of quiet power. But that doesn't shadow her beauty. You can follow her Instagram feed if you don't agree.
Sansa Stark
When we first see Sansa in the first season she is a spoiled little girl who has the only objective of marrying prince Joffrey. Seven seasons later, her strongest moment is when she judge Littlefinger in the last episode of season 7.
Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner deserves all the praises she gets. Getting acting job for the first time in her life in Game of Thrones, she is doing an unbelievable job.
Ramsay Bolton
Game of Thrones has its share of villains, but none compare to Ramsay Bolton. He was so evil that every scene he appeared we knew something bad is about to happen. REAL BAD...
Iwan Rheon
Hard to imagine what goes on in Iwan Rheon mind when he needs to play the role of Ramsay. Doing it so convincingly, he probably has hard times now making new friends.
Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish
Littlefinger is another surprising character in Game of Thrones. It was hard to imagine what he will do next and why. Some things were good, some were bad.
Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen is a very experienced Irish actor. He played in close to
a hundred movies and TV shows including The Dark Knight, The Maze Runner and more.
Arya Stark
We grew together with Arya from a little tomboy girl who likes to play swords and bows with the boys to her big moment killing the Night King.
Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams was only 13 years old when she started filming Game of Thrones and that was her professional acting debut.
Bronn
Bronn is one of the funniest characters in the show if not the most. He is a sword for sale that comes together with a lot of dirty jokes.
Jerome Flynn
Jerome Flynn is an active actor that played in many TV shows. However, every time we will see him, we will expect to hear something dirty or nasty.
Wun Wun
Wun Wun was the last giant. He was very lovable and it was a sad moment when he was killed by Ramsay.
Ian Whyte
Ian Whyte is 7'1" tall (that is 216cm). Being that tall he naturally gets a lot of giants roles and he played all of the giants in GoT.
Jaqen H'ghar
Jaqen H'ghar, the faceless man from Braavos that took Arya on journey to become no one.
Tom Wlaschiha
Tom Wlaschiha is a versatile actor played in many movies and TV shows. He was born in east Germany and speak 5 languages, German, English, French, Russian and Italian
Podrick Payne
Podrick started as a servant to Tyrion. Then became a squire to Brienne and later her student.
Daniel Portman
Daniel Portman didn't have to change much about himself in order to play Podrick, being a "normal" character.
Lord Varys
Lord Varys, The Spider
The Eunuch, Master of Whisperers. It wasn't easy knowing where his loyalty lies.
Conleth Hill
While all Conleth Hill had to do in order to become Lord Varys was to shave his hair, he looks completely different than his character.
Grey Worm
We first meet Grey Worm when Daenerys buys the unsullied army. He is a man who never scared nor laugh or jokes.
Jacob Anderson
Jacob Anderson looks exactly like Grey Worm. That is until he smiles and you would never guess it is the same person.
Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys Targaryen, Daenerys Stormborn, The Unburnt, The Dragon Queen, The Mother of Dragon or Dany. So many names!
Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke is undoubtedly the biggest star coming out of the show. The show production had done a great job making 5'2" woman so strong and powerful.
Jon Snow and Ygritte
Together with Daenerys, Jon Snow also has a key role in the story of Game of Thrones. His character was slowly built as the show progressed and his loyalty was questioned when he met Ygritte.
Kit Harington and Rose Leslie
Kit Harington and Rose Leslie go together as Jon Snow and Ygritte. Kit and Rose got married in 2018.
Bran Stark
Bran Stark loved to climb Winterfell's walls. After losing his ability to use his legs, he became the three-eyed raven.
Isaac Hempstead Wright
Isaac began acting at the young age of 11 and not long after, started playing the role of Bran Stark.
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion Lannister, the Lannister's imp. One of the most colorful characters in Game of Thrones. Hated by most of his family, he chose doing things his own way.
Peter Dinklage
While Peter Dinklage might not be the biggest star to come out of the show, he is the one that played in the most number of episodes.
Jaime Lannister
It's not easy liking Jaime Lannister when the show start. We see him sleeping with his twin sister on the very first episode.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor. Looks in real-life exactly like he does in the show.
Samwell Tarly
Samwell Tarly is the perfect non-hero. But is also the first one to kill a White Walker as he keeps reminding.
John Bradley
It's hard to think about a name that is more the same yet opposite to Samwell Tarly then John Bradley.
Jorah Mormont
Jorah Mormont is the knight who was first sent to spy on his queen. Later he changes his mind and does whatever he can to protect her.
Iain Glen
Iain Glen plays great as the old knight. He is a Scottish actor that played in over 50 movies and TV shows even before playing in GoT.
Davos Seaworth
Davos Seaworth is a real fan of Stannis up until Stannis is dead. His hobby, showing people he doesn't have all his fingers.
Liam Cunningham
Liam Cunningham is a very busy Irish actor that plays in many movies in TV shows both in Europe and in the US.
Stannis Baratheon
We thought Stannis was one of the more ok people in Westeros pretty much up until he thought it will be a good idea to burn his own daughter.
Stephen Dillane
In real-life, Stephen Dillane doesn't look as worried or as grim as his character, Stannis Baratheon.
Tommen Baratheon
When Tommen became king after his brother Joffrey was killed, we thought that finally things are going to be less evil. That didn't last much.
Dean-Charles Chapman
Dean-Charles Chapman looks much like Tommen in real-life. He is also a busy actor despite his young age.
Lancel Lannister
In the beginning of the show, Lancel Lannister has a very small part in the plot, mainly bringing wine to king Robert. Later in the show, his role is more powerful.
Eugene Simon
Eugene Simon played as Lancel Lannister in only 16 episodes but those were spread over 6 seasons.
Olly
In his short appearance in Game of Thrones, Olly managed to kill both Jon Snow and Ygritte. Damn.
Brenock O'Connor
As Brenock O'Connor grew up he became less and less like we remember him as Olly.