Game of Thrones’ star Emilia Clarke’s life resembles very little from her character’s life. The Mother of Dragons, Daenerys, regularly battles her way to the iron throne, while also trying to prove women’s leadership capability.  Clarke’s life has struggles, but nothing compared to those of the khaleesi.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Clarke recently to discuss how she won the iconic role. She told the WSJ that she dazzled the Game of Thrones producers and HBO executives with her sense of humor. During a callback, she did the robot and the funky chicken for them. Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss expressed how hilarious they thought Clarke was during their first encounter. They called her “effing funny” in a joint email with WSJ.

Clarke’s dancing skills isn’t what got her the job. The showrunners revealed that their real reason for hiring her was because, “she’d won the part long before she busted out the robot. We needed an actress who could convincingly embody both the timid, voiceless Dany we first meet, and the Mother of Dragons she later becomes.” They made each auditioning actress read from both the pilot and the season finale. Weiss and Benioff further said that “some of the young women could do fearful but not fearsome—one or two could do the reverse. Only Emilia nailed both.”

This wasn’t Clarke’s first rather interesting audition. When she was 10, she did an open audition for a show in London’s West End. Unaware of needing to prepare a song, Clarke attempted to get by, by singing a donkey song she was learning in school. When the producers asked her to sing something more current, Clarke sung a Spice Girls song, with dance moves and all. She didn’t get the job, but she saw it as her parents preparing her for the reality ahead for her career choice.

Despite her fame, Clarke talks about how people still barely recognize her. In the show she wears a long blonde wig, and in real life she’s a brunette and dresses casual. But Clarke’s face will become even more recognizable after next year. She’ll be playing Sarah Connor in the next Terminator movie, Terminator: Genesis. 

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