Is 'Game of Thrones' pretty much just porn?
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A wannabe actress who earned her living as a prostitute before finding fame on Game of Thrones says her life was saved by the hit TV show.
Josephine Gillan made her acting debut as novice prostitute Marei being shown how to fake an orgasm in series two of the fantasy drama.
She says she used her understanding of the sordid world to deliver an impressive performance as she returns to the screen in tomorrow night's episode.
The 27-year-old said: "'Game Of Thrones' saved me from a life of prostitution, and has made me a much stronger person.
"They were looking for young women with natural breasts and no tattoos, who didn’t mind being filmed naked. So I immediately sent in a picture.
"They wrote back that they wanted me and I was thrilled because it was an amazing opportunity to do some proper acting. But I had no idea how much it would change my life."
Josephine was selling sex at the same time as making X-rated movies using the name Sophie O’Brien.
It followed a tough childhood ruined by sex abuse, alcohol and class-A drugs.
She was forced to go to 24 different primary schools while her mum fled a violent relationship, before she was taken into care at 12 years old and then fostered.
But it seems her troubles are far now far behind her having become one of the longest surviving characters in the hugely popular TV series "GoT."
Josephine has featured in series two, three, four, five, six - and has even signed up for series seven which begins filming later this year.
And from the small screen to the big screen, the 27-year-old has appeared in two independent films and is about to star in a horror mystery to be filmed in Mexico later this summer.
Despite the show being criticised for its scenes that feature rape, incest, murder and torture, Josephine says it is just make believe.
"Watch the entertainment and enjoy. Or don’t if you’re too prudish."
She says she's often asked by "GoT" fans if she's actually having sex in the brothel scenes on the show.
She told the Daily Mail: "People ask me all the time if we are at it for real and I reply, 'Are dragons or zombies real?'.
"The reality is that the male actors are so uncomfortable doing sex scenes that I can usually feel them shaking nervously under me.
"I think they suffer from performance anxiety, because they are almost naked and there are usually about 30 crew members on set."
Tomorrow night’s episode will see Josephine's character return to the screen.
She was last been seen being dragged away by religious militants from the best brothel in King’s Landing at the end of series five.
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