A few months ago, Gemma Arterton was an unknown actress making ends meet working in a beauty shop in London’s Covent Garden.

Now the 22-year-old is not only the newest Bond girl but has won the role of Tess of the d’Urbervilles in a major BBC TV series.

Gemma was named as 007 Daniel Craig’s sidekick in the new Bond movie Quantum Of Solace just six months after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

And yesterday, the BBC confirmed she will play Thomas Hardy’s heroine Tess, alongside a top cast including Anna Massey and Jodie Whittaker, who starred opposite Peter O’Toole in the film Venus.

Ruth Jones, from BBC3 comedy Gavin and Stacey, plays Tess’s mother.

St. Trinian’s will be released on DVD in the UK on April 14, 2008 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon. No word on special features yet. We will have screencaptures and video clips of Gemma’s role once the DVD is out. I personally cannot wait to re-visit her performance!

St Trinian’s will open in Australia on March 27th and today’s Sydney Morning Herald brought us an article about the film and its schoolgirls.

Straddling all the gangs is Gemma Arterton, who plays the head girl, Kelly. Arterton’s role was initially earmarked for The OC star Mischa Barton but the latter now enjoys one of the many cameos in the film, appearing as J.J. French, a former head girl who returns to help the girls in their hour of need.

“We have a great British cast with Rupert and Colin Firth. There are also some great cameos,” Arterton says. “There’s the lovely Russell Brand, Mischa and even Girls Aloud, who sing the St Trinian’s song. And you should see [Girls Aloud star] Sarah Harding in her costume. She looks amazing.”

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Gemma and her boyfriend John Nolan attended the Empire Awards tonight. Unfortunately, Ms Arterton didn’t win the Best Newcomer award. The equally talented Sam Riley won it instead. At least the award went to someone who deserved it too, so I’m not sad.

At the event, the young actress opened up about her new Bond girl role alongside Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. She said: “It was scary at first but it turned out great.”

Down to earth Gemma even took an extra goodie bag back for her mum.

A few hours later, Gemma went to the Empire Awards Drinks Reception where she met fellow St Trinian’s co-star Talulah Riley.

The Empire Magazine award ceremony will take place at the Dorchester Hotel, London, this weekend.

Movie stars from around the world are preparing for one of the top film award ceremonies in the UK.

Stars including Matt Damon, Ewan McGregor, James McAvoy, Claudia Schiffer and Simon Pegg are among a host of celebrities set to walk down the red carpet.

Best Newcomer nominees Sam Riley, who starred in Anton Corbijn’s Joy Division flick Control, and Gemma Arterton from St Trinian’s are also attending the event.

For the last five years First Light Movies has hosted a star-studded awards ceremony, at the ODEON West End in London’s Leicester Square, to recognise the best of the year’s First Light Movies films.

The Awards have been dubbed the mini Oscars and are an amazing opportunity for the film industry to support and praise the achievements of the next generation of filmmakers.

This year was no different.

A galaxy of stars were to judge films made by young people from schools, youth groups and other organisations who were vying for awards in nine categories including Best Screenplay and Best Animation. This year’s crop of winners were revealed during the awards ceremony, supported by the UK Film Council, at the ODEON Leicester Square on 4 March. The ceremony was hosted by Big Brother presenter Davina McCall. Kevin Spacey, Sir Ian McKellen, Naomie Harris and Anna Popplewell were among those who attended the event.