Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Mutant Bond Girls!


Bond girls have long been exceptional women. From Ursula Andress to Halle Berry, they have each embodied the feminine ideal of their particular time. Gemma Arterton, the statuesque stunner who plays Agent Fields in next month's Quantum of Solace, has proven herself to be exceptional not only for her English Rose beauty, but also because she was born with six fingers on each hand.

"It's my little oddity that I'm really proud of," she said to Esquire magazine. "It makes me different." Different indeed. The condition, called Polydactyly, occurs in 1 of every 500 births.

Don't bother looking for additional digits in the film, though. As a child, the surplus digits were "tied," which causes the boneless protrusions to fall off with time. She still bares bumpy scars where her extra appendages once were.

Earlier this year, she revealed that she was also born with a crumpled ear, which was surgically corrected in childhood. "I was born with lots of deformities," the 22-year-old actress told the British press.

Arterton, a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art who was best known for a BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," beat out 1,500 contenders to become the latest Bond girl. She admitted to InStyle magazine that having to kiss Daniel Craig on her first day working on the film had her "giggling left, right, and center and being really immature."

Next up for Arterton is the movie adaptation of the videogame Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, coming the summer of 2010. To see more of the genetically unusual but undeniably extraordinary future star, watch the behind-the-scenes video from "Quantum of Solace" below.


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