She is the Hollywood superstar who is back on British TV screens in a drama examining cancel culture.
However, Karen Gillan says it’s the ‘psychopaths’ at the top of industries including Tinseltown who really need cancelled.
The Scots actress said there had been positive change in the wake of the MeToo movement against sexual predators – but that more was needed to stop the wrong people getting into powerful positions in the first place.
Ms Gillan’s journey to stardom began in earnest after she was cast as the Doctor’s assistant Amy Pond in Doctor Who.
She arrived in Hollywood before the MeToo movement rocked the industry, and said of such inappropriate behaviour: ‘I was aware of it.
Karen Gillan at last year’s premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in Seoul, South Korea
Karen Gillan and Hugh Bonneville in the ITV drama Douglas is Cancelled
The actress with parents Raymond and Marie, who she has moved out to California to be close to her
I haven’t had any first-hand experiences but we all knew about it. It certainly wasn’t rare. I look back and wonder about not speaking out. Is silence complicity?
‘We could all ask ourselves that.’ She acknowledged the industry is improving but added: ‘We’re never going to get rid of people who want to abuse power.
What we need to do is sort the systems that allow them to get into power in the first place. We need to figure out how not to give psychopaths leadership positions.’
The 36-year-old, who is now based in the US, is starring in ITV drama Douglas is Cancelled.
It follows Hugh Bonneville, who is a newscaster accused of telling a sexist joke at a wedding, with Ms Gillan playing his co-host.
She said: ‘Cancel culture has always existed to a degree, but social media has made it faster and more irrational. It’s the dopamine hit of anger and outrage.’
Ms Gillan says the belief instilled in her by her father was the key to her success – which has seen her revealed as the 21st most successful leading actor of all time.
She said, as a child, she would perform monologues at home, which she made her parents ‘sit through in the living room’ of their house on an Inverness council estate.
The modest star recalled the support of her parents Raymond and Marie and the wise words he gave her aged just 13 – as they watched Judith Keppel become the first British £1 million winner on Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
She told The Times magazine: ‘My dad said, “She’s in the right headspace. A lot of people need the money and buckle under the pressure.
They won’t risk going all the way. You need to live in her headspace”.’
She added: ‘If you want to know how I got here, it’s my dad.
He made everything seem possible. He’s my Eton, my secret weapon.
Raymond Gillan. Everyone should have one of those.’
Such is her closeness to her parents, she has moved them to be near her and husband Nick Kocher in California.
She said: ‘It was the least I could do after all the monologues they had to sit through.’