A Field Guide To Nathalie Emmanuel

This past Sunday saw the premiere of the fourth season of "Game of Thrones"--which means some time in the next few weeks, we should be seeing Nathalie Emmanuel (semi-)naked. As we gear up for the girl's big reveal, let's take a moment to learn a little more about her, and why she's so crush worthy.

Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel was born March 2, 1989 in Southend-on-Sea to a Jamaican mother and French father (hence her gorgeous ethnic ambiguity). Though most Americans only took notice of her when she got cast as Daenerys's right hand woman, in the UK she's been known for years as Sasha Valentine from "Hollyoaks," a popular Channel 4 opera. Though "Hollyoaks" doesn't have quite the level of sex and violence as "Game of Thrones," it did offer Emmanuel the chance to play a character who experiments with drugs, sex work, and being a gangster's moll--just the sort of seedy drama one should have as preparation for playing a part in George R.R. Martin's epic opus.

Truth be told, we first noticed Emmanuel during a short stint in season three of "Misfits," when she flashed her butt after an evening of passion with Rudy. We're not going to say it was love at first sight, but after ogling those beautiful buns, we were a bit bummed to find out that Emmanuel wasn't going to be a recurring role--until, of course, she popped up in "Game of Thrones," and once again everything was all right with the world.

Not surprisingly, we weren't the only ones who were stoked to see Nathalie Emmanuel join the cast of "Game of Thrones." As it happens, Emmanuel herself was pretty thrilled to get the chance to play Missandei--and not just because it meant being paid to hang out in Croatia with Emilia Clarke. Even before she joined the cast of the show, Emmanuel was a fan of "Game of Thrones." As she told reporters, "I hadn't read the books, but had watched the series from the beginning. Roxanne McKee, who I'd worked with in 'Hollyoaks,' was in it and a friend of mine told me about it and said I should watch it. I was hooked instantly. Literally every Monday people could not call me between 9 and 10 o'clock." Once cast in the show, she started reading the books, though she's made sure not to get too far ahead of the TV series: " I want to know what is going happen, but also I don't want to pre-empt anything in terms of my character or storyline. I like to keep a little bit of the mystery. It helps to maintain the adventure, and 'Game Of Thrones' is such an adventure." (Want proof of Emmanuel's fandom? This past Sunday, she live tweeted (and Instagrammed) her "Game of Thrones" viewing party. Our favorite tweet? "Okay so am I the only one who loves Oberyn....??? hahaha #gotseason4 #viewingparty #ohheyoberyn" -- no, Nathalie, you are not.)

We won't know for a few weeks if Emmanuel's rumored nude scene is, well, anything more than a rumor--but based on the available evidence, we're pretty sure it'll come to pass. First of all, there are those paparazzi photos that gave rise to the rumor, which strongly suggest that we'll be seeing more of her butt (even if her nipples look to remain hidden under pasties). Then there's the fact that, as we mentioned above, Emmanuel's already shown the world some skin before. And then, of course, there's her attitude towards all the sex in "Game of Thrones," which is, shall we say, encouraging:

We are creating art. We are creating stories and you have to be realistic. That is the thing about Game Of Thrones. The nudity is there in the books – it's not created for the show, it's in the pages. The raw situations, the violence and the sex is all there. To be true to the books they need to keep that in.

(We'll ignore the fact that, in the books, Missandei is a child--not everything needs to remain true to GRRM's original vision, just, you know, the sexy bits involving people of legal age.)

With her busy schedule filming for "Game of Thrones" (which is about to get busier--it was recently announced that she's been promoted to series regular for season five), you might think that Emmanuel wouldn't have time for any other projects. But you'd be thinking wrong: while "Game of Thrones" is on break, she's been shooting scenes for "Fast & Furious 7" and (if the rumors are right) will be starring as Ginene in "The Tillbury Run" as well. With any luck, at least one of those roles will involve full frontal nudity--and even if they don't, well, we'll always have "Game of Thrones" season five to (hopefully) make that dream come true, right?

· Nathalie Emmanuel's Twitter (twitter.com)