But he's far from the only screen face to hail from – or have connections to – Sunderland.
Here we look at 12 more stars of the big – and small screen – with links to Wearside.
9. William Russell
Karen Gillan is not the first actor with Wearside links to call the Tardis home.
Born Russell Enoch, William Russell (left) was there at the very beginning, playing science teacher Ian Chesterton who, alongside colleague Barbara Wright, stumbles into the famous police box in the very first episode in 1963. The pair traveled alongside William Hartnell's First Doctor for two years.
Other roles have included Heartbeat, Casualty and Blackadder.
Aged 95, he is still working and is currently filming movie Provisonal Measures in Brazil, alongside his son... Photo: Central Press
10. Alfred Enoch
The son of Sunderland-born William Russell has been a familiar face on screen since 2001, when he made his debut appearance as Dean Lawrence in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
He reprised the role in all seven sequels and has enjoyed TV success on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in the highly-acclaimed How to Get Away with Murder in the US and, appropriately enough, taking over as the lead in BBC 1's Trust Me from Jodie Whitakker, when she was cast as the 13th Dr Who. Photo: Leon Bennett
11. Gina McKee
Born in Sunderland and raised in Peterlee, Gina Mckee has been a familiar face on the nation's screens for more than four decades, making her TV debut in 1979 aged just 15.
She worked steadily from the mid-80s, but it was the role of Mary Cox in the ground-breaking Our Friends in the North - alongside Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Craig and Mark Strong - that cemented her status.
Movie roles have included Atonement, In the Loop and Notting Hill, while her TV career has covered roles in series such as Hebburn, Line of Duty, Waking the Dead and Bodyguard.
A personal career highlight for the lifelong Black Cats fan was narrating the 1998 behind-the-scenes documentary series Premier Passions. Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE
12. Richard Riddell
Gina McKee wasn't the only Mackem to bother the Bodyguard credits list - Richard , from Ryhope, appeared in the BBC smash as Tom Fenton, a detective colleague of Richard Madden's hero, Public Protection Officer David Budd.
The 34-year-old, who studied at Southmoor Academy, Sunderland College, the National Youth Theatre and RADA, has also appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, E4’s Misfits and Vera. He said: “I got stopped in Tesco on Monday by a woman and she was genuinely quite annoyed with me and said ‘You’re the killer and you’re Vicky’s new boyfriend’ and it’s great that it’s got people’s imagination going like that. Photo: Faye Thomas