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Esquire has named Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke as the Sexiest Woman Alive.
The Mother of Dragons lies topless in bed for the sultry cover. Inside the issue, Clarke poses in a series of lingerie for a few other revealing photos.
The actress also revealed how she got her star-making job as Daenerys Targaryen on the HBO hit. After graduating from drama school, Clarke had given herself a year to make it as an actress, but failed. She wound up working three jobs: at a bar, at a call center, and one job she chooses to keep secret.
Emilia Clarke clarifies her position on sex scenes: "I'm perfectly find with it"
"And then my agent calls me up and says, 'Did you ever go up for Game of Thrones?'" Clarke recalls. At this point, HBO had shot a pilot, but wasn't happy with the original casting. "My agent told the casting director, 'I know that the breakdown for this character is tall and willowy and blonde. I know she's short and round and brown, but I'd like you to see her.' "
Everything happened so fast, Clarke didn't have time to dig into George R.R. Martin's books to discover more about her character. "So I did what every good actor does and Wikipedia'd the living crap out of it," she says.
From there, Clarke says she sensed that what HBO was looking for was "someone who could grow before your eyes in one season, who could gather strength and show vulnerability, they wanted the arc."
Check out more of Clarke's sexy photo shoot here.