Apparently when it came for Glau starring in her break-out role of River Tam in Firefly (and its movie spin-off Serenity), she drew a lot on her early life for the character. A shy and withdrawn kid she's still pretty anxious, even going so far as to ask her boyfriend to go ask fellow celebrities for their autographs on her behalf she found a lot to sympathise with in the similarly quiet, anti-social River. It didn't help that she was home-schooled either. And not just for a little while, either. Nope, Summer Glau was taught at home from third to 12th grade. It wasn't thanks to pushy parents or anything, though it's because, even from a young age, the actress knew that she wanted to be in showbusiness. So, the home-schooling was a necessity, to fit around all the auditioning and extra education she was getting elsewhere. To me, there was no other option. I wanted it with all my heart, she's since said. My parents had to say, 'Honey, you can do this. We believe in you.' It didn't, however, help with her social skills or what her peers thought of her: No one understood why I did it at the time. I was always the kid on scholarship. But that was before she was even trying to make it in Hollywood. Before that she had a different career path.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
