Charlie McDowell has made no secret of the fact he is dating Emilia Clarke (Picture: C Flanigan/FilmMagic)

Charlie McDowell has hit headlines this week after it emerged he has been secretly dating Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke.

Emilia is a household name thanks to starring as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series.

But what do we know about Charlie McDowell?

Charlie was born on 10 July 1983, making him 35 and three years older than 32-year-old Emilia.

He is an American film director and writer, best known for his debut film The One I Love.

The One I Love was released in 2014 and starred Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass.

Emilia and Charlie sitting in a tree… (Picture: Getty – Rex)

McDowell was in a long-term relationship with actress Rooney Mara from 2010 to 2016. She later started dating Joaquin Phoenix, who she co-starred with in 2013 film Her and 2018 releases Mary Magdalene, Dont Worry, He Wont Get Far On Foot and Dominion.

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But this week, the GOT actress gave fans a sneaky peek into her love life, and it would appear she might have fallen for writer and director Charlie McDowell.

Actress Rooney Mara and ex-boyfriend Charlie McDowell pictured in 2015 during their romance (Picture: Raymond Hall/GC Images)

The clues were pretty obvious – she uploaded a snap of her shadow kissing another shadow to her Instagram with the caption: Well that was a birthday I wont be forgetting in a while [heart emoji] (sic).

And just hours before Mr McDowell uploaded the exact same image, hinting he might be the other shadow, captioned: Happy birthday E.

Its now clear how long they have been dating but theyre not fooling us.

Luckily for Emilia, it seems she has bagged a funny one, as in 2011 Charlies Twitter feed was deemed to hilarious, Three Rivers Press published a book called Dear Girls Above Me, based on his feed in 2013.

Shes clearly good at keeping secrets, having learned not to spill the beans while filming Game Of Thrones – which wrapped earlier this year.

For example, Emilia hasnt mentioned one single tidbit about Khal Drogos potential return after actor Jason Momoa visited the set earlier this year with no discernible explanation.

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A recent cast reunion, which included Sean Bean and Mark Addy, as well as Jason, all in aid of filming a behind the scenes special, threw up questions as to why Jason was on set earlier this year if it wasnt to film the special then.

Is Khal making a comeback? Could we be seeing him appearing in a vision for Daenerys? Whatever the heck is going on, Emilia hasnt breathed a word.

Shes also remained tight-lipped about how the finale will come to an end despite fans having a good idea as to the outcome.

Game of Thrones and Handmaid's Tale trigger spike in digital piracy Picture: Game of Thrones Credit: HBO
Filming wrapped on GOT earlier this year (Picture: HBO)

The actress recently admitted she had an existential crisis when she wrapped filming as the Mother of Dragons on the eighth and final season of the HBO fantasy drama series.

In a joint interview with co-stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Jacob Anderson last month, she said: Its bittersweet, weve all done a lot of crying. Theres been a lot of crying on set.

To which Nathalie added: The week after we finished was a really weird week. I just felt kind of disjointed and a bit, like, “Ohhh.” What does my life mean without Game of Thrones?

Emilia then said she felt a genuine crisis set in when she realised she wouldnt be heading to the set of the fantasy show ever again.

She said: Genuine! Existential crisis, like, legit, where youre like, “What?”

The British actress visited the set of Game of Thrones for one final time back in June, when she took to Instagram to share a picture of herself laid down against some flowers and bid her farewell to the iconic show.

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She wrote at the time: Hopped on a boat to an island to say goodbye to the land that has been my home away from home for almost a decade.

Its been a trip @gameofthrones thank you for the life I never dreamed Id be able to live and the family Ill never stop missing #lastseasonitis (sic)

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