Natalie Dormer stars in two of the world’s most cult-worthy fantasy phenomenons, so it makes sense that she’d be a sci-fi dork in her home life too.

The 32-year-old British actress has a tattoo on her wrist featuring a line from Dune by Frank Hebert, also known as the geeky, old-school sci-fi saga from 1965.

• What it’s like to work on Game of Thrones
• Game of Thrones spends $200k to prevent nude actress leak

A close-up of Dormer’s tattoo from her Esquire magazine shoot. Photo: Esquire

Dune is often hailed as the world’s first successful sci-fi novel and, while it has since been forgotten in favour of franchises like Divergent or The Hunger Games, a small legion of highly loyal followers remain – Dormer herself included.

Fans of the actress first spotted the tattoo when Dormer posed for a sultry shoot for Esquire magazine in 2013.

Since her first major role as Anne Boleyn in medieval series The Tudors, Dormer has been making a name for herself as one of the British stars to watch.

Her current TV catalogue includes starring as fantasy’s biggest sex symbol Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones and, now, playing powerful propaganda filmmaker Cressida in the latest instalment of The Hunger Games franchise.

In recent interviews, Dormer has admitted to being nothing like the strong, sassy women she plays on screen.

“When I wake up on a Sunday morning with a slight hangover, in the gym with no makeup on, that’s who Natalie Dormer really is,” she admitted to the New York Post.

“The girl next door who gets a spot on her forehead occasionally. I would embrace the opportunity to play more of those kinds of girls, who don’t have that arsenal.”

The nerdiness doesn’t stop at her tattoo; for her photo shoot with the Post, Dormer reportedly arrived wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the image of She-Ra, the protagonist of animated comic series She-Ra: Princess of Power and the female counterpart of comic book hero He-Man.

Natalie Dormer in her role as Cressida in ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1′. Photo: Supplied

“She holds up her sword and cries, ‘I have the power!’” Dormer said in the interview.

This fun-loving attitude is carried across from her personal life and into her demanding work as an actress.

For her role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, the quirky actress was asked to shave half her hair off, a move which she describes as a no-brainer.

“We went round the dinner table, and the opinion was unanimous,” she says of her decision to cut her hair.

“You’d have to be an idiot to say no to Hunger Games. And hair grows back.”

Although she is often hailed as the sexiest character in the hugely popular Game of Thrones series, Dormer insists the entire cast is nothing like their regal, heroic counterparts.

In fact, how do television’s biggest stars spend their breaks between filming?

“We’re all ordering soy lattes, pulling our cigarettes out of our boots and iPhones out of our stockings.”