Recently, the UK’s primary export to the States seems to be attractive, versatile and talented actresses.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunter star Gemma Arterton is the latest in a long line of Brits jockeying for household name status.

But, as is the case for most actors, achieving such notoriety didn’t come easy for the starlet.

Bit by the acting bug at a young age, the 27-year-old actress made her stage debut there in the UK production of The Boy Who Fell Into a Book. The play was entered into an awards competition and Arterton won the prize for Best Actress.

After more theater work, Arterton reached a significant rung on the Hollywood ladder with her breakout role in the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

To celebrate the release of her 13^th feature film, Celebuzz went on a fact-finding mission to assemble 5 things you need to know about this rising young talent.

GALLERY

Get to know Arterton in the gallery above, and make sure to watch her in action in the trailer for Witch Hunters below.

Watch static. Hang out at the DMV. Visit a dairy and see how milk is processed…

The above are all things that movie critics encourage you to do — twice — before daring to see Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters once.

Witch Hunters stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the grown-up versions of the Grimm Fairy Tale characters, clad in Matrix-style leather gear and wielding anachoristic weaponry as they hunt down, well, witches. The film, directed by European filmmaker Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow), sat on a shelf at Paramount for almost 2 years. Now that people have seen the 3D gore fest, Wirkola might be wishing that they put his movie on a higher shelf.

Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

“You know, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters didn’t have to be terrible. The good news is that the actors appear to be having fun. The bad news is that we’re not… It’s a lot of noise and whooshing camera effects and little else — frantic, yet lifeless.”

Andrew Barker, Variety

“Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is not a good film — it’s inconsistently acted, and somehow both underwritten and overplotted – but it has some good things going for it. To his credit, Hansel & Gretel writer-director Tommy Wirkola never takes the pic’s premise — too seriously. Yet while the film rarely provokes any strenuous eye-rolling, it also can’t drum up even the slightest interest in the fate of its characters, let alone suspense.”

Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly

“Jeremy Renner tries not to think about his two Oscar nominations as he grimaces and smirks his way through a by-the-storybook plot… Despite the fact that the film is produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the tone is more cute than clever, and willful anachronisms pop up all over the place.”

Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter

“Lots of anachronisms and tongue-in-cheek dialogue establish the spoofy nature of this violent venture. All that’s missing is a genuine sense of wit… Renner and British actress Gemma Arterton are certainly game, but this foolish vehicle doesn’t give them a chance to show what they do best. With a running time of under 90 minutes, the film is smart enough not to wear out its welcome. But that’s the only sign of true intelligence in this juvenile caper.”

Katie Walsh, The Playlist

Do you want the good news first or the bad news? Let’s start with the good. Firstly, Witch Hunters is less than 90 minutes long. That’s good. Also, Gemma Arterton is really pretty and wears a lot of awesome leather pants and gloves and vests and things… The title sequence was neat. And, it’s not boring. [The movie] is however, unrelentingly stupid… Do not pass go, do not collect $200, proceed directly to The Playlist’s Worst Of The Year 2013 List. In the words of Gretel: “You’ve got to be f!@#ing kidding me.”

With advisory warnings like these, do you plan to see Witch Hunters? Check out the trailer on Celebuzz then tell us what you think in the comments. 

A badass criminal and two witch-hunting siblings are set to challenge one very pissed-off ghost mom for the box office crown.

This weekend’s Box Office Battle finds last weekend’s champ, Jessica Chastain‘s horror film Mama, duking it out with new releases Parker and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. It might be slim pickings at the multiplex this weekend, but one of these films will have bragging rights come Monday.

But which movie will win the weekend?

In one corner, Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez hope their new crime thriller Parker draws in the action movie crowd in the way that The Last Stand did not.

Based on Donald E. Westlake’s pulp crime novel “Flashfire”, Parker casts Statham as a double-crossed thief looking to score some payback; Lopez’ corrupt real-estate agent goes along for the ride.

The last time the Parker character appeared on the big screen was in 1998′s Payback, starring Mel Gibson, which was based on another one of Westlake’s popular Parker novels. That film went on to be somewhat of a box office success. But judging by this new film’s reviews, a similar outcome for Parker seems unlikely.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters sat on a very tall shelf at Paramount for two years, and now the studio is finally unleashing it.

Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy) and Gemma Arterton play the titular characters, based on the popular fairy tale. The movie has not been screened for critics, which is typically not a good sign. Still, fans of people wearing leather while killing supernatural things that hiss a lot won’t want to miss this one.

Do you think this week’s new releases can dethrone Mama? Sound off in the comments.