This paper reports an experimental investigation into the effects of freestream turbulence intensity on the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer characteristics of two staggered rows of compound angle holes with particular application to high temperature gas turbine blades. Turbulence intensity effects on film cooling and heat transfer characteristics are investigated for three blowing rates: 0.5, 1.0 and 1.7. Increasing the freestream turbulence intensity has caused a. significant reduction in the local film cooling effectiveness but increased the Stanton number, especially at the blowing rate of 0.5. The effect of freestream turbulence on the film cooling and heat transfer characteristics from compound angle holes tends to have similar effects to that when simple angle holes are used.