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Helen Mirren

Acting

Born July 26, 1945 · Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Also known as Helen Lydia Mironoff · Helen Lydia Mirren · Dame Helen Mirren

Biography

Dame Helen Mirren (/ˈmɪrən/; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; July 26, 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She received an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for the same role in The Audience, three British Academy Television Awards for her performance as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, and four Primetime Emmy Awards, including two for Prime Suspect. Excelling on stage with the National Youth Theatre, Mirren's performance as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra in 1965 saw her invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company before she made her West End stage debut in 1975. Since then, Mirren has also had success in television and film. Aside from her Academy Award-winning performance, Mirren's other Oscar-nominated performances were for The Madness of King George (1994), Gosford Park (2001), and The Last Station (2009). For her role on Prime Suspect, which ran from 1991 to 2006, she won three consecutive British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress (1992, 1993 and 1994), a joint-record of consecutive wins shared with Julie Walters, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Playing Queen Elizabeth I in the television series Elizabeth I (2005), and Queen Elizabeth II in the film The Queen (2006), she is the only actor to have portrayed both the regnant Elizabeths on screen. After her breakthrough film role in The Long Good Friday (1980), other notable film roles included Cal (1984), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, 2010 (1984), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), Calendar Girls (2003), Hitchcock (2012), The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Woman in Gold (2015), Trumbo (2015), and The Leisure Seeker (2017). She also appeared in the action films Red (2010) and Red 2 (2013) playing an ex-MI6 assassin, and in the Fast & Furious films The Fate of the Furious (2017), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), and F9 (2021). In the Queen's 2003 Birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE) for services to drama, with investiture taking place at Buckingham Palace. In 2013 she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2014 she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2021, she was announced as the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Description above from the Wikipedia article Helen Mirren, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Awards & recognition

  • Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award · 2025
  • Tony AwardBest Actress in a Play · 2015
  • Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year · 2014
  • Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie · 2014
  • Laurence Olivier AwardBest Actress · 2013
Show all 43 awards →
  • European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award · 2012
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 2007
  • BAFTA AwardBest Actress in a Leading Role · 2007
  • European Film AwardBest Actress · 2007
  • Golden Globe AwardBest Actress – Motion Picture Drama · 2007
  • Golden Globe AwardBest Actress – Television Series Drama · 2007
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 2007
  • Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role · 2007
  • Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie · 2007
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 2006
  • Volpi CupBest Actress · 2006
  • Britannia Awards · 2004
  • Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role · 2002
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 1999
  • Golden Globe AwardBest Actress – Television Series Drama · 1997
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 1996
  • Cannes Film Festival AwardBest Actress · 1995
  • Theatre World Award · 1995
  • British Academy Television AwardBest Actress · 1994
  • British Academy Television AwardBest Actress · 1993
  • British Academy Television AwardBest Actress · 1992
  • Cannes Film Festival AwardBest Actress · 1984
  • Actor Awards
  • Critics' Circle AwardDistinguished Service to the Arts
  • Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
  • Drama Desk AwardOutstanding Actress in a Play
  • Evening Standard Theatre AwardBest Actress
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 2010 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 2007 · nominated
  • European Film AwardBest Actress · 2007 · nominated
  • European Film AwardBest Actress · 2003 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 2002 · nominated
  • Jameson People's Choice AwardBest Actress · 2002 · nominated
  • Tony AwardBest Actress in a Play · 2002 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1995 · nominated
  • Tony AwardBest Actress in a Play · 1995 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story

2014as Narrator

Yes Madam, Sir

2009as Narrator

On Broadway

2019as Self

MobLand

2025as Maeve Harrigan

Reading Rainbow

1983as Self - Narrator (voice)

1923

2022as Cara Dutton

Escape from Extinction

2020as Narrator (voice)

Painted Lady

as Maggie Sheridan

Third Watch

1999as Annie Foster

White Bird

2023as Grandmére

Helen Mirren - Queen of Actresses

2023as Self (archive)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

2014as Self (voice)

Prime Suspect

1991as Jane Tennison

Frasier

1993as Babette (voice)

Top Gear

2002as Self

The Masked Singer

2019as Self - Clue Giver (video)

Unity

2015as Narrator (voice)

The One and Only Ivan

2020as Snickers (voice)

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses

2021as Self - Host

Woman in Gold

2015as Maria Altmann

The Hundred-Foot Journey

2014as Madam Mallory

The Prince of Egypt

1998as Queen (voice)

Cries from Syria

2017as Narrator

Collateral Beauty

2016as Brigitte

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC

2016as Self - Performer

Trumbo

2015as Hedda Hopper

The Graham Norton Show

2007as Self

Elizabeth I

2005as Queen Elizabeth I

The Long Good Friday

1980as Victoria

#Anne Frank Parallel Stories

2019as Narrator

The Leisure Seeker

2017as Ella Spencer

Documentary Now!

2015as Helen Mirren - Host

Monsters University

2013as Dean Hardscrabble (voice)

Cary Grant: A Class Apart

2004as Narrator (voice)

Fast X

2023as Queenie

F9: The Fast Saga

2021as Queenie Shaw

The Duke

2020as Dorothy Bunton

Eye in the Sky

2015as Colonel Katherine Powell

Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts

2011as Self

The Queen

2006as The Queen

Excalibur

1981as Morgana

Barbie

2023as Narrator (voice)

The Fate of the Furious

2017as Queenie (uncredited)

Saturday Night Live

1975as Self - Cameo (uncredited)

Thriller

1973as Stella McKenzie

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

2019as Queenie Shaw

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

2010as Nyra (voice)

State of Play

2009as Cameron Lynne

Glee

2009as Becky's Inner Voice (voice)

Gosford Park

2001as Mrs. Wilson