Helen Mirren

Dame
Helen Mirren
DBE
Mirren at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival
Mirren in 2020
Born
Helen Lydia Mironoff

(1945-07-26) 26 July 1945 (age 79)
London, England
Citizenship
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
OccupationActor
Years active1964–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
​
(m. 1997)​
PartnerLiam Neeson (1980–1985)[1][2]
Relatives
AwardsFull list
Websitehelenmirren.com

Dame Helen Mirren DBE (born Helen Lydia Mironoff,[4] 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning 60 years, she is the recipient of numerous accolades and is the only performer to have achieved both the American and the British Triple Crowns of Acting. Mirren has received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for portraying the same character in The Audience, as well as three British Academy Television Awards for her role as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Mirren's stage performance as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at the National Youth Theatre in 1965 provided her an opportunity to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, before making her West End stage debut in 1975. She subsequently achieved success in film and television, appearing in films such as The Madness of King George (1994), Gosford Park (2001), and The Last Station (2009), receiving Academy Award nominations for each of those performances. 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 record of consecutive wins shared with Dame Julie Walters—and two Primetime Emmy Awards.[5] She played 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 of the regnant Elizabeths on screen.[6]

After her breakthrough role in The Long Good Friday (1980), Mirren appeared in other films including 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), The Tempest (2010), The Debt (2010), Hitchcock (2012), The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Woman in Gold (2015), Eye in the Sky (2015), Trumbo (2015), and The Leisure Seeker (2017). She has also appeared in several action films such as Red (2010) and its sequel Red 2 (2013), as well as in the Fast & Furious film franchise The Fate of the Furious (2017), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023).

In the Queen's 2003 Birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE) for services to drama, with investiture taking place at Buckingham Palace.[7][8] She has received numerous honours including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013,[9] the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2014,[10] and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2022.[11]

  1. ^ McArdle, Tommy (22 November 2022). "Helen Mirren Says She and Ex Liam Neeson 'Loved Each Other' But 'Were Not Meant to Be Together'". Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  2. ^ Guglielmi, Jodi (19 January 2018). "Liam Neeson Recalls First Falling for Former Flame Helen Mirren: 'I Was Smitten'". Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  3. ^ Saperstein, Pat (15 April 2022). "Rio Hackford, Club Owner and Actor, Dies at 52". Variety. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  4. ^ Hunt, Stacey Wilson (7 December 2010). "Hollywood's Great Dame: Helen Mirren". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Helen Mirren". Emmy Award. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Why Helen Mirren, at 75, remains the queen of acting". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  7. ^ "No. 56963". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2003. p. 7.
  8. ^ "Dame Helen centre stage at palace". BBC News. 5 December 2003. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Helen Mirren Gets Hollywood Walk of Fame Star". Sky News. 4 January 2013. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Dame Helen Mirren – BAFTA Fellow in 2014". BAFTA. 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  11. ^ Grater, Tom (18 November 2021). "Helen Mirren To Receive SAG Life Achievement Award". Deadline. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.