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 including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, five Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, an Olivier Award and a Tony Award. She has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013, the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, the Honorary Golden Bear in 2020, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2022. Mirren was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.[5][6]

Mirren at the age of 18 started her career as a performer with the National Youth Theater where she then played Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (1965). She later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and made her West End stage debut in 1975. She went on to receive Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for playing Elizabeth II in the Peter Morgan play The Audience (2013). She reprised the role on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was Tony-nominated for A Month in the Country (1995) and The Dance of Death (2002).

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the drama The Queen (2006). She was Oscar-nominated for her roles in The Madness of King George (1994), Gosford Park (2001), and The Last Station (2009). She has acted in films such as Caligula (1979), Excalibur (1981), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Tempest (2010), Hitchcock (2012), Eye in the Sky (2015), and Trumbo (2015). She has also acted in the action films Red (2010) and its 2013 sequel, as well as four films in the Fast & Furious film franchise.

On television, she played DCI Jane Tennison in the police procedural Prime Suspect (1991–2006), where she earned three British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.[7] She also earned Emmy Awards for portraying Ayn Rand in the Showtime television film The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) and Queen Elizabeth I in the HBO miniseries Elizabeth I (2005).[8] She also acted in Door to Door (2002), Phil Spector (2013), Catherine the Great (2019), and 1923 (2022).

  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. ^ "No. 56963". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2003. p. 7.
  6. ^ "Dame Helen centre stage at palace". BBC News. 5 December 2003. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012.
  7. ^ "Helen Mirren". Emmy Award. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Why Helen Mirren, at 75, remains the queen of acting". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.