Name: Helen Mirren

Birth Name: Ilyena Vasilievna Mironovd

Birthdate: July 26, 1945

Birthplace: Chiswick, London, England

Mirren kickstarted her acting career at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, and despite the classical theater training, the bold actress was deemed The Sex Queen of the RSC, thanks to the number of times she appeared naked onstage and onscreen — something she's been unafraid to do even in her fifties (2003's Calendar Girls is proof). She eventually crossed the Atlantic to appear in such movies as 2010, White Nights and Mosquito Coast. In 1991, she landed the role that gave her international acclaim — detective Jane Tennison in the British drama Prime Suspect, which filmed its seventh and final season in 2006. The following year would welcome copious awards, including the Best Actress Oscar, for her work in The Queen and HBO's Elizabeth I.


1. She is a descendent of an aristocratic Russian military family.
2. She was made a Dame in 2003.
3. She once remarked that the Academy Awards were: "the crème de la crème of bulls**t."
4. She has played a queen a total of five times: 2006's The Queen, 2005's Elizabeth I (TV), 1998's The Prince of Egypt, 1995's The Snow Queen and 1994's The Madness of King George.
5. She became the second actor, after Sigourney Weaver, to win in the same night two Golden Globes for acting. The two characters she played were both queens of England, Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II.


"I read a lot of scripts that offend me. They may be perfectly benign, in fact, but they offend me often because I don't like the way women, the female roles, have been approached."
— The London Independent, Sept. 20, 2001


Husband: Taylor Hackford, director, married Dec. 31, 1987

2007: Academy Award: Best Actress, The Queen; Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, Elizabeth I; Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), The Queen; Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, Prime Suspect: The Final Act

2004: Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone; Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Calendar Girls

2003: Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, Door to Door

2002: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Gosford Park; Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, Gosford Park

2000: Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, The Passion of Ayn Rand

1997: Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Losing Chase

1995: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, The Madness of King George

 

FILMS

National Treasure: Book of Secrets - (2007) - Actor
Shadowboxer - (2006) - Actor
The Queen - (2006) - Actor
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - (2005) - Voice
Raising Helen - (2004) - Actor
Pride - (2004) - Actor
The Clearing - (2004) - Actor
Calendar Girls - (2003) - Actor
The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone - (2003) - Actor
Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness - (2003) - Actor
Last Orders - (2002) - Actor
No Such Thing - (2002) - Actor
Door to Door - (2002) - Actor
Greenfingers - (2001) - Actor
On the Edge - (2001) - Director
The Wilde Girls/On the Edge - (2001) - Director
Gosford Park - (2001) - Actor
The Pledge - (2001) - Actor
The Passion of Ayn Rand - (2000) - Actor
Teaching Mrs. Tingle - (1999) - Actor
The Prince of Egypt - (1998) - Voice
Royal Deceit - (1997) - Actor
Critical Care - (1997) - Actor
Painted Lady - (1997) - Actor
Losing Chase - (1996) - Actor
Some Mother's Son - (1996) - Actor
Prime Suspect 5 - (1996) - Actor
The Madness of King George - (1995) - Actor
Prime Suspect 4 - (1995) - Actor
The Hawk - (1994) - Actor
Prime Suspect - The Lost Child - (1994) - Actor
Prime Suspect - The Scent of Darkness - (1994) - Actor
Dr. Bethune - (1993) - Actor
Coming Through - (1993) - Actor
Prime Suspect 3 - (1993) - Actor
Where Angels Fear to Tread - (1992) - Actor
Prime Suspect 2 - (1992) - Actor
The Comfort of Strangers - (1991) - Actor
Prime Suspect 1 - (1991) - Actor
Red King, White Knight - (1990) - Actor
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover - (1989) - Actor
When the Whales Came - (1989) - Actor
Pascali's Island - (1988) - Actor
Cause Celebre - (1987) - Actor
The Mosquito Coast - (1986) - Actor
Gospel According to Vic - (1986) - Actor
White Nights - (1985) - Actor
2010 - (1984) - Actor
Cal - (1984) - Actor
Faerie Tale Theatre - The Little Mermaid - (1984) - Actor
Excalibur - (1981) - Actor
Caligula - (1980) - Actor
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu - (1980) - Actor
Hussy - (1980) - Actor
The Long Good Friday - (1979) - Actor
S.O.S. Titanic - (1979) - Actor
O Lucky Man! - (1973) - Actor
Savage Messiah - (1972) - Actor
A Midsummer Night's Dream - (1968) - Actor