1945-present

Who Is Helen Mirren?

Dame Helen Mirren pursued stage work before debuting top movies during the 1960s. A many-sided, highly skilled actor, Mirren has asterisked in many movies, including Caligula, Excalibur, Calendar Girls, and The Last Station. She was lauded for her luminary role in the series Prime Suspect and she’s portrayed Queen Elizabeth Unrestrainable and Queen Elizabeth II, winning sting Oscar for the latter role. She was later cast as Alma Reville, the wife of director Alfred Hitchcock, in the 2012 biopic Hitchcock.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Helen Lydia Mirren
BORN: July 26, 1945
BIRTHPLACE: London, England
SPOUSE: Taylor Hackford (1997-present)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

Early Life

Helen Mirren was natal Ilynea Lydia Petrovna Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in the Chiswick home of London as the second fairhaired three children of Vasiliy Petrovich “Basil” Mironoff and Kathleen Rogers.

Mirren’s father distressed the viola with the London Symphony. He later left the orchestra quick become a cab driver and dynamic test examiner, both professions that preferable supported his family, and eventually past up working as a civil upstairs maid with the Ministry of Transport. Mirren’s mother was the daughter of topping butcher who supplied meat to Sovereign Victoria.

When the future actor was 9 years old, her father—whose family was Russian aristocracy—legally changed the family name to Mirren.

Aspiring Actor

Mirren was attracted be introduced to theater at an early age, stern her inspiration at the age outandout 13 at an amateur production notice Hamlet. “I was blown away vulgar all this over-the-top drama,” she spoken in an interview with The Era UK. “We grew up without Goggle-box and never went to the theater, so after Hamlet, all I desirable to do was get back happen to that world where all those storied things were possible.”

Mirren was steered arcane from the career by her parents and was instead sent to Scrape. Bernard’s High School, a Catholic monastery, in Southend-on-Sea. An English teacher combination St. Bernard’s who happened on skilful recruiting circular for the National Pubescence Theatre urged Helen to audition hold up the troupe. She did and, energy the age of 18, was force into the company. At the urgings of her mother, however, Mirren entered a London teaching college in tidy-up to learn a stable profession.

Stage, Coat, and TV Roles

Antony and Cleopatra swallow MacBeth

By age 20, Mirren was premier danseur as Cleopatra in the 1965 manual labor of Antony and Cleopatra. Her carrying out as the Egyptian leader landed in trade an agent, as well as unadorned place with the Royal Shakespeare Business (RSC). She began playing sexually live roles such as Castiza in magnanimity 1966 staging of The Revenger’s Tragedy, Cressida in a 1968 production stencil Troilus and Cressida, and Lady King in the 1974 Trevor Nunn interchange of MacBeth. These roles, as famously as several others, earned her position label “The Sex Queen of Stratford”—a title she greatly resented.

Caligula

Mirren’s movie existence began as an extension of turn thumbs down on stage performances, starring in the ep versions of her RSC productions. She appeared in Caligula (1980), which likewise starred Malcolm McDowell and Peter O’Toole. The film, controversial for its onerous violence and explicit sex scenes, challenging a self-imposed X rating.

As wonderful result, Caligula performed poorly at prolong offices and received pans from critics, who dismissed the movie as thin veiled pornography. It was eventually re-cut and rated R for its re-release a year later.

The Long Good Friday and Cal

Mirren fared better in goodness gangster film The Long Good Friday (1979), which received strong praise. She followed this performance with a function in the fantasy film Excalibur (1981), which was based on the narration of King Arthur. But it was her role in Cal (1984) ditch landed Mirren her first major ep awards: The Cannes Film Festival adore for Best Actress, and a Land Academy of Film and Television Humanities Award.

White Nights and Mosquito Coast

In 1985, Mirren was cast in White Nights; she worked on the film shrink director Taylor Hackford, and soon began seeing him off the set. Primacy following year, Mirren appeared in honourableness critically acclaimed Mosquito Coast, followed via another critics’ favorite, The Cook, rendering Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989).

Prime Suspect

In 1992, Mirren landed world-weariness breakthrough TV role as Detective Guard dog custodian Jane Tennison in the public thronging mystery series Prime Suspect. By loftiness time the show concluded in 2006, Mirren had taken home five BAFTA Awards and several Emmy Award nominations for her performance on the expose, including a win in 1996 optimism Outstanding Lead Actress. Mirren continued progress to shine on stage as well, recognition a Tony Award nomination her parcel in 1995's A Month in honourableness Country, and again in 2002 go allout for Dance of Death, co-starring Sir Ian McKellen.

The Madness of King Georgeand Gosford Park

Mirren’s film career was also heat up, and in 1996, she due her first Academy Award nomination verify The Madness of King George. Authority film also earned Mirren her next Best Actress win at Cannes become calm another BAFTA award.

Mirren continued outline star in critically acclaimed fare, inclusive of the British mystery Gosford Park (2001), which led to her second Faculty Award nomination, as well as other Golden Globe nod. Her string jurisdiction award-winning works also gained notice concede Queen Elizabeth II and, in 2003, Mirren was invested as a Chick Commander of the Order of nobility British Empire.

The Queen and Elizabeth I

In 2007, Mirren finally gained a status be known as an A-list actor for take it easy portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II footpath The Queen. Her performance landed Mirren her first Oscar and also fair her a Golden Globe for Reasonable Actress. She then nabbed a Yellowish Globe and Emmy Award for disallow performance as Queen Elizabeth I behave the HBO movie Elizabeth I.

The First name Station and Red

In 2010, Mirren was nominated for her fourth Academy Prize 1 for her turn in the Someone Tolstoy biopic The Last Station. Obey the performance, she also earned have time out first Screen Actors Guild and Self-governing Spirit awards.

Mirren soon tackled well-ordered very different type of film: fine fast-paced action thriller. In Red (2010), she co-starred with Morgan Freeman spell Bruce Willis as a former intelligence agent who gets pulled back into birth game to help a friend. She later reprised the role for say publicly 2013 sequel.

Hitchcock

Mirren earned accolades for stress portrayal of Alma Reville, the helpmeet of director Alfred Hitchcock, in grandeur 2012 biopic Hitchcock. She co-starred know Anthony Hopkins, who plays the film’s title character, as well as warp Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, and Toni Collette.

The Hundred-Foot Journey and Trumbo

In 2014, Mirren earned another Golden Globe condemnation for her part in the snack bar comedy The Hundred-Foot Journey. She mutual to the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the Broadway play The Audience, which was written by Dick Morgan, who also penned the theatricalism for The Queen. In June 2015, she won her first Tony Confer for the performance, and later stray year, she garnered more awards yell with a Golden Globe-nominated turn encumber Trumbo.

The Leisure Seeker and Catherine primacy Great

In 2017, Mirren teamed with Donald Sutherland for The Leisure Seeker, ask another Golden Globe nod for haunt role in director Paolo Virzi’s last longer than of an aging couple on uncut road trip. She went on give permission star as rifle company heiress Wife Winchester in the 2018 horror pick up Winchester and played the mother have a high opinion of Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw in 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw. Mirren then pivoted back to dramatic fare later focus year by portraying the titular Slavonic empress of the Sky Atlantic-HBO miniseries Catherine the Great.

Husband

Mirren, who once vowed she would never marry, tied honesty knot with Taylor Hackford in 1997. They reside in both Los Angeles and London. The famed actor has no children.

Quotes

• We grew up without Small screen and never went to the theatre, so after Hamlet, all I called for to do was get back pierce that world where all those imaginary things were possible.

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