Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren | |
|---|---|
Mirren in 2020 | |
| Born | Ilyena Lydia Mironoff 26 July 1945 Hammersmith, London, England |
| Citizenship |
|
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse |
Taylor Hackford (m. 1997) |
| Partner | Liam Neeson (1980–1985)[1][2] |
| Relatives |
|
| Awards | Full list |
| Website | helenmirren |
| Signature | |
Dame Helen Mirren (/ˈmɪrən/; born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff;[a] 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of screen and stage, her accolades include an Academy Award, five Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Film Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. She is the only person to have achieved both the US and UK Triple Crowns of Acting, and has also received the BAFTA Fellowship, Honorary Golden Bear, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Mirren was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.[11][12]
Mirren started her career at the age of 18 as a performer with the National Youth Theatre, where she 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 the 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).
Mirren's first credited film role was in Herostratus (1967) and her first major role was in Age of Consent (1969). She gained further recognition for her roles in O Lucky Man! (1973), Caligula (1979), The Long Good Friday (1980), Excalibur (1981), The Mosquito Coast (1986), and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989). She received Academy Award nominations for her performances in The Madness of King George (1994) and Gosford Park (2001), before winning Best Actress for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in the drama The Queen (2006). She was nominated again for her performance in The Last Station (2009), and went on to appear in further films such as The Tempest (2010), Hitchcock (2012), Eye in the Sky (2015), and Trumbo (2015). She has also appeared in the action film Red (2010) and its 2013 sequel, as well as four films in the Fast & Furious franchise.
On television, Mirren played DCI Jane Tennison in ITV's police procedural Prime Suspect (1991–2006), for which she earned three British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.[13] 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).[14] Her other television roles include Door to Door (2002), Phil Spector (2013), Catherine the Great (2019), 1923 (2022), and MobLand (2025).
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Mirren seeks Oscar glory". BBC News. 11 March 2002. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- ^ "Helen Mirren". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- ^ "Helen Mirren Biography: Actor (1945–)". Biography.com. FYI/A&E Networks. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ Clarke, Donald (5 September 2014). "Helen Mirren: 'I'm not chopped liver'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- ^ Cho, Daniel J. (25 July 2024). "Helen Mirren's Extraordinary Life and Career in Photos". People. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- ^ Lahr, John (2 October 2006). "Command Performance: The reign of Helen Mirren". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "No. 56963". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2003. p. 7.
- ^ "Dame Helen centre stage at palace". BBC News. 5 December 2003. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012.
- ^ "Helen Mirren". Emmy Award. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ "Why Helen Mirren, at 75, remains the queen of acting". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
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