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Helen Mirren Biography (1945–)

Helen Mirren is a revered, award-winning actress whose film and TV work includes ‘Prime Suspect,’ ‘Caligula,’ ‘Shadowboxer,’ ‘Elizabeth I’ and ‘The Queen.’

Who Is Helen Mirren?

Born on July 26, 1945, in London, England, Helen Mirren pursued stage work before debuting in film during the ’60s. A versatile, highly skilled actress, Mirren has starred in many movies, including CaligulaExcaliburCalendar Girls and The Last Station. She was lauded for her lead role in the series Prime Suspect and she’s portrayed Queen Elizabeth I and II, winning an Oscar for the latter roleShe was later cast as Alma Reville, the wife of director Alfred Hitchcock, in the 2012 biopic Hitchcock.

Early Life

Award-winning actress Helen Mirren was born Illiana Lydia Petrovna Mironova on July 26, 1945, in Chiswick, London, England, the second of three children of Vasiliy Petrovich “Basil” Mironov and Kathleen Rogers.

Mirren’s father played the viola with the London Philharmonic. He later left the orchestra to become a cab driver and driving test examiner, both professions that better supported his family, and eventually ended up working as a civil servant with the Ministry of Transport. Mirren’s mother was the daughter of a butcher who supplied meat to Queen Victoria.

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

Aspiring Actress

Mirren was attracted to theater at an early age, finding her inspiration at the age of 13 at an amateur production of Hamlet. “I was blown away by all this over-the-top drama,” she said in an interview with The Times UK. “We grew up without TV and never went to the cinema, so after Hamlet, all I wanted to do was get back into that world where all those fabulous things were possible.”

Mirren was steered away from the career by her parents, and was instead sent to St. Bernard’s High School, a Catholic convent, in Southend-on-Sea. An English teacher at St. Bernard’s, who happened on a recruiting circular for the National Youth Theatre, urged Helen to audition for the troupe. She did, and at the age of 18 was accepted into the company. At the urgings of her mother, however, Mirren entered a London teaching college in order to learn a stable profession.

Stage, Film & TV Roles

‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ ‘MacBeth’

By age 20, Mirren was starring as Cleopatra in the 1965 production of Antony and Cleopatra. Her performance as the Egyptian leader landed her an agent, as well as a place with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She began playing sexually charged roles such as Castiza in the 1966 staging of The Revenger’s Tragedy; Cressida in a 1968 production of Troilus and Cressida; and Lady Macbeth in the 1974 Trevor Nunn production of MacBeth. These roles, as well as several others, earned her the label “The Sex Queen of Stratford”—a title she greatly resented.

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