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| Helen Mirren |
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"I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down -- a bourgeois wimp -- and I'm fighting that. I think all Brits are maybe.”
- Helen Mirren
| Date of Birth: July 26, 1945 |
| Birthplace: Ilford, England |
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| With a filmography that consists of almost 100 titles, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Helen Mirren’s work has resonated with viewers, but with appearances in such well-known hits as Gosford Park (2001), Calendar Girls (2003) and The Queen (2006), Helen is certainly a familiar face to anyone with even a passing interest in cinema. |
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| As British as tea and crumpets, Helen Mirren has been working steadily for over three decades but has only recently entered the public’s consciousness. There’s little doubt that she is among the best and brightest of British imports, and it’s not difficult to see why Helen’s work is often cited for its authenticity and fearlessness. |
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Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov was born on July 26, 1945, in Ilford, England. The daughter of a Russian father and a British mother, Helen became aware of her penchant for performance at the age of 6 and subsequently devoted herself to the pursuit of a career within that world. Helen’s unwieldy birth name was changed while she was still just a child, as her father -- in an effort to blend seamlessly into the fabric of British society -- changed the family name to Mirren sometime in the 1950s.
After graduating high school, Helen acquiesced to her parents’ demands and enrolled in teacher’s college. She didn’t last too long there, however, and her decision to leave was simplified after she successfully auditioned for a stint at North London’s National Youth Theatre. It was there that Helen was first exposed to the limitless possibilities offered by acting, and the would-be starlet soon found herself playing no less than Cleopatra in a production revolving around the famed Egyptian queen’s life. Helen went on to appear in countless stage plays at Britain’s prestigious Old Vic Theatre (including a lauded adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth).
Having established herself as one of the very best up-and-coming actresses on the London stage, Helen decided that the time was right to start pursuing roles on the silver screen. She made her debut in a long-since-forgotten television movie called The Extravaganza of Golgotha Smuts (1967), and followed that up with a series of equally obscure efforts. In 1969, Helen finally caught the attention of the masses with a risque performance in Michael Powell’s Age of Consent opposite James Mason. Helen earned rave reviews for her work in the film, and any questions as to her abilities were firmly and definitively answered.
Helen spent the 1970s working steadily in a wide range of movies and plays, appearing opposite such notable names as Laurence Olivier, Malcolm McDowell, and Ian Holm. She even took a starring role in the infamous Hollywood bomb Caligula, which became universally reviled for the inclusion of hardcore sex scenes within its two-and-a-half hour running time. Fortunately, Helen managed to emerge from that mess relatively unscathed and took a role alongside Bob Hoskins in the acclaimed British crime drama The Long Good Friday.
Helen worked steadily throughout the ‘80s, appearing in a mixture of acclaimed dramas, including 1986’s The Mosquito Coast, opposite Harrison Ford, and avant-garde arthouse fare such as 1989’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. In terms of her personal life, Helen had never found the right man to settle down with until she met Taylor Hackford. The two became fast friends when he directed her in 1985’s White Nights, and after living together for 11 years, Helen and Taylor married on December 31, 1997.
In 1991, Helen made her first appearance as a rugged police detective, Jane Tennison, on the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of Prime Suspect. Having reprized the role six times over the years -- most recently in 2006’s The Final Act, which is purportedly the final installment -- Helen clearly owes a healthy chunk of her thriving career to the character and the excitement with which the fans have embraced her performance.
Helen’s output during the 1990s was largely contained to small European endeavors, including 1990’s The Comfort of Strangers with Christopher Walken and Rupert Everett, and 1994’s The Madness of King George opposite Ian Holm. In 1999, Helen made a rare appearance in a mainstream Hollywood effort after she agreed to take the title role in Teaching Mrs. Tingle alongside Katie Holmes and Barry Watson. The film, a colossal failure both critically and financially, sent Helen packing back to the United Kingdom where she has since devoted herself to appearing almost exclusively in more intellectually satisfying pictures.
Helen had a run of critically acclaimed films following the turn of the century, having appeared in movies like 2001’s Last Orders with Michael Caine, 2001’s Robert Altman murder-mystery Gosford Park starring Clive Owen, and 2003’s sleeper hit Calendar Girls. It was also around that time that Helen received the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire, having once rejected the title earlier in her career.
Helen earned some of the most glowing reviews of her career for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in 2006's The Queen, a film detailing the Royal Family’s reaction to the mid-‘90s death of Princess Diana. She won a Best Actress award from the Venice Film Festival for the role, and an Oscar nod was inevitable. And with a starring role in 2007's Inkheart opposite folks like Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, and Sienna Guillory, there’s little doubt that Helen's career heights were reached later on in her life, just as her palm reader had predicted. |
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