Helen Mirren, successful actress

Helen Mirren is a famous British and Hollywood actress. By the way, she is the only actress ever to play the roles of three Queens of England, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Charlotte. You know, she has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.
Moreover, Helen was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 2003. And in January 2013 the actress was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Besides, her wax figure is at Madame Tussauds London.
Elena Mironova (her birth name) was born on July 26, 1945 in a suburb of London. Her father Vasily Mironov was Russian and her mother Kitty was English. In the 1950s the father changed his family name to Mirren. Elena was the second of three children.
Parents wanted the girl to become a teacher. But Helen was fond of theater. She studied at the theatre school and at the age of 18 Helen joined the National Youth Theater.
At first the young actress played only small roles in the theater. But soon the girl played the role of Cleopatra on the stage of the Old Vic. Awesome girl was noticed by agents and invited to the Royal Shakespeare Theater. There she played main roles in the plays The Avengers Tragedy, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and Two Veronets.

Popularity came to the actress only after appearing on the screen.
The first success was after the release of the epic drama Caligula by Tinto Brass. The film was at the height of popularity. Then she starred in another popular film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover directed by Peter Greenaway.
The next noble role Mirren received in the adventure fantasy Excalibur, the actress got the role of Morgana.
In 1984 Helen received the first prestigious award in her career – the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It was an award for her role in the drama The Diary of a Terrorist.
Also she starred in The Long Good Friday, O Lucky Man, White Nights, Mosquito Coast and many others.
In 1991, the actress received the main role in the detective series Prime Suspect and played it until 2006.

During her career, she has portrayed three British queens in different films and television series: The Queen (2006), Elizabeth I (2005), The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Snow Queen (1995), The Madness of King George (1994), and Kaligula (1979).
In 2014, the actress played the main role in the melodrama The Hundred-Foot Journey. The next role was in the biographical picture Woman in Gold about the struggle of the heiress of a Jewish family, repressed during the Second World War.
In the military drama Eye In The Sky the actress played the role of British Colonel Catherine Powell.
Later, in 2017, Helen played a role of Magdalene Shaw in the Hollywood action movie Fast and Furious 8.
And in 2018, the actress appeared in the mystical thriller Winchester. She played the role of Sarah Winchester, the heiress of the famous arms company, who lived alone in a strange house.

Personal life
During the early 1980s Mirren lived with actor Liam Neeson, whom she met whilst working on Excalibur (1981).
On December 31, 1997 Helen married American director Taylor Hackford (her partner since 1986). They had met on the set of White Nights. She has no children and says she has “no maternal instinct whatsoever.”
Helen’s autobiography In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures was published in the US.
Her official site

Helen Mirren, successful actress