Helen Mirren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Helen Mirren
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Mirren in 2023
|
|
| Born |
Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov
26 July 1945 Hammersmith, London, England
|
| Citizenship |
|
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–present |
|
Works
|
Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Taylor Hackford
(m. 1997) |
| Partner(s) | Liam Neeson (1980–1985) |
| Relatives |
|
| Awards | Full list |
| Signature | |
 |
|
Dame Helen Mirren (born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov on July 26, 1945) is a famous English actor. She has had an amazing career on screen and stage for over 60 years. Mirren has won many of the biggest awards in acting.
She is the only person to have won the "Triple Crown of Acting" in both the United States and the United Kingdom. This means she has won the top awards for film (an Academy Award), television (an Emmy Award), and theater (a Tony Award in the U.S. and a Laurence Olivier Award in the U.K.). In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame, which is a high honor in Britain.
Mirren began acting with the National Youth Theatre when she was 18. She later joined the famous Royal Shakespeare Company. She became well-known for playing Queen Elizabeth II in the play The Audience (2013) and the movie The Queen (2006).
She has starred in many popular films. These include action movies like Red and its sequel, and she has also appeared in the Fast & Furious movie series. On television, she is famous for playing detective Jane Tennison in the crime drama Prime Suspect.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Helen Mirren was born Elena Lydia Mironov in Hammersmith, a part of London, England. Her mother, Kitty, was English and came from a working-class family. Her father, Vasily, was from a noble Russian family that had to leave Russia during the Russian Revolution.
Her grandfather, Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was a colonel in the Russian army and later became a diplomat. When the revolution happened in 1917, he and his family were in Britain and could not return home. He settled in London and became a taxi driver to support his family.
Helen's father, Vasily, played the viola in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He later became a taxi driver and then a civil servant. In 1951, he changed the family's last name from Mironoff to the more English-sounding Mirren.
Helen grew up in Leigh-on-Sea, a town in Essex. She acted in school plays like Hansel and Gretel. At 18, she joined the National Youth Theatre. Her role as Cleopatra in a play there helped launch her acting career.
Acting Career
Starting on the Stage
After her success at the National Youth Theatre, Mirren was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). The RSC is one of the most respected theater companies in the world. She played many classic roles, including characters from William Shakespeare's plays like As You Like It and Macbeth.
In the 1970s, she worked with the famous director Peter Brook and toured North Africa and the United States with his theater group. She became known for her powerful performances on the London stage.
Becoming a Movie Star
Mirren's film career began to take off in the 1980s. She starred in movies like The Long Good Friday (1980) and Excalibur (1981). She also appeared in The Mosquito Coast (1986) with Harrison Ford.
One of her most famous roles was as detective Jane Tennison in the TV series Prime Suspect (1991–2006). The show was a huge hit, and her performance won her three British Academy Television Awards in a row.
In 1994, she played Queen Charlotte in the film The Madness of King George. This role earned her a nomination for an Academy Award. She also lent her voice to the animated movie The Prince of Egypt (1998).
Winning Major Awards
The 2000s were a time of great success for Mirren. In 2001, she was part of the all-star cast of Gosford Park. Her role as a strict head servant earned her another Academy Award nomination. She also starred in the hit comedy Calendar Girls (2003).
Mirren has famously played two different English queens named Elizabeth.
- She played Elizabeth I in the 2005 TV series Elizabeth I, winning an Emmy Award.
- She played Elizabeth II in the 2006 film The Queen, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
_-_Portrait_of_Queen_Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
In her Oscar acceptance speech, she thanked the real Queen Elizabeth II for her dignity. She later played the Queen again on stage in the play The Audience in 2013, winning a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway.
Recent Work and Blockbusters
Mirren has continued to star in a wide variety of films. She played a retired assassin in the action-comedy Red and its 2013 sequel. She also voiced characters in animated films like Monsters University (2013).
In 2012, she played Alma Reville, the wife of famous director Alfred Hitchcock, in the movie Hitchcock. She has also appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise as Magdalene "Queenie" Shaw, the mother of Deckard and Owen Shaw.
More recently, she starred in the horror film Winchester (2018) and Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018). In 2023, she played former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the film Golda and was the narrator in the hit movie Barbie. She also stars in the TV series 1923, a spinoff of Yellowstone.
Personal Life
In the early 1980s, Helen Mirren was in a relationship with actor Liam Neeson, whom she met on the set of the movie Excalibur.
She met American director Taylor Hackford in 1985, and they married in 1997. It was her first marriage. Mirren has said she never felt the need to have children of her own but enjoys being involved in the lives of her stepchildren.
Mirren became a U.S. citizen in 2017 and voted in her first American election in 2020. She has expressed support for Israel's existence but has also said she disagrees with some of its government's policies.
Honors and Recognition
Helen Mirren is one of the most celebrated actors of her generation. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which she received in 2013. In 2020, she was given an Honorary Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival for her lifetime of work.
In 2013, she was featured in a new version of The Beatles' famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover by artist Sir Peter Blake. The artwork celebrated British cultural figures he admired.
In 2024, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of International Women's Day, the toy company Mattel created a Barbie doll in her likeness to honor her achievements.
Acting Credits and Awards
Helen Mirren has won many of the most important awards in acting.
- Academy Award (1)
- BAFTA Awards (4)
- Golden Globe Awards (3)
- Emmy Awards (5)
- Tony Award (1)
She is the only actor to have won both the American and British "Triple Crowns of Acting." She has also received lifetime achievement awards from the Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
Images for kids
-
A wax figure of Helen Mirren at Madame Tussauds in London.
See also
In Spanish: Helen Mirren para niños
- List of British actors
- List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
- List of Primetime Emmy Award winners
- List of Golden Globe winners
