Helen Mirren facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Dame Helen Mirren DBE
Mirren in 2020
Born	Helen Lydia Mironoff (1945-07-26) 26 July 1945 (age 79) London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964–present
Works	Full list
Spouse(s)	Taylor Hackford (m. 1997)
Partner(s)	Liam Neeson (1980–1985)
Relatives	Simon Mirren (nephew) Tania Mallet (cousin) Rio Hackford (stepson) Mikhail Kamensky (great-great-great-great-grandfather)
Awards	Full list

Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff on 26 July 1945) is a famous English actor. She has had an amazing career for over 60 years. Helen Mirren has won many top awards for her acting. These include an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, five Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award.

She was also given special honors like the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014. In 2022, she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This is a very high honor in the UK.

Helen Mirren started acting at age 18 with the National Youth Theatre. She played Cleopatra in a play called Antony and Cleopatra in 1965. Later, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. She made her first appearance in London's West End in 1975. She won an Olivier Award for playing Queen Elizabeth II in the play The Audience (2013). She also played this role on Broadway and won a Tony Award.

Mirren won an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth II in the movie The Queen (2006). She was also nominated for Oscars for her roles in The Madness of King George (1994) and Gosford Park (2001). She has been in many movies like Excalibur (1981) and Eye in the Sky (2015). She also appeared in action films like Red (2010) and four Fast & Furious movies.

On television, Helen Mirren was well-known for playing DCI Jane Tennison. This was in the police show Prime Suspect (1991–2006). For this role, she won three British Academy Television Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. She also won Emmys for playing Ayn Rand in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999). Another Emmy came for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in the miniseries Elizabeth I (2005). More recently, she starred in Catherine the Great (2019) and 1923 (2022).

Early Life and Family History
Acting Career Highlights
Personal Life
- Relationships and Marriage
- Views and Beliefs
Recognition and Public Image
Awards and Honors
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Family History

Helen Lydia Mironoff was born in London, England, on 26 July 1945. Her mother, Kathleen Rogers, was English. Her father, Vasily Petrovich Mironoff, was Russian.

Her Russian Roots

Helen's father came from an old Russian noble family. His father, Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was a colonel in the Russian Army. He also worked as a diplomat for Tsar Nicholas II. In 1917, he was in Britain for a deal when the Russian Revolution happened. He and his family could not go back to Russia. So, they settled in London. Helen's grandfather became a cab driver to support his family.

Helen's great-great-great-great-grandfather was Mikhail Kamensky. He was a famous Russian general during the Napoleonic Wars.

Family Life and Name Change

Helen's father, Vasily, played the viola with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also an ambulance driver during World War II. He married Kathleen Rogers in 1938. Before 1951, he changed his first name to Basil. In 1951, the family changed their last name to Mirren. This was done by a legal process called a deed poll.

Helen was the second of three children. She has an older sister, Katherine, and had a younger brother, Peter. Her cousin was Tania Mallet, a model and a "Bond girl." Helen grew up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

School Days and First Steps in Acting

Helen Mirren went to Hamlet Court primary school. She played the main role in a school play of Hansel and Gretel. She also acted in plays at St Bernard's High School for Girls. After school, she studied at the New College of Speech and Drama in London.

At 18, she passed an audition for the National Youth Theatre (NYT). At 20, she played Cleopatra in the NYT's Antony and Cleopatra. Helen says this role "launched my career." It helped her get an agent and start her professional acting journey.

Acting Career Highlights

Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company

After her work with the National Youth Theatre, Helen Mirren was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). While with the RSC, she performed in many plays. These included The Revenger's Tragedy (1966) and All's Well That Ends Well (1967). She also played Cressida in Troilus and Cressida (1968) and Rosalind in As You Like It (1968).

In 1970, a documentary film called Doing Her Own Thing was made about Helen Mirren. It showed her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1972 and 1973, she worked with Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Research. She toured North Africa and the US with them. She later rejoined the RSC and played Lady Macbeth in 1974 and 1975.

Early Film Roles and Prime Suspect

Mirren was praised for her role as Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994)

In 1981, Helen Mirren returned to the Royal Court for the play Faith Healer. That same year, she was praised for her role in The Duchess of Malfi. She also took on roles in movies like Caligula (1979) and The Long Good Friday (1980). The latter was a breakthrough film role for her. Other films included Excalibur (1981) and 2010 (1984).

Helen Mirren became very famous for her role as detective Jane Tennison. This was in the TV drama series Prime Suspect. The show was very popular and won many awards. Her acting as Tennison earned her three British Academy Television Awards in a row. This made her one of only a few actors to win three consecutive BAFTA TV Awards for one role.

She also appeared in The Madness of King George (1994). In this film, she played Queen Charlotte. In 1998, Mirren played Cleopatra again in a play at the Royal National Theatre.

Becoming a Film Star and Winning Awards

Mirren at San Diego Comic Con in 2010

Helen Mirren continued her successful film career in the 2000s. She starred in Gosford Park (2001) with Maggie Smith. Her role as the head servant Mrs. Wilson earned her an Academy Award nomination. She also starred in Calendar Girls (2003) with Julie Walters. This comedy was based on a true story about women who made a calendar to raise money for charity. The film was very successful and earned her several award nominations.

She also played Queen Elizabeth I in the 2005 TV series Elizabeth I. For this role, she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Mirren won an Primetime Emmy Award for playing Elizabeth I in the HBO series in 2005

In 2006, Helen Mirren starred in The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears. She played Queen Elizabeth II in this film. Her performance earned her many awards, including a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award for Best Actress. When she accepted her Oscar, she thanked Queen Elizabeth II. She said the Queen had shown great dignity during her reign.

Mirren has played three British queens in different films and TV shows. She played Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994). She played Elizabeth I in Elizabeth I (2005). And she played Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006). She is the only actor to have played both Queens Elizabeth on screen.

Later Career and Continued Success

Mirren at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013

In 2010, Mirren appeared in five films. She played Prospera, a duchess, in The Tempest. This movie was based on Shakespeare's play. The director changed the character's gender so Mirren could play the lead. She also starred in the action comedy Red. In this film, she played Victoria, a former spy. The movie was a big success.

In 2012, Mirren played Alfred Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, in the movie Hitchcock. Critics praised her performance.

Mirren has played Queen Elizabeth II in both film and on stage in The Queen (2006) and The Audience (2013).

On 15 February 2013, she began playing Elizabeth II again. This time it was in the play The Audience in London's West End. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for this role. In 2015, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the same role on Broadway. Winning both an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony means she achieved the "Triple Crown of Acting".

In 2013, Mirren also voiced Dean Abigail Hardscrabble in the animated film Monsters University. She also returned for the sequel Red 2. In 2014, she starred in The Hundred-Foot Journey. She played a restaurant owner in France. This role earned her another Golden Globe nomination.

In 2015, Mirren starred in Woman in Gold with Ryan Reynolds. This film was based on the true story of a Jewish refugee trying to get back a famous painting. She also appeared in the thriller Eye in the Sky. In this movie, she played a military intelligence officer. Her last film that year was Trumbo, where she played a famous gossip columnist.

Mirren at Berlinale in 2020

In 2017, she narrated Cries from Syria, a documentary about the Syrian Civil War. She also had a small role in The Fate of the Furious, a Fast & Furious movie. She played Magdalene, the mother of two characters. In 2018, she played heiress Sarah Winchester in the horror film Winchester. She also appeared as Mother Ginger in Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

More recently, in 2021, she was cast as the villain Hespera in the superhero film Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Since 2022, she has played Cara Dutton in the TV series 1923, alongside Harrison Ford. In 2023, she played Golda Meir, a former prime minister of Israel, in the movie Golda. She also narrated Greta Gerwig's comedy Barbie (2023).

Personal Life

Relationships and Marriage

Helen Mirren lived with actor Liam Neeson in the early 1980s. They met while working on the movie Excalibur (1981).

In 1985, she met American director Taylor Hackford on the set of White Nights. They started dating in 1986. The couple got married on 31 December 1997. This was Helen's first marriage. Taylor Hackford has two children from previous marriages. Helen Mirren does not have any children of her own.

Views and Beliefs

Helen Mirren became a U.S. citizen in 2017. She voted in her first U.S. election in 2020. She has openly said she supports Israel.

In 1990, Mirren said she was an atheist. However, in 2011, she said she was "quite spiritual." She mentioned believing in fairies and leprechauns when she was a child. She still "sort of" believes in them, but not in God.

Recognition and Public Image

On 11 May 2010, Helen Mirren's waxwork was revealed at Madame Tussauds in London. In 2012, she was chosen as one of the British cultural icons. Artist Sir Peter Blake included her in a new version of his famous artwork. This was the cover for The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

In 2013, Mirren became a model for Marks & Spencer's "Womanism" campaign. This campaign featured leading British women from different fields. In March 2013, The Guardian newspaper listed her as one of the 50 Best-Dressed Over 50. In 2024, to celebrate International Women's Day, a Barbie doll was made in her likeness.

Awards and Honors

Helen Mirren has won many major awards for her acting. She has one Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, five Emmy Awards, and one Tony Award. She is the only performer to have achieved both the American and British "Triple Crown of Acting". This means she has won an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony (American Triple Crown). She has also won a BAFTA, an Olivier, and a Tony (British Triple Crown).

She has received many honorary awards. These include the BAFTA Fellowship and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. She also received the Honorary Golden Bear in 2020 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2022.

In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II appointed her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This was for her great contributions to drama. In January 2009, The Times newspaper listed her as one of the top 10 British actresses of all time.