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Helen Mirren on screen and stage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dame Helen Mirren is an English actor known for her prolific career in film, television, and on stage taking roles both dramatic and comedic. She has received several honors including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, five Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

Mirren started her career on stage playing Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra in a 1965 production with the National Youth Theatre at The Old Vic. She acted with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theater acting in numerous productions of William Shakespeare's work including The Merchant of Venice (1967), Much Ado About Nothing (1968), Richard III (1970), Hamlet (1970), and Macbeth (1974). She made her Broadway debut acting in the revival of the Ivan Turgenev play A Month in the Country (1995). She portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the Peter Morgan play The Audience both on Broadway and on the West End, which earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress.
Mirren made her film debut in the British experimental film Herostratus (1967). She took early roles in Caligula (1979), The Long Good Friday (1980), Excalibur (1981), and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989). She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the drama The Queen (2006). She was Oscar-nominated playing Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994), a maid in Gosford Park (2001), and Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). During this time she acted in numerous films across genres in films such as Calendar Girls (2003), State of Play (2009), The Tempest (2010), The Debt (2010), Woman in Gold (2015), Eye in the Sky (2015), Trumbo (2015), The Leisure Seeker (2017), and Golda (2023).
On television, Mirren earned acclaim for her role as DCI Jane Tennison in the police procedural Prime Suspect (1991–2006), for which she earned three BAFTA Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. She also earned Emmy Awards for her roles as Ayn Rand in the Showtime television film The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) and Queen Elizabeth I in the HBO miniseries Elizabeth I (2005) She also acted in the TNT film Door to Door (2002), the HBO movie Phil Spector (2013), the HBO miniseries Catherine the Great (2019), and the Paramount+ Western series 1923 (2022).
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Film
† | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
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Television
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Theatre
- Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, National Youth Theatre, The Old Vic, London, 1965
- Cathleen, Long Day's Journey into Night, Century Theatre, Manchester, 1965
- Kitty, Charley's Aunt, Century Theatre, Manchester, 1967
- Nerissa, The Merchant of Venice, Century Theatre, Manchester, 1967
- Castiza, The Revenger's Tragedy, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1967
- Diana, All's Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1967
- Cressida, Troilus and Cressida, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1968
- Hero, Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1968–1969
- Win-the-Fight Littlewit, Bartholomew Fair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1969
- Lady Anne, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
- Ophelia, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
- Julia, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
- Tatyana, Enemies, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
- Harriet, The Man of Mode, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
- Title role, Miss Julie, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
- Elayne, The Balcony, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
- Isabella, Measure for Measure, Riverside Studios, London, 1974
- Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974, then Aldwych Theatre, 1975
- Maggie, Teeth 'n' Smiles, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1975, then Wyndham's Theatre, London, 1976
- Nina, The Seagull, Lyric Theatre, London, 1975
- Ella, The Bed Before Yesterday, Lyric Theatre, 1975
- Queen Margaret, Henry VI, Parts I, II and III, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1977, then Aldwych Theatre, 1978
- Title role, The Duchess of Malfi, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 1980, then The Roundhouse, London, 1981
- Grace, Faith Healer, Royal Court Theatre, 1981
- Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, Pit Theatre, London, 1983
- Moll Cutpurse, The Roaring Girl, Barbican Theatre, London, 1983
- Marjorie, Extremities, Duchess Theatre, London, 1984
- Title role, Madame Bovary, Watford Palace Theatre, 1987
- Angela, "Some Kind of Love Story" and dying woman, "Elegy for a Lady," in Two-Way Mirror (double-bill), Young Vic Theatre, London, 1989
- Rosetta Borsi, Sex Please, We're Italian, Young Vic Theatre, 1991
- Natalya Petrovna, A Month in the Country, Albery Theatre, London, 1994, then Criterion Theatre, New York City, 1995
- Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, Royal National Theatre, London, 1998
- Collected Stories, Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, 1999
- Lady Torrance, Orpheus Descending, Donmar Warehouse, London, 2000
- Alice, The Dance of Death, Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 2001
- Christine Mannon, Mourning Becomes Electra, Royal National Theatre, 2003
- Title role, Phèdre, Royal National Theatre, 2009
- Elizabeth II, The Audience, Gielgud Theatre, London, 2013
- Elizabeth II, The Audience, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City, 2015
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