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IMDbPro
Helen Mirren at an event for RED 2 (2013)

Biography

Helen Mirren

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Overview

  • Born
    July 26, 1945 · Hammersmith, London, England, UK
  • Birth name
    Helen Lydia Mironoff
  • Nickname
    • Popper
  • Height
    5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Biography

    • Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. Mirren attended St. Bernards High School for girls, where she would act in school productions. After high school, she began her acting career in theatre working in many productions including in the West End and Broadway.
      - IMDb mini biography by: Aidanmacv

Family

  • Spouse
      Taylor Hackford(December 31, 1997 - present)
  • Children
      Rio Hackford
      Alex Hackford
  • Parents
      Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda Mironoff (Rogers)
      Vasiliy Petrovich Mironoff
  • Relatives
      Peter Basil Mironoff(Sibling)
      Katherine Mironoff(Sibling)
      Tania Mallet(Cousin)

Trivia

  • Her great-great-great-great-grandfather was field-marshal Kamensky, one of the Russian heroes of the Napoleonic wars.
  • Has a tattoo of a star on her left hand, acquired at a Native American reservation in Minnesota.
  • Her paternal grandparents were Russian. Her grandfather, Piotr Vasilievich Mironoff, was a Tsarist aristocrat who was in London negotiating an arms deal during World War I when the 1917 Russian Revolution stranded him there. His wife and son (Helen's father) joined him in London. On her mother's side, she is of English descent.
  • She was initially hesitant to sign on to RED (2010) due to film's graphic violence, but changed her mind upon learning of Bruce Willis' involvement.
  • John Boorman said he cast her opposite Nicol Williamson in Excalibur (1981), against both of their protests, because he felt their dislike of each other made them perfect as rivals Morgana and Merlin.

Quotes

  • [About herself] Being famous for being cool about not being gorgeous.
  • The trick in life is learning how to deal with it.
  • [About the Academy Awards] It's the creme-de-la-creme of bulls**t.
  • Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be. I can't stand it when they behave like solicitors from Penge. I'm a would-be rebel. The good girl who'd like to be a bad one.
  • All you have to do is to look like crap on film and everyone thinks you're a brilliant actress. Actually, all you've done is look like crap.

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