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Revered for her work on stage, television and film, Dame Helen Mirren is one of Britain's most prolific and daring actresses and, as hit comedy Calendar Girls (2003) amply demonstrated, still a sex symbol to boot. Not bad for a woman nearly into her sixties. The daughter of a Russian aristocrat, Ilynea Lydia Mironoff was born in 1945 in East London. Displaying an early talent for acting, Mirren was accepted into the National Youth Theatre. Acclaimed performances on stage swiftly followed, and a much-praised turn in Peter Hall's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) marked her transition to onscreen star.
Over the next thirty years, Mirren gained respect and notoriety in films as diverse as Penthouse-produced Caligula (1977), a gangster boss in The Long Good Friday (1980) and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover (1989). With an Oscar-nominated performance in Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), lead roles in Calendar Girls and The Clearing, and various theatrical incarnations besides, Helen Mirren doesnt look set to be retiring anytime soon.
