Helen Mirren has more than earned the desirable title of British Acting Royalty. The actress is simply a sensation best known for her elegance and charm. Helen has undoubtedly earned her iconic status since she began her acting career in 1965. Her success is easily seen from her staggering net worth of $100 million.
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A Short History About Helen Mirren
Helen was born on July 26, 1945, making her 77 years old. She is a graceful 5 ft 4 and was born and raised in the United Kingdom. The actress started in films such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1968 and Hamlet in 1976. Helen quickly rose to stardom after everyone realized she was a brilliant actor with a delightful personality.
Other films that starred the sensation were hit films such as Mosquito Coast or The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, to name a few. However, her most honorific roles were in The Queen. Helen was cast as Queen Elizabeth II herself, and I can justifiably say that she was a phenomenon. I thankfully wasn’t the only one to have felt this, and it brings me to her list of awards and accolades.
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Helen Mirren’s Awards and Nominations
The famous actress has been nominated four times at the Academy Awards for her roles in The Madness of King George, Gosford Park, The Queen and The Last Station. Out of the four, she won Best Actress for her brilliant performance in The Queen. Helen has received an impressive 16 nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Actress for The Queen, Losing Chase and Elizabeth I. If that isn’t impressive, then I honestly don’t know what is!
I know we can’t name all her awards but let’s not forget her 11 nominations at the Emmy Awards, where she impressively won four. Helen is, in fact, Queen!
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Her Love Life
Her love list is just a total of two: starting with actor Liam Neeson in the early ‘80s. The two met as they worked on set for Excalibur, and things got pretty serious, making them move in together.
They eventually broke up, allowing Helen to meet the great love of her life, Taylor Hackford, in 1986. This happened during the filming of White Nights. Helen and Taylor got married in 1997 and have been together ever since. They have no children and couldn’t be happier with just each other.
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Helen Mirren and Her Journey with Sexual Assault
While she was a young actress, Helen Mirren said she often dealt with men flashing her. This was during an interview she had concerning sexual harassment and assault. Her story is so similar to that of many women out there; Mirren said that between 16 and 24, men would just expose themselves to her. This happened once a week in various places, from the subways, the tube, on buses, or even just simply walking down a road.
Helen described the experiences as utter horror, and I couldn’t agree more. It can be pretty hard to imagine the graceful goddess that is Helen Mirren as a young fragile 13-year-old little girl, but yes, she once was. Well, now imagine a whole grown man flashing such an innocent, vulnerable child. Helen admitted that this happened to her while the two were alone in a train carriage. I honestly cannot begin to imagine how her young self was.
Helen also got the courage to open up about the truth of Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulting her. No one would ever doubt a bold man with incredible talent like him. Helen had never thought for one second that Weinsten was capable of his actions, but her coming out did create a ripple effect where people aren’t afraid to speak up because they will be believed and action will be taken against the assaulters!
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Heading the Campaign against Sexual Harassment
Such incidents have fueled Helen to become one of the many forces behind the fight against sexual assault. She believes that the power play that happens every time such an incident is simply not right nor fair to any man, woman or child out there who has had to experience sexual harassment.
Occurrences from pick-up lines, objectification, and even being followed happened to her so often. She then decided to reach out to other women, and they, too, had their fair share of experiences. This only meant that many men were consistently doing it, and to make it all worse, no one did anything to stop it. Through education and awareness, Helen aims to let the whole world know it is our collective responsibility to take action. Looking away will never solve anything.
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