Helen McCrory

Her mother, Ann (née Morgans), is a Welsh physiotherapist, and her father, Iain McCrory (born 29 March 1940), is a diplomat from Glasgow; they were married in 1968.

She was the eldest of three children.

She was educated at Queenswood School near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, then spent a year living in Italy.

Upon her return to Britain, she began studying acting at the Drama Centre in London.

Helen Elizabeth McCrory (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021) was an English actress.

McCrory was born on 17 August 1968 in Paddington, London.

After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990.

Other stage roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End, and Medea in the eponymous play in the Royal National Theatre.

McCrory won third prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her 1993 performance as Rose Trelawny in Trelawny of the 'Wells' at the National Theatre.

McCrory is known for her film roles as François in Charlotte Gray (2001), Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), alongside Michael Sheen who portrayed husband and Prime Minister Tony Blair in both, Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films (2009, 2010, 2011), Mama Jeanne Hugo (2011), and Clair Dowar in the James Bond film Skyfall (2012).

In 2002, she was nominated for a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress (for playing Elena in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse).

She appeared in Charles II: The Power and The Passion (2003), as Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine and in supporting roles in such films as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Charlotte Gray (2001), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Casanova (2005).

She was later nominated for a 2006 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her role as Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End.

In the critically acclaimed film The Queen (2006), she played Cherie Blair, a role she reprised in Peter Morgan's follow-up The Special Relationship (2010).

In 2006, her first pregnancy forced her to pull out of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), in which she had been cast as Bellatrix Lestrange (she was replaced by Helena Bonham Carter).

She appeared in a modernised television adaptation of Frankenstein (2007).

In April 2008, McCrory made a "compelling" Rebecca West in a production of Ibsen's Rosmersholm at the Almeida Theatre, London.

McCrory was later cast as Bellatrix's sister Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released in July 2009.

In 2010 and 2011, she reprised her role in the final films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

She also played the principal villain role of Rosanna Calvierri in the 2010 episode "The Vampires of Venice" of the BBC television series Doctor Who.

McCrory starred in The Last of the Haussmans alongside Julie Walters and Rory Kinnear at the Royal National Theatre, which began 12 June 2012.

The production was broadcast to cinemas around the world on 11 October 2012 through the National Theatre Live programme.

In the same year, she also appeared in the twenty-third James Bond film Skyfall as Clair Dowar MP.

McCrory also played lead role, wedding director Julie Ranmore, in the three-part ITV drama Leaving.

She was also known for her television roles as Polly Gray in the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013–2019), Madame Kali in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014-15), Emma Banville in the ITV series Fearless (2017) and Kathryn Villiers in the BBC mini-series MotherFatherSon (2019).

In 2013, McCrory narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri.

Again in 2013, she played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at the Little Angel Theatre.

In 2014, McCrory played the title role in the National Theatre's production of Medea, directed by Carrie Cracknell.

Her performance was critically acclaimed.

Also in 2014, she made a guest appearance on the TV series Penny Dreadful.

She returned as a regular for the show's second season, playing the main antagonist.

In 2014, McCrory also starred in A Little Chaos, opposite Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman who also directed the film.

In 2016, she starred as Hester in the stage play The Deep Blue Sea, which was filmed and shown live in cinemas worldwide on 1 September 2016 as part of National Theatre Live.

McCrory was confirmed to play the lead role, human-rights lawyer Emma Banville, in six-part ITV drama series Fearless, which aired in June 2017.

The same year, she began playing Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders, which she continued to star in alongside Cillian Murphy for 5 series until 2019.

In 2019, McCrory starred as Kathryn Villiers in Tom Rob Smith’s MotherFatherSon alongside Richard Gere and Billy Howle.

It averaged 2.69 million viewers.

In 2020, she was set to star in the final series of Peaky Blinders until production was shut down five days before filming was set to begin in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When production resumed in January 2021, she was unable to return due to breast cancer and the script had to be rewritten following her death.

She appears in series 6 through archive and unreleased footage.