Lena Headey

Lena Kathren Headey (born 3 October 1973) is an English actress.

Lena Kathren Headey was born in Hamilton in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda on 3 October 1973, the daughter of English parents Sue and John Headey.

Her father, a police officer from Yorkshire, was stationed in Hamilton at the time in the Bermuda Police Service.

She has one younger brother named Tim.

She is of English and Irish descent.

When she was five, her family returned to England, initially settling in Somerset.

She took ballet lessons as a child.

Headey made her film debut in the British film, The Clothes in the Wardrobe (US: The Summer House) (1992) alongside actresses Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, and Julie Walters.

This was followed by the mystery drama Waterland (1992).

Headey had her first experience of acting when she was a pupil at Shelley College; she was noticed at age 17, when performing in a school production at the Royal National Theatre, and was picked for a role in the 1992 film Waterland.

At the age of 17, Headey performed in a one-off show and afterwards a casting agent took a photo and asked her to audition.

She eventually obtained a supporting role in the drama Waterland (1992), in which she had the opportunity to work with actors who had been in the business several years before her.

Her other film credits include The Remains of the Day (1993), The Jungle Book (1994), Mrs Dalloway (1997), Ripley's Game (2002), Imagine Me & You (2005), Dredd (2012), The Purge (2013), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), and Fighting with My Family (2019).

She also had a small role in the critically acclaimed 1993 drama film The Remains of the Day, which received eight Academy Awards nominations.

She appeared in the hit TV show Soldier Soldier with Robson Green and Jerome Flynn.

Her career continued to grow in England throughout the decade, and she got larger parts in bigger motion pictures.

Headey played Kitty Brydon, the childhood friend and romantic interest of Mowgli, in Disney's The Jungle Book (1994).

James Berardinelli praised the cast's "solid performances" as part of a positive critical reception, and the film found moderate commercial success in theaters.

In 1996 she featured as Collette in Kay Mellor's Band of Gold TV series, before starring in Kavanagh QC in 1997 playing the role of Natasha Jackson.

She appeared opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the 1997 romantic drama Mrs Dalloway, portraying the closest friend of a housewife, who is now wife of a self-made millionnaire and mother of five.

She was then cast in the drama Onegin (1999), a film based on the 19th-century Russian novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed the fiancée of an aspiring poet and appeared with Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler.

The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.

In 2000, Headey played a newly promoted lawyer with no apparent emotional attachments in the romantic comedy Aberdeen, receiving the Silver Iris Award for Best Actress at the 2001 Brussels European Film Festival, and also starred as a troubled college student in the psychological drama Gossip, with Kate Hudson.

In 2001's comedy The Parole Officer, Headey took on the role of a police officer, alongside Steve Coogan in his first film role.

While the film was warmly received, ViewLondon remarked: "The only disappointment is Lena Headey, who, despite being fantastically sexy (she's given both a nude scene and a 'dressed as a prostitute' scene), smirks her way through the entire film, even at the most inappropriate moments".

In 2002, she appeared as a mousey Victorian lesbian artist with Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart in the mystery drama Possession, based on the 1990 novel of the same name by British author A. S. Byatt, and as the wife of a law-abiding art framer dying of leukemia in the thriller Ripley's Game, adapted from the 1974 novel of the same name.

In its review for the latter, Eye for Film noted: "Whilst this is very much a male-centred film, Lena Headey turns in a powerful performance as Jonathan's wife, creating a sense of balance and normality against which other events are contrasted".

Headey appeared in the comedy The Actors (2003), opposite Dylan Moran and Michael Caine, portraying the love interest of a struggling actor.

She is credited as voice actor for the character Callista in the video game Dishonored.

She continued to work steadily in British and American films and on television, before gaining further recognition with her lead performances in the films The Brothers Grimm (2005) and 300 (2006).

Headey found much wider recognition when she starred with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's adventure fantasy film The Brothers Grimm (2005), as Angelika, whose woodsman father was transformed into a werewolf by the Evil Queen.

She was drawn to the "tomboy" nature of her character, about which she stated: "She lives and grows up and survives in the forest. Terry and I talked about how her instincts are almost animalistic and she can see 360 degrees around her. She is aware of what is going on. That is how she is grounded. She is of the earth".

The Brothers Grimm received mixed reviews and made US$105.3 million worldwide.

In 2005, Headey also starred with actress Piper Perabo in the films The Cave and Imagine Me & You.

The horror film The Cave saw the actress play a member of a group of divers who become trapped in an underwater cave network.

While critical response was negative, the film managed to turn a profit at the box office.

In the romantic dramedy Imagine Me & You, she took on the role of a woman who falls in love at first sight with a newlywed bride who reciprocates her feelings; the newlywed struggles with whether to remain in a passionless marriage to a sweet husband, or pursue her electric connection to Headey's character Luce.

Outside of film, Headey starred as Sarah Connor in the science fiction television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009) and had recurring roles as Big Mama in the animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–2020) and as Amelia Hughes in the animated web series Infinity Train (2019–2021).

She provided voices for the role-playing video game Risen (2009) and the video game tie-in film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016), as well as the animated series Danger Mouse (2015–2017) and Tales of Arcadia (2017–2018; 2020), and the puppet series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019).

She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award nomination, and Queen Gorgo in 300 (2006).