Helen Mirren's Education Background

Dame Helen Mirren is an English actress. She is a highly respected stage, screen, and television actress who has won many awards, including one Academy Award for Best Actress, two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards, three Golden Globes, four Emmys, and four SAG Awards. Her next film, Arthur, in which she will co-star with Russell Brand, will be released on April 8, 2011. EDUinReview will now take a look at this talented actress’ education background.
Mirren was born on July 26, 1945, in Chiswick, London. Her parents were Vasiliy and Kathleen, and she is of Russian and English descent. She has an older sister, Katherine, and a younger brother, Peter Basil.

When Mirren was only six-years old, she knew she wanted to be an actress, but her parents encouraged her to pursue a higher education anyway. She attended St Bernard’s High School for Girls, where she performed in several school productions. After high school, she attended the New College of Speech and Drama in order to pursue a teaching career. However, she auditioned for and was accepted by the National Youth Theatre when she was 18-years old, and two years later, she was signed by a talent agent after her performance as Cleopatra in Anthony and Cleopatra.
Mirren went on to perform in a variety of theatre plays and worked for several acting companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company and Lyric Theatre Company. She has been nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award for Best Actress in a play twice.
Mirren has had a long and successful film career as well. Some of her most famous films include The Madness of King George, The Queen, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, and The Last Station.
In December 2003, Mirren was honored as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She had already been offered the appointment in 1996, but had declined.
On a personal note, Mirren married Taylor Hackford in December 1997. The couple has been together since 1986. This is her first marriage, and his third. They have no children together, but Hackford has two children from his previous marriages. She wrote her autobiography, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures, in 2007; it looks like a photo album but contains an inside look into her personal and professional life.