Helen Mirren

Queen Elizabeth, a detective, a housekeeper — those are just three of the roles Helen Mirren has played in a trailblazing career that has spanned more than five decades and over 60 movies.

Mirren belongs to an esteemed group of actors who have earned the so-called Triple Crown of Acting — which in her case comprises an Academy Award, a Tony, and four Emmy awards. She is also the recipient of three BAFTAs and three Golden Globes, among many other honors. In 2003, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Mirren became a U.S. citizen in 2017 so she could vote in the 2020 presidential election from her home in Nevada. Even before earning her right to vote, she has spoken up about the importance of registering to vote and participating in elections.

“It’s only as you get older that you come to realize how incredibly influential your vote can be,” said Mirren, who was brought up in a “very anti-monarchist household.” (In fact, her paternal grandparents were Russian aristocrats forced into exile in England in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917.) “How it can change the nature of the world you live in on every level, whether that’s ecological, educational or the arts, or in any way you like to think of your life. Voting can change that.”

Mirren got her big break in the theater playing Shakespeare’s Cleopatra at London’s National Youth Theatre in 1965. She has been captivating audiences on stage, screen, and television ever since. She documented her life in a memoir, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures.