Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Vasilievan Mironov on the 26th of July 1945 in Chiswhick. West London. One of the heroes of the Napoleonic wars, Russian field marshal Mikhail Kamensky was her great-great-great-great grandfather. Her mother was the daughter the butcher of Queen Victoria. As a child Helen attended the St. Bernard’s High School, in Southend on Sea. Then she went to New College of Speech and Drama after high school.

When she was 18, Helen Mirren auditioned and was accepted for the National Youth Theatre. When she was 20 she already had the role of Cleopatra in NYT’s Anthony and Cleopatra. This was staged at the Old Vic. In the production she had a duet with Alan Parker.

Helen Mirren then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Castiza in the 1966 production of The Revenger’s Tragedy. Then in 1968 she played Cressida in Troilus and Cressida. In 1971 she played Miss Julie as Miss Julie. Then she briefly joined the International Center for Theatre Research in 1972 to 1973 and toured the United States and North Africa.
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