Here Are 13 of Helen Mirren's Best Roles

  • Caligula, Caesonia, 1979
    Penthouse
    1 of 13
  • Excalibur, Morgana, 1981
    Warner Bros.
    2 of 13
  • Cal, Marcella, 1984
    Warner Bros.
    3 of 13
  • Prime Suspect, Jane Tennison, 1991-2006
    Matthew Ford—Granada Television
    4 of 13
  • The Madness of King George, Queen Charlotte, 1994
    Samuel Goldwyn Company
    5 of 13
  • Gosford Park, Mrs. Wilson, 2002
    Focus Features
    6 of 13
  • Calendar Girls, Chris, 2003
    Touchstone Pictures
    7 of 13
  • Elizabeth I, Elizabeth I, 2005
    HBO
    8 of 13
  • The Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, 2006
    Granada Productions
    9 of 13
  • The Last Station, Sofya, 2010
    Stephan Rabold—Sony Pictures
    10 of 13
  • Hitchcock, Alma Reville, 2012
    Suzanne Tenner—Montecito Picture Company
    11 of 13
  • The Hundred-Foot Journey, Madame Mallory, 2014
    Francois Duhamel—Touchstone Pictures
    12 of 13
  • Woman in Gold, Maria Altmann, 2015
    Robert Viglasky—BBC Films
    13 of 13
By Sarah Begley
July 26, 2015 8:00 AM EDT

Few actors can boast a resume as impressive as Helen Mirren’s. The London-born dame has played a detective (Prime Suspect, two Emmy awards), Ayn Rand (Emmy win), prominent wives (in Hitchcock, about the director, and The Last Station, about Tolstoy) and several British queens: Charlotte in The Madness of King George (Oscar nomination), the title role in Elizabeth I (Golden Globe win) and Elizabeth II in The Queen (Oscar win).

Mirren, who turns 70 on Sunday, has a total nomination count of four Academy Awards, 13 Golden Globes and 11 Emmys. Here are 13 of her best film and television roles over the course of a fruitful (and, thankfully, ongoing) career. All hail the queen.

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