--- title: Helen Mirren Would Love to Play Donald Trump description: "He is an extraordinary character,” the Oscar-winning actress said of President Trump canonical: https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-13T16:08:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:44.378Z og:title: Helen Mirren Wants to Play Donald Trump and She Knows How to Do It og:description: "He is an extraordinary character,” the Oscar-winning actress said of Trump og:url: https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd765e7bcf1344f04/6988afe6a988ca5b6f6ba4c7/helen-mirren-embrace-age-aarp.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: AFI FEST 2016 Presented By Audi - Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' "The Comedian" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Helen Mirren Wants to Play Donald Trump and She Knows How to Do It twitter:description: "He is an extraordinary character,” the Oscar-winning actress said of Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd765e7bcf1344f04/6988afe6a988ca5b6f6ba4c7/helen-mirren-embrace-age-aarp.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Helen Mirren Says She Could Nail 'Shakespearean Character' Donald Trump by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 13, 2017 4:08 PM UTC  Actress Helen Mirren attends the premiere of Sony Pictures Classics' 'The Comedian' at AFI Fest 2016, presented by Audi at the Egyptian Theatre on November 11, 2016 in Hollywood, California. Actress Helen Mirren attends the premiere of Sony Pictures Classics' 'The Comedian' at AFI Fest 2016, presented by Audi at the Egyptian Theatre on November 11, 2016 in Hollywood, California.Tara Ziemba—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 13, 2017 4:08 PM UTC Dame Helen Mirren wants to play Trump. The Oscar-winning actor told a crowd at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & TV last month that she would love to test her skills by playing Trump. “I’d be so funny as [Trump](http://time.com/5020705/trump-putin-election-meddling/?xid=homepage),” Mirren said, [according to _The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/helen-mirren-would-love-play-donald-trump-1056917). “I love it. I’ve almost got the hair!” It’s not just a lark, for Mirren, though. She thinks playing the President of the United States would be a challenge even for her formidable acting skills. “I mean what a fascinating character. What an extraordinary character. I mean that’s a character isn’t it, the real thing?” she said. “But you know, a fantastic sort of slightly Shakespearean character. He may have a Shakespearean fall, I don’t know but you know, he is an extraordinary character.” As an actor, Mirren says she knows that she would need to get into Trump’s mind to properly portray him, and she is fully prepared to do it. “I don’t think that would be too difficult to penetrate \[his mind\] quite honestly,” she said. “You look at the upbringing. You look at the schooling, the father, the mother. I don’t know much about Mr. Trump’s background, but if I was to play him, I would definitely start there. You have to start with the child, and the child is very much in Trump.” Hopefully Mirren will get the chance to fulfill her dream. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Here's How Helen Mirren Says She Could Nail 'Shakespearean Character' Donald Trump","datePublished":"2017-11-13T16:08:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:44.378Z","description":"\"He is an extraordinary character,” the Oscar-winning actress said of President Trump","url":"https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Helen Mirren","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd765e7bcf1344f04/6988afe6a988ca5b6f6ba4c7/helen-mirren-embrace-age-aarp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd765e7bcf1344f04/6988afe6a988ca5b6f6ba4c7/helen-mirren-embrace-age-aarp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AFI FEST 2016 Presented By Audi - Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' \"The Comedian\" - Arrivals","caption":"AFI FEST 2016 Presented By Audi - Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' \"The Comedian\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Tara Ziemba—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5021414/helen-mirren-would-love-to-play-donald-trump/","name":"Here's How Helen Mirren Says She Could Nail 'Shakespearean Character' Donald Trump"}}]}] ```