Ten fun facts about Helen Mirren

Fact 1
She has a treasure-house of awards under her hat- an Oscar for Best Actress for ‘The Queen’, four BAFTAs, 4 SAG Awards, 3 Golden Globes four Emmys, as well as 2 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.

Fact 2
In her youth, Mirren was a well-known stage actress. Right through the 1960s and 1970s, she acted in several plays. She was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Fact 3
Mirren refused the “Commander of Order of the British Empire” in 1996. However on the Queen's Birthday Honors List in 2003, she was named “Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire”. This was in recognition of all her contributions to the world of drama.

Fact 4
Though it was not her most critically-acclaimed movie, her favorite role was in ‘Teaching Mrs. Tingle”, the 1999 film in which she played the evil history teacher.

Fact 5
Mirren is known to have a rebellious streak. When on a visit to a Native American reservation located in Minnesota, on a whim she got a star tattoo made on her left hand.

Fact 6
After appearing in the buff in the film ‘The Calendar Girls’, she is quoted to have said that people are not interested in seeing pictures of churches. They are interested in seeing naked bodies.”

Fact 7
She is the only actress to ever play both Queen Elizabeth I, in the 2005 film ‘Elizabeth I’ and Queen Elizabeth II, in the 2006 film ‘The Queen’.

Fact 8
This 60+ actress can give anyone half her age an inferiority complex. In 2010 she acted in six films). Mirren was voted the sexiest older woman in the world, in 2007.

Fact 9
As part of the prep for her role as Nevada’s first legalized brothel in Nevada, in the 2010 film ‘Love Ranch’ , Helen actually spent a night in an real brothel.

Fact 10
Mirren had publicly vowed never to marry. She finally succumbed and wed Taylor Hackford, the director, in 1997.