Lena Headey
Encyclopedia
Lena Headey is an English actress. Headey's performance in a one-off show when she was 17 caught the attention of a casting agent, who took a photo and asked her to audition and eventually she got a supporting role alongside Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...

 and Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

 in the 1992 British drama film Waterland
Waterland (film)
Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:...

 and went on to appear with higher-profile actors in major films such as The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day (film)
The Remains of the Day is a 1993 Merchant Ivory film adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, Mike Nichols and John Calley. It starred Anthony Hopkins as Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton with James Fox,...

 (1993), The Jungle Book (1994), Onegin
Onegin (film)
Onegin is a 1999 British-American romantic drama film based on Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse Eugene Onegin, co-produced by British and American companies and shot mostly in the United Kingdom...

 (1999) and Aberdeen
Aberdeen (film)
Aberdeen is a 2000 drama film directed by Hans Petter Moland, starring Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey and Charlotte Rampling.-Cast:*Stellan Skarsgård - Tomas Heller*Jean Anderson - Young Kaisa*Lena Headey - Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller...

 (2000).

After work steadily as an actress getting small and supporting roles in films throughout the 1990s, she found fame for her lead performances in big-budget motion pictures that became well-known like the fantasy film The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm (film)
The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 fantasy Adventure film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con-artists in French-occupied Germany during the late 18th century...

 (2005), in which she acted opposite Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...

 and Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

, the action period film 300
300 (film)
300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...

 (2007), portraying the role of Queen Gorgo and the adventure and biopic feature The Red Baron
The Red Baron (film)
The Red Baron is a German biopic by Nikolai Müllerschön from 2008, about the legendary World War I fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen. It was filmed in the Czech Republic, France and Germany, entirely in English to improve its international commercial viability.-Plot:In 1906, a young Baron...

 (2008).

Lately, she has been known for playing the starring role Sarah Connor on Fox's television spin-off of James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...

's popular Terminator
Terminator
-Science:*Terminator , the line between the day and night sides of a planetary body*Terminator , the end of a gene for transcription-Technology:*Terminator , a resistor at the end of a transmission line to prevent signal reflection...

 film series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009). She currently appears as Cersei Lannister in HBO's television series Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones (TV series)
Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...

 (2011), which has received universal acclaim from both critics and audience.

Background

Headey was born in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, where her father, John, an English police officer, was sent as an advisor shortly before she was born. Headey is the oldest child; she has one younger brother named Tim. The family returned to Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, West Yorkshire, when she was five years old. She also attended Shelley High and graduated from the English Rose School of Acting, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. She had her first taste of acting as a pupil at Shelley College
Shelley College
Shelley College is an upper school and sixth form college on the border between the villages of Shelley and Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire in England....

 and had her first big break at the age of 17 when she was spotted performing in a school production at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 being picked for a role opposite Grant Warnock in the 1992 film Waterland
Waterland (film)
Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:...

. She has never been back to her birthplace.

Headey has suffered bouts of clinical depression since the age of 15 and she said in an interview: "I was diagnosed when I was 15, and it comes and goes. I may suffer from it once or twice a year, but I now recognise it and deal with it. I don't use medication because I'm so worried about becoming dependent on it, but I can understand people who do, because you go through the most horrendous feelings of isolation".

Early roles

At the age of 17, Headey performanced in a one-off show and a casting agent, after seeing her, took a photo and asked her to audition. Later, she got a supporting role in the British drama Waterland
Waterland (film)
Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:...

, in which she had the opportunity to work with actors who had been in the business several years before her. She landed a small role in The Remains of the Day
The Remains of the Day (film)
The Remains of the Day is a 1993 Merchant Ivory film adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, Mike Nichols and John Calley. It starred Anthony Hopkins as Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton with James Fox,...

, which came out in 1993. After its release, the film earned positive reviews and became a box office success as well. The Remains of the Day go eight Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nominations. She worked with one of the most powerful Hollywood actors, Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

.

She played Katherine in Disney's The Jungle Book, released in 1994. The film came out to positive reviews and earned near $ 44 million in the United States. Headey, alongside her co-stars received favourable reviews with James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...

 praising their "solid performances". On the set of The Jungle Book, she met her nine years boyfriend, Jason Flemyng.

After a string of roles in films, she acted opposite Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

 in the 1997 romantic drama Mrs Dalloway
Mrs Dalloway (film)
Mrs Dalloway is a 1997 drama film directed by Marleen Gorris and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone and Michael Kitchen. It is an adaptation of the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf...

. Headey landed a supporting role in a higher-profile film titled Onegin
Onegin (film)
Onegin is a 1999 British-American romantic drama film based on Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse Eugene Onegin, co-produced by British and American companies and shot mostly in the United Kingdom...

, which Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

 and Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...

 starred in. A following year, she had the starring role in the comedy-drama Aberdeen
Aberdeen (film)
Aberdeen is a 2000 drama film directed by Hans Petter Moland, starring Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey and Charlotte Rampling.-Cast:*Stellan Skarsgård - Tomas Heller*Jean Anderson - Young Kaisa*Lena Headey - Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller...

. Headey received several good reviews for her performance in the film. She also had played roles in 2000's Gossip
Gossip (2000 American film)
Gossip is a 2000 teen drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring an ensemble cast including James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, and Kate Hudson.-Plot:...

 and 2001's The Parole Officer
The Parole Officer
The Parole Officer is a 2001 film, directed by John Duigan and was the first feature film to star comedian Steve Coogan. The film follows a mismatched group of former criminals as they assist their probation officer in proving his innocence after a murder accusation.-Plot:Simon Garden is a...

.

She received the Silver Iris Award for Best Actress at the 2001 Brussels European Film Festival for her role in Abardeen. In 2003, she was also nominated for the Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
The Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress is an award given by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film to the actress or actresses whose winning performance is voted by participating members. The Chlotrudis Awards is an annual ceremony where the best of the previous year's independent and...

 for that same performance. In 2002, she had a role in the mystery drama Possession alongside Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...

 and Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...

.

Rise to prominence

Headey co-starred with Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...

 and Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

 in Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...

's The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm (film)
The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 fantasy Adventure film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con-artists in French-occupied Germany during the late 18th century...

, which was released in August 2005. The film received mixed or average reviews shortly after its release and was a success at the box office. Headey spoke about her character in the film during an interview: "I loved the fact that she was a tomboy. That is what attracted me to her is that she wasn’t this predictable female character in this big movie. You meet her and she is masking who she is. I loved that her environment dictated who she is. She lives and grows up and survives in the forest. Terry and I talked about how her instincts are almost animalistic and she can see 360 degrees around her. She is aware of what is going on. That is how she is grounded . She is of the earth".

In 2005, she starred with actress Piper Perabo
Piper Perabo
Piper Lisa Perabo is a Golden Globe Award nominated American stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary Charlotte , a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a professor of poetry at Ocean...

 in the films The Cave
The Cave (film)
The Cave is a 2005 horror film, directed by Bruce Hunt. It stars Cole Hauser, Eddie Cibrian, Morris Chestnut, Marcel Iureş, Lena Headey, Rick Ravanello, Piper Perabo and Daniel Dae Kim.-Plot:...

 and Imagine Me & You
Imagine Me & You
Imagine Me & You is a 2005 British-American comedy-romance film written and directed by Ol Parker. It centres on the relationship between Rachel, played by Piper Perabo and Luce, played by Lena Headey, who meet on Rachel's wedding day. The movie takes its title from a line in the song "Happy...

. The Cave was not well received by critics and did poorly at the box office.

The British romantic comedy-drama Imagine Me & You came out receiving a limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....

 and earning positive reviews and there were lots of critics who praised Headey's performance as a lesbian in the film; Nick LaSalle from San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

 stated that the actress "has a forthright, irresistible appeal and a face and especially a smile that suggest intelligence, integrity and lots of fun".

Headey played Queen Gorgo
Gorgo, Queen of Sparta
Gorgo was the daughter and the only child of Cleomenes I, King of Sparta during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. She was the wife of King Leonidas I, Cleomenes' half-brother, who fought and died in the Battle of Thermopylae. Gorgo is noted as one of the few female historical figures actually named...

 in Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics...

's 300
300 (film)
300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...

, based on Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...

's graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

. Headey had to get naked while shooting the film. "It’s always weird the thought of taking your clothes off in front of 20 people and then to have it projected in front of many more", she told IndieLondon during an interview. "I think it was necessary because we only get that scene to establish their relationship. It is a very obvious moment but I think it does it in quite a beautiful way."

In addition to her film work, Headey headlined Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a television spin-off from James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...

's popular Terminator
Terminator (franchise)
The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....

 franchise. Headey played Sarah Connor from January 2008 to April 2009. The show ran two seasons consisting of 31 episodes until its cancellation in May 2009. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

 praised "Headey's gritty performance as Sarah — managing to be smart, resourceful and tough, yet melancholy and vulnerable as well" and that the Chronicles "continue to deliver", getting "considerable mileage out of the constant peril" facing the characters. She was nominated twice for the Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
The following are a list of Saturn Award nominees & winners for Best Actress on Television:-1990s:*1996: Gillian Anderson - The X-Files**Claudia Christian - Babylon 5**Melissa Joan Hart - Sabrina, the Teenage Witch...

 for the role.

Low-profile films

Recent roles include the German film The Red Baron
The Red Baron (film)
The Red Baron is a German biopic by Nikolai Müllerschön from 2008, about the legendary World War I fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen. It was filmed in the Czech Republic, France and Germany, entirely in English to improve its international commercial viability.-Plot:In 1906, a young Baron...

 (known in Germany as Der rote Baron), a biopic of the legendary World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...

, where she appeared alongside Matthias Schweighöfer
Matthias Schweighöfer
Matthias Schweighöfer is a German actor. He is sometimes credited as Matthias Schweighofer.Born in Anklam, East Germany, Schweighöfer attended the renowned acting school Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch", but dropped out after one year...

 and Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...

. Her character was the love interest Käte Otersdorf, a nurse who may or may not have had a romance with Richthofen (Schweighöfer) in real life. She also appeared as stuffy Miss Dickinson in the 2007 release of the St. Trinian's series (for which she received third billing for a relatively minor role). She starred in the Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

 produced Tell-Tale
Tell-Tale (film)
Tell-Tale is a 2009 thriller film inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story The Tell-Tale Heart. It is directed by Michael Cuesta and stars Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, and Brian Cox and is produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott.-Plot:...

, a film based on the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart
The Tell-Tale Heart
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye". The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by dismembering it and hiding it under the...

" by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

. The movie went straight to DVD on May 25, 2008.

She also portrayed the starring role in the 2008 horror film The Broken
The Broken (film)
The Broken is a horror film written and directed by Sean Ellis and starring Lena Headey.- Plot :Gina McVey is a radiologist who is enjoying dinner one evening with her family and her boyfriend Stefan when a mirror shatters for no apparent reason...

. The film was directed by Academy Award-nominated Sean Ellis. The film is about "a woman who suspects she's being followed around London by a murderous doppelganger". The Broken was screened at the midnight section of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, generally got average reviews and some critics praised Headey's portray include Kim Koynar for Cinematical who wrote that Headey "largely carries the film, and does so quite ably".

She landed the lead part in another horror film titled Laid to Rest
Laid to Rest (film)
Laid to Rest is a 2009 slasher film, directed by Robert Green Hall and stars Bobbi Sue Luther, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Thomas Dekker, Lucas Till and Jana Kramer.-Synopsis:...

, which was first screened in 2008 as well. However, the film came out on April 21, 2009 directly to video, and earned mixed reviews after its release; critic Mark H. Harris for About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....

 state that the film "has a great look and boasts an impressive cast" referring to both Headey and co-star Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker (actor)
Thomas Alexander Dekker is an American film and television actor and a musician. He is also a singer and has written and produced two albums. He is best known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nick Szalinski on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Zach...

. Headey had a part in a short film called The Devil's Wedding. She provided her voice for an episode of the Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 TV show The Super Hero Squad Show
The Super Hero Squad Show
The Super Hero Squad Show is an American cartoon series by Marvel Animation. It is based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, which portray the characters of the Marvel Universe in a cartoonish super-deformed-style...

.

2010 onwards

Headey has wrapped shooting the first season of the HBO series Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones (TV series)
Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...

, based on the first book of the series A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the series in 1991 and the first volume was published in 1996. Originally planned as a trilogy, the series now consists of five published volumes; a further two...

 by George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...

, where she plays the cruel queen, Cersei Lannister. She had a guest appearance in the hit TV show White Collar
White Collar (TV series)
White Collar is a USA Network television series created by Jeff Eastin, starring Matt Bomer as con-man Neal Caffrey and Tim DeKay as Special Agent Peter Burke. It premiered on October 23, 2009. In December 2009, White Collar was renewed for a second season that began on July 13, 2010...

 in the episode "Taking Account" in which she played the role of Sally. She is nominated for a Scream Award in the category of Best Fantasy Actress.

She is set to appeared in the action sci-fi film Dredd. The film is going to be released in late 2012 and Karl Urban
Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor.He is known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 film Star Trek and Julius Caesar on Xena: Warrior Princess...

 and Olivia Thirlby will co-starred in it. Her character is Madeline Madrigal who is the leader of a gang and will be the project's primary villain. Dredd is a film adaptation of 2000 AD character Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...

. The film is to be directed by Pete Travis
Pete Travis
Pete Travis is an English television and film director. His work includes Cold Feet , The Jury and Omagh for television, and Vantage Point and Endgame for cinema...

 with a script by Alex Garland
Alex Garland
Alexander Medawar "Alex" Garland is a British novelist and screenwriter.-Early life:Garland was born in London, England, the son of psychoanalyst Caroline and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. His maternal grandparents were zoologist Peter Medawar and author Jean Medawar...

. The movie will come out in 3D
3D
3D or 3-D may refer to:*Three-dimensional space, the physical universe*Stereoscopy, any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image-Music:*3D...

.

Media

She has appeared on the covers of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

, g3, UK's Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...

 and Germany's Filmstar. She ranked #64 on the Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....

 magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list. She was listed #4, #10 and #3 in afterellen.com's list Hot 100 in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. In 2008, Headey spoke out against animal abuse in an advert for animal welfare group PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

.

Personal life

Headey was for a while engaged to Johnny Cicco and dated actor Jason Flemyng
Jason Flemyng
Jason Iain Flemyng is an English actor. He is known for his film work, which has included roles in British films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch , both for Guy Ritchie, as well as Hollywood productions such as Rob Roy along with the Alan Moore comic book adaptations From...

 for nine years. She and Flemyng met during the filming of The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1994 film)
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 Disney film based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and is a live-action remake of the 1967 film The Jungle Book. The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli and Cary Elwes as his main adversary. It was...

. She has a tattoo of his name in Thai on her arm. She is close friends with actress Piper Perabo
Piper Perabo
Piper Lisa Perabo is a Golden Globe Award nominated American stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary Charlotte , a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a professor of poetry at Ocean...

. She is a vegetarian, and has campaigned on behalf of animal rights. She married musician Peter Paul Loughran 19 May 2007; the couple have a son, Wylie Elliot Loughran, born 31 March 2010. She currently has homes in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Her height is 5 feet, 5½  inches.

She practices boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 and yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

. "I also started Bikram yoga." She said in an interview. "A few years ago I used to box in London and that held me in good stead".

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Clothes in the Wardrobe Margaret
1992 Waterland
Waterland (film)
Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:...

Young Mary
1993 Century Miriam
1993 Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997...

Shenna Bowles TV series; 3 episodes
1993 Spender
Spender
Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993...

Emily TV series; 2 episodes
1993 Lizzie
1994 Fair Game Ellie TV movie
1994 MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday Elise Moran
1994 The Jungle Book Katherine Anne 'Kitty' Brydon
1995 Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate (film)
The Devil's Advocate is a 1997 American horror film directed by Taylor Hackford starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron, and based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman....

Clare Rigby
1995 Band of Gold
Band of Gold (TV series)
Band of Gold is a television drama series written by Kay Mellor and produced by Granada Television. It wasoriginally shown on ITV between 1995 and 1997...

Colette TV series
1995 Loved Up
Loved Up
Loved Up was a BBC drama for the Love Bites season of films, broadcast on 23 September 1995. The film was directed by Peter Cattaneo who would go on to direct the feature films The Full Monty and Lucky Break...

Sarah
1995 Cleo Coal
1996 Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the UK from 1996 to 2001...

Jenny TV series; 1 episode
1997 Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....

Natasha Jackson TV series; 1 episode
1997 Steph Reynolds TV series; 1 episode
1997 Face
Face (1997 film)
Face is a British crime drama directed by Antonia Bird and written by Ronan Bennett. It stars Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone and features the acting debut of rock singer Damon Albarn.-Plot Summary:...

Connie
1997 Mrs Dalloway
Mrs Dalloway (film)
Mrs Dalloway is a 1997 drama film directed by Marleen Gorris and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone and Michael Kitchen. It is an adaptation of the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf...

Young Sally
1998 Merlin
Merlin (film)
Merlin is a television miniseries which originally aired in 1998 that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin...

Queen Guinevere TV movie
1998 Sylvia Weld
1999 Inside-Out Short film
1999 Onegin
Onegin (film)
Onegin is a 1999 British-American romantic drama film based on Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse Eugene Onegin, co-produced by British and American companies and shot mostly in the United Kingdom...

Olga Larina
2000 Ropewalk
Ropewalk
A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material were laid before being twisted into rope.Ropewalks historically were harsh sweatshops, and frequently caught on fire, as hemp dust forms an explosive mixture. Rope was essential in sailing ships and the...

Allison
2000 Gossip
Gossip (2000 American film)
Gossip is a 2000 teen drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring an ensemble cast including James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, and Kate Hudson.-Plot:...

Cathy Jones
2000 Aberdeen
Aberdeen (film)
Aberdeen is a 2000 drama film directed by Hans Petter Moland, starring Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey and Charlotte Rampling.-Cast:*Stellan Skarsgård - Tomas Heller*Jean Anderson - Young Kaisa*Lena Headey - Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller...

Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller
2001 Round About Five Girlfriend Short film
2001 Anazapta Matilda
2001 Emma
2002 Ava Wigram
2002 Possession Blanche Glover
2002 Ripley's Game
Ripley's Game (film)
Ripley's Game is a feature film based on the 1974 novel of the same name, the third in Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad," a series of books chronicling the murderous adventures of con artist Tom Ripley...

Sarah Trevanny
2003 Dolores
2003 No Verbal Response Dr. Megan Pillay Short film
2004 Ruby Ryder TV series
2005 Angelika
2005 Kathryn
2005 Imagine Me & You
Imagine Me & You
Imagine Me & You is a 2005 British-American comedy-romance film written and directed by Ol Parker. It centres on the relationship between Rachel, played by Piper Perabo and Luce, played by Lena Headey, who meet on Rachel's wedding day. The movie takes its title from a line in the song "Happy...

Luce
2006 Ultra
Ultra (comics)
Ultra is an eight-issue comic book limited series created by the Luna Brothers, Jonathan and Joshua , and published by Image Comics in 2004 and 2005....

Penny/Ultra TV series pilot; not picked up
2007 300
300 (film)
300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...

Queen Gorgo
Gorgo, Queen of Sparta
Gorgo was the daughter and the only child of Cleomenes I, King of Sparta during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. She was the wife of King Leonidas I, Cleomenes' half-brother, who fought and died in the Battle of Thermopylae. Gorgo is noted as one of the few female historical figures actually named...

2007 Inspector Annette Ballard
2007 St. Trinian's
St Trinian's (2007 film)
St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1980....

Miss Dickinson
2008–2009 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Sarah Connor TV series
2008 Gina McVey
2008 Käte Otersdorf
2009 Laid to Rest
Laid to Rest (film)
Laid to Rest is a 2009 slasher film, directed by Robert Green Hall and stars Bobbi Sue Luther, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Thomas Dekker, Lucas Till and Jana Kramer.-Synopsis:...

Cindy
2009 Tell-Tale
Tell-Tale (film)
Tell-Tale is a 2009 thriller film inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story The Tell-Tale Heart. It is directed by Michael Cuesta and stars Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, and Brian Cox and is produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott.-Plot:...

Elizabeth
2009 Black Widow, Mystique
Mystique (comics)
Mystique is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics' franchise X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms...

TV series
2011 Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones (TV series)
Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in...

Cersei Lannister TV series
2011 White Collar
White Collar (TV series)
White Collar is a USA Network television series created by Jeff Eastin, starring Matt Bomer as con-man Neal Caffrey and Tim DeKay as Special Agent Peter Burke. It premiered on October 23, 2009. In December 2009, White Collar was renewed for a second season that began on July 13, 2010...

The Vulture TV Series; 1 episode
2012 Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...

Claire Lane TV series
2012 Dredd Madeline Madrigal

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2001 Silver Iris Award
(at the Brussels European Film Festival)
Best Actress Aberdeen
Aberdeen (film)
Aberdeen is a 2000 drama film directed by Hans Petter Moland, starring Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey and Charlotte Rampling.-Cast:*Stellan Skarsgård - Tomas Heller*Jean Anderson - Young Kaisa*Lena Headey - Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller...

2003 Chlotrudis Award Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
The Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress is an award given by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film to the actress or actresses whose winning performance is voted by participating members. The Chlotrudis Awards is an annual ceremony where the best of the previous year's independent and...

Aberdeen
2007 MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...

Best Breakthrough Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
This is a following list of the MTV Movie Award winners and nominees for Best Breakthrough Performance. In many years, the awards were split into Male and Female categories...

300
300 (film)
300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...

2007 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure 300
2008 Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...

Best Supporting Actress 300
2008 Saturn Award Best Actress on Television
Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
The following are a list of Saturn Award nominees & winners for Best Actress on Television:-1990s:*1996: Gillian Anderson - The X-Files**Claudia Christian - Babylon 5**Melissa Joan Hart - Sabrina, the Teenage Witch...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2008 SFX Award Best Television Actress Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2009 Saturn Award Best Actress on Television
Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television
The following are a list of Saturn Award nominees & winners for Best Actress on Television:-1990s:*1996: Gillian Anderson - The X-Files**Claudia Christian - Babylon 5**Melissa Joan Hart - Sabrina, the Teenage Witch...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2011 Scream Award Best Fanatasy Actress Game of Thrones

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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