Lena Headey

Biography

Lena Headey (born 3 October 1973 in Hamilton, Bermuda) is a British actress known for two roles that reached a very wide audience: Queen Gorgo in 300 and Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Across more than three decades she has moved with ease between auteur-driven cinema, large genre productions and prestige television, building a career that few of her British contemporaries have matched in range.

Headey was born in Bermuda, where her father, a British police officer, was stationed. When she was around five, the family returned to England, first settling in Somerset and later in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. While still a pupil she appeared in a school production at the Royal National Theatre, and her performance caught the attention of a casting agent who encouraged her to audition for Waterland (1992). That early role opened the door to steady work in British film and television.

Her first years as an actress mixed prestige projects with more modest productions. She appeared in The Remains of the Day (1993) and in The Jungle Book (1994), where she played Kitty Brydon, Mowgli's childhood friend. Later she shared the screen with Vanessa Redgrave in Mrs Dalloway (1997), and she headlined the romantic comedy Aberdeen (2000), which earned her the Silver Iris award for best actress at the 2001 Brussels European Film Festival.

Her wider international recognition came with The Brothers Grimm (2005), directed by Terry Gilliam, and above all with 300 (2006), in which she played Queen Gorgo in Zack Snyder's retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. In 2008 she took on the role of Sarah Connor in the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which ended after two seasons. From 2011 to 2019 she played Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, a role that brought her several Emmy nominations and that she got thanks to a recommendation from her friend Peter Dinklage.

Alongside that work she continued to move between action and genre films, including Dredd (2012), The Purge (2013) and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013), in which she played the heroine's mother. More recently she starred in the thriller Nine Bullets (2022) and appeared in the miniseries The Plumbers (2023) alongside Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux. She has also directed, and her short film The Trap earned a BAFTA nomination. Her career remains active across both film and television.

Key films

• 300 (2006)
• The Remains of the Day (1993)
• The Jungle Book (1994)
• The Brothers Grimm (2005)
• Dredd (2012)
• The Purge (2013)