Lena Headey

Lena Headey (born 3 October 1973) is an English actress known for playing Sarah Connor onFox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, as well as appearing in such films as The Remains of the Day, Possession, Imagine Me and You, The Brothers Grimm, The Broken, 300and The Red Baron.

Background

Headey was born in Bermuda, where her father, an English police officer, was sent as an advisor. The family returned to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, when she was eight years old. She had her first taste of acting as a pupil at Shelley College 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 being picked for a role opposite Grant Warnock in the 1992 film Waterland.

Career

Headey has appeared in such films as James Ivory's Academy Award-nominated The Remains of the Day (alongside Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson), Stephen Sommers' The Jungle Book, Mrs Dalloway, Gossip, Aberdeen, The Parole Officer, Possession and Ripley's Game.

Headey co-starred with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, and played Queen Gorgo in Zack Snyder's 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. She also appeared in two films with Piper Perabo: The Cave and Imagine Me & You. Recent roles include the German film The Red Baron, a biopic of the legendary World War I fighter pilotManfred von Richthofen, where she appeared alongside Matthias Schweighöfer and Joseph Fiennes. 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 also has a small role in the horror movie Laid to Rest, which will be released on DVD on 21 April 2009. She starred in the Ridley Scott produced Tell-Tale, a film based on the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.

In addition to her film work, Headey headlined Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a television spin-off from James Cameron's popular Terminator 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.

Over the past couple of years, during downtime on the Terminator set, the actress worked on her own project which she describes as a "quirky ensemble comedy."^[2] Headey wrote and directed a short to promote the project, which features Piper Perabo and John Cleese. She now hopes to direct and produce a feature length version.

Headey has wrapped shooting the first season of the upcoming HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the first book of the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, where she plays the cruel queen, Cersei Lannister.

Personal life

Headey at the 300 London premiere

Headey dated actor Jason Flemyng for nine years. She and Flemyng met during the filming of The Jungle Book. She is close friends with actress Piper Perabo.She married musician Peter Paul Loughran in 2007; the couple have a son.She currently lives in California. Her height is 5 feet, 5 and 1/2 inches.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	notes
1992	Clothes in the Wardrobe	Margaret
1992	Waterland	Young Mary
1993	Century	Miriam
1993	Soldier Soldier	Shenna Bowles	TV series Base Details (1993) Live Fire (1993) Shifting Sands (1993)
1993	Spender	Emily	TV series Best Friends (1993) The More Things Change(1993)
1993	The Remains of the Day	Lizzie
1994	Fair Game	Ellie	TV drama
1994	MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday	Elise Moran
1994	The Jungle Book	Katherine Anne 'Kitty' Brydon
1995	Devil's Advocate	Clare Rigby
1995	Band of Gold	Colette	TV series
1995	Loved Up	Sarah
1995	The Grotesque	Cleo Coal
1996	Ballykissangel	Jenny	TV series The Things We Do for Love(1996)
1997	Kavanagh QC	Natasha Jackson	TV series Diplomatic Baggage (1997)
1997	The Hunger	Steph Reynolds	TV series Menage a Trois (1997)
1997	Face	Connie
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Young Sally
1998	Merlin	Queen Guinevere	Television film
1998	The Man with Rain in His Shoes	Sylvia Weld
1999	Inside-Out		Short film
1999	Onegin	Olga Larina
2000	Ropewalk	Allison
2000	Gossip	Cathy Jones
2000	Aberdeen	Kairo 'Kaisa' Heller
2001	Round About Five	Girlfriend	Short film
2001	Anazapta	Matilda
2001	The Parole Officer	Emma
2002	The Gathering Storm	Ava Wigram
2002	Possession	Blanche Glover
2002	Ripley's Game	Sarah Trevanny
2003	The Actors	Dolores
2003	No Verbal Response	Dr. Megan Pillay	Short film
2004	The Long Firm	Ruby Ryder	TV series
2005	The Brothers Grimm	Angelika
2005	The Cave	Kathryn
2005	Imagine Me & You	Luce
2006	Ultra	Penny/Ultra	TV series
2007	300	Queen Gorgo
2007	The Contractor	Inspector Annette Ballard
2007	St. Trinian's	Miss Dickinson
2008	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles	Sarah Connor	TV series 2008–2009, Star, Narrator
2008	The Broken	Gina McVey
2008	The Red Baron	Käte Otersdorf
2009	Laid to Rest	Cindy
2009	Tell-Tale	Elizabeth	forthcoming film
2009	The Super Hero Squad Show	Black Widow, Mystique	Animated Series On Cartoon Network
2011	Game of Thrones	Cersei Lannister	upcoming HBO series

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