Lena Headey

Biography

Lena Headey is a British actress. Headey is best known for her role as “Cersei Lannister” in Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-present) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), Possession (2002), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Headey stars as “Queen Gorgo”, a heroic Spartan woman in the period film, 300 (2006), by director Zack Snyder.

Headey was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, to British parents Sue and John Headey. Her father, a Yorkshire police cadet, was sent to Bermuda shortly before her birth. She was raised there, living by the ocean until she was five. At the age of seventeen, Headey’s performance in a one-off show in the company of six school friends caught the attention of a casting agent, who took a photo and asked her to audition. Eventually, Headey was cast in Waterland (1992), which became her big-screen debut. During her film career, spanning over 15 years, Headey has shown her range in a variety of roles, playing characters from Amazon-type warriors and action-minded women in The Cave (2005) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), to a lesbian florist in Imagine Me & You (2005).

She is best known for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.

Headey has been close friends with actress Piper Perabo since they starred together in the 2005 films The Cave and Imagine Me & You. She is also good friends with her Game of Thrones co-stars Pedro Pascal and Peter Dinklage, the latter of whom first suggested to producers on Game of Thrones that she be cast as Cersei Lannister.