Despite her Russian ancestry and birth name—IlyenaLydiaMironoff—she does not speak Russian but is fluent in French.Mirren is the only person to receive the triple crown of acting (top trophies for stage, screen and TV) in both America and Great Britain.She has a tattoo on her left hand of a Mayan symbol meaning “equal but opposite.”She’s been married for 25 years to Oscar-winning director TaylorHackford, whose films include An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray and Dolores Claiborne.In 2004, she was named Naturist of the Year by the organization British Naturism, for her love of baring it all. “I’m a naturist at heart,” she says. “I love being on beaches where everyone is naked.”Mirren became a U.S. citizen in 2017 and voted in her first U.S. election in 2020.Her paternal grandfather, PyotrVasilievich, was a czarist aristocrat.Mirren was awarded the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.Mirren lost the role of Sarah/Anna in The French Lieutenant’s Woman to MerylStreep.Mirren’s 2008 autobiography, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures, includes erotic portraits by British photographer JamesWedge, whom she lived with for four years.Mirren’s favorite eatery in the world was the Stage Restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village, which closed in 2016.Mirren is mentioned by name in the hard-core rap song “Grippin’ On Wood” by Pimp.Mirren was attracted to theater at an early age, finding her inspiration at the age of 13 at an amateur production of Hamlet.Mirren worked at the Kursaal amusement park as a “blagger” to attract customers onto rides.
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