Helen McCrory, born on 17 August 1968 in London, is a BAFTA Award-winning English actress. Her father, Ian McCrory, was a diplomat and her mother, Anne McCrory, was a physiotherapist. She has a sister named Catherine, and a brother named John. On 4 July 2007, Helen McCrory married Damian Lewis, a Golden Globe-nominated English actor and producer. She gave birth to a daughter, Manon, on 8 September 2006 and a son, Gulliver, on 2 November 2007. Helen McCrory completed her education from Queenswood, a boarding school in Hertfordshire.
Helen McCrory then joined the Drama Centre, a division of the University of the Arts, London to improve her acting skills. Her acting career started at the theatres and she appeared in plays like Blood Wedding, for which she won the Manchester Evening News Best Actress Award, and Trelawney of The Wells, for which she won the Ian Charleson Award for her portrayal of Rose Trelawney.
In 2002, Helen McCrory played the character of Elena in the play Uncle Vanya, which was written by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, for which she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Theatre Award under the Best Actress category. Later in 2006, Helen McCrory was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her performance as Rosalind in As You Like It.
Helen McCrory won several awards like Welsh BAFTA, Monte Carlo Best Actress Award and the Royal Television Society Best Actress Award, for her remarkable performance as Jo in her first television film Streetlife aired in 1995. She won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for the ‘Best Actress’ for the TV series North Square, in which she played the role Barrister Rose Fitzgerald. She appeared in TV series like Lucky Jim and Countess of Castlemaine. In Charles II: The Power and The Passion, she played the role of Barbara Villiers, for which she earned nomination for Golden Satellite Award. Helen McCrory has played the lead role in the ITV miniseries Anna Karenina and Carla.
In the silver screen, Helen McCrory made several appearances in supporting roles in films like Interview with the Vampire, Dad Savage, Charlotte Gray, The Count of Monte Cristo and Casanova. Helen McCrory gave a remarkable performance as Cherie Blair in the 2007 movie adaption The Queen, for which she was nominated for ALFS Award.
In 2008 Helen McCrory worked with Daniel Craig, a famous English actor better known for his portrayal of the fictional secret agent James Bond, in the film Flashbacks of a Fool directed by Baillie Walsh. She has also signed to play Narcissa Malfoy in the last three adaptations of the Harry Potter books. In spite of her busy schedule, she was able to establish her production company ‘The Public’ with Michael Sheen, a famous actor. The company is involved in new productions exhibited at the Liverpool Everyman, the Ambassadors and the Donmar.
