English Shakespearean actresses

Dame Helen Mirren is an English actor. Regarded amongst Britain's greatest actors, Mirren is the recipient of several accolades including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, two Cannes Film Festival Awards, a Volpi Cup and a Laurence Olivier Award. She is the only person to have achieved both the US and UK Triple Crowns of Acting, and has also received the BAFTA Fellowship, Honorary Golden Bear, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Mirren was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen for over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for six Olivier Awards. Smith is one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.

English actress (born 1934)

Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike is an English actress and producer. Known for her portrayals of complex and morally ambiguous women in independent cinema and psychological thrillers, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and two British Academy Awards.

British actress and activist (born 1937)

English actress (1938–2020)

English actress (born 1956)

British actress (1963–2009)

English actress and filmmaker

British actress

English actress

Vanessa Nuala Kirby is an English actress. She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Princess Margaret in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2016–2017), for which she won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. For her performance in the film Pieces of a Woman (2020), she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

British actress (1951–2024)

British actress (1907-1991)

British actress

British actress (1888–1976)

Helen Elizabeth McCrory was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

British actress

British-Spanish actress

British actress

English film and stage actress (1912-2003)

Natascha McElhone is an English actress and producer, who has worked extensively in film and television in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is known to film audiences for her roles in Surviving Picasso (1996), Ronin (1998), The Truman Show (1998), Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Solaris (2002) and Carmen (2021).

British actress (1939–2025)

British actress

English actress (1847–1928)

British actress and presenter (born 1974)

British actress (born 1956)

English comedian, actress and writer

British actress

Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly is an English actress. Her television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama Above Suspicion (2009–2012), the American psychological medical drama Black Box (2014), the American anthology crime drama True Detective (2015) and the historical fantasy drama Britannia (2018). From 2018–24, she played Beth Dutton on Yellowstone, opposite Kevin Costner.

British-Australian actress

British actress

British actress

British actress

Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in the NBC medical drama ER (1997–2004) and her title role in the ITV miniseries The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996), which earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress.

British actress

English actress (1906-1964)

Anya Chalotra is an English actress known for her performances across stage and screen. Following her professional debut in Much Ado About Nothing (2017) at Shakespeare's Globe, she made her screen debut in the BBC One drama series Wanderlust (2018) and The ABC Murders (2018). She gained wider recognition for her starring role as Yennefer in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher (2019–present).

Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge was an English actress and singer. She was best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC One comedy series Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), for which she was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance.

British actress (1922–1976)

British actress

British actress (born 1950)

English actress

British actress (1932-2015)

British actress

British actress

British actress

British actress

British stage and film actress (1944–2026)

Zawedde Emma Muwanga-Ashton is a British actress and playwright. She gained recognition for her roles in the comedy dramas Fresh Meat and Not Safe for Work, the Netflix horror thriller film Velvet Buzzsaw, and for her portrayal of Joyce Carol Vincent in Dreams of a Life (2011). She also portrayed Dar-Benn in The Marvels (2023).

British actress

English actress (1961-2002)

British actress

English actor (born 1956)

British actress

British actress (born 1966)

British actress (1882–1976)

British actress

British actress

British actress (1929–2008)