[post_page_title]Helen Mirren vs. Queen Elizabeth II [/post_page_title]
Can there be a bigger challenge for an actor than playing a figure as iconic as Queen Elizabeth? The monarch has been around for so long that many of her admirers weren’t even alive before she sat on the throne. Playing her is a huge undertaking – but one that Helen Mirren was seemingly born to do. Apart from the physical likeness, Mirren is actually the granddaughter of an exiled Russian aristocrat. Knighted by Prince Charles, she played his mother in The Queen, and was so convincing in the role that crew members literally began addressing her formally.