Lena Headey - Biography

Since her feature debut in a supporting role as a sexually precocious schoolgirl in "Waterland" (1992), Yorkshire lass Lena Headey has worked steadily in both British and American films. On the heels of "Waterland", she portrayed a quiet young woman who has no idea why she consented to marriage with a thoroughly unbearable man twice her age in "The Summer House", which aired on British TV before its theatrical release, and had a small role as the upstairs maid in the Merchant-Ivory period drama "The Remains of the Day" (both 1993). Answering Hollywood's call, she landed the role of the virginal heroine of Disney's live-action "Indiana Jones" take on "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book" (1994) and also made her American TV debut that year in the ABC movie "MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday", based on the long-running series. The blush was definitely off the ingenue the following year in her roles for British TV as an Ecstasy-fueled raver in "Loved Up" and a troubled lesbian prostitute in the miniseries "Band of Gold".

The underutilized Headey brought a spark of humanity to Antonia Bird's "Face" as the girlfriend trying to persuade her boyfriend (Robert Carlyle) to abandon his life of crime. In the flashback sequences of the period drama "Mrs. Dalloway" (both 1997), she added a buoyancy and verve as the daring Sally Seton who not only flirts with Natascha McElhone (as the young unmarried Clarrisa) but also runs naked through the Edwardian household. Headey lent her beauty and charm to the role of the bewitching girl whom two guys want to marry in the disappointing time-travel romance "Twice Upon Yesterday/If Only" (1998). She was perfectly cast as Guinevere in the swashbuckling NBC miniseries "Merlin" (also 1998), which reteamed her with Sam Neill (who portrayed her father in "Jungle Book"), here cast as the legendary sorcerer. After enjoying a pivotal role as Liv Tyler's sister Olga in Martha Fiennes' feature directorial debut "Onegin" (1999), Heady sank her teeth into the role of a bitchy college student in the dark comedy "Gossip" (2000), the first film of a two-picture deal with Warner Bros. She additionally starred in the festival-screened "Aberdeen" (2000), earning praise for her turn as a lawyer who must reconnect with her estranged parents, an alcoholic father and a domineering mother dying of cancer.