Lena Headey

About Lena Headey

Lena Kathren Headey (born 3 October 1973) is an English actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO epic fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award nomination, and Queen Gorgo in 300 (2006).

Headey made her film debut in the British film, The Clothes in the Wardrobe (US: The Summer House) (1992) alongside film greats Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, and Julie Walters. This was followed by the mystery drama Waterland (1992). She continued to work steadily in British and American films and on television, before gaining further recognition with her lead performances in the films The Brothers Grimm (2005) and 300 (2006). Her other film credits include The Remains of the Day (1993), The Jungle Book (1994), Mrs Dalloway (1997), Ripley's Game (2002), Imagine Me & You (2005), Dredd (2012), The Purge (2013), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), and Fighting with My Family (2019).

Outside of film, Headey starred as Sarah Connor in the science fiction television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009) and had recurring roles as Big Mama in the animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–2020) and as Amelia Hughes in the animated web series Infinity Train (2019–2021). She provided voices for the role-playing video game Risen (2009) and the video game tie-in film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016), as well as the animated series Danger Mouse (2015–2017) and Tales of Arcadia (2017–2018; 2020), and the puppet series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019).

TATTOOS

Right shoulder and upper arm: Ganesha and lotus; Left ring finger: outline heart; Between shoulder blades: coloured lotus surrounded by cherry blossoms; Right shoulder blade: red bird surrounded by cherry blossoms; Inside left wrist: "Loughran" (eldest son), "Wylie" (younger son) and birds; Inside left forearm below elbow: outline heart with "FOR KEEPS" inside it and "TRW" next to it, and small star above; Inside right forearm: upside down birdcage with open door and small star above; Left foot: dragonfly; Right foot; Outside right forearm: Durga and three triangles near elbow; Right hand: scarab beetle with wings spread; Each finger on both hands: dot between second and third joint; Left side ribs: "Can't we just return to the bare bones can't we just come back".

She married musician Peter Loughran in May 2007.[64] Their son was born in 2010.[65] She has spoken about suffering from postnatal depression following his birth.[66] Headey and Loughran separated in 2011, and she filed for divorce in July 2012, which was finalised in December 2013.[64][67] On 10 July 2015, Headey gave birth to a daughter with filmmaker Dan Cadan, a childhood friend who had worked with her on his short film The Devil's Wedding.[68] They had separated by June 2019.[69] In October 2022, Headey married American actor Marc Menchaca, whom she had been dating since 2020.[70][71]