-
(#1) Cate Blanchett
- 49
Cate Blanchett first played Queen Elizabeth I in 1998's Elizabeth, and reprised the role for 2006's Elizabeth: The Golden Age. She received Oscar nominations for both performances.
-
(#2) Claire Foy
- 34
The first and youngest incarnation of Queen Elizabeth II in the decades-spanning 2016 Netflix series The Crown was performed by Claire Foy, who won two SAG awards, one Emmy, and one Golden Globe for the portrayal.
-
(#3) Natalie Dormer
- 33
Before playing a different embattled queen in Game of Thrones, Natalie Dormer played Anne Boleyn in the first two seasons of Showtime's 2007 costume drama The Tudors.
-
(#4) Helen Mirren As Queen Elizabeth II
Helen Mirren won the Oscar for Best Actress, and the corresponding BAFTA award, for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 film The Queen. The film dramatizes Elizabeth's struggle to deal shifting public opinion and anti-Royal sentiment following the 1997 demise of the beloved Princess Diana.
-
(#5) Helena Bonham Carter
- 52
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, known to later generations as the Queen Mum, was herself Queen of England during World War II, a time during which she helped her husband, King George VI, with his stuttering difficulties. The relationship was dramatized in 2010's The King's Speech, in which the Queen was played by Helena Bonham-Carter. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, while the film itself took the Oscar for Best Picture.
-
(#6) Judi Dench
- 84
Judi Dench played a small but pivotal role as an aging Queen Elizabeth I in 1998's Best Picture winner, Shakespeare in Love. The canny monarch passes judgment on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, deeming it to have succeeded in "show[ing] us the very truth and nature of love." Dench's performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
-
(#7) Olivia Colman
- 45
Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) took on the middle-aged Queen Elizabeth II for the 3rd and 4th seasons of Netflix's The Crown. She received a Best Actress Golden Globe in 2020 for the performance.
-
(#8) Judi Dench As Queen Victoria
Like both Elizabeths, Queen Victoria lived and reigned long enough for actresses of many ages to portray her. Judi Dench depicted an older Victoria, embarking on an unlikely friendship, in the 1997 film Mrs. Brown. The role won her a BAFTA award for Best Actress, and an Academy Award Nomination in the same category.
-
(#9) Saoirse Ronan
- 24
Set against Margot Robbie's Elizabeth was Saoirse Ronan as her cousin, Mary, who was eventually beheaded because Elizabeth's advisors feared she was a rival for the English crown.
-
(#10) Jenna Coleman
- 32
The 2016 British series Victoria stars Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria in the early part of her reign.
-
(#11) Elle Fanning
- 20
The Great, Elle Fanning's satirical take on the young Catherine's rise to power amid a backward and patriarchal Russian court, has made a splash on Hulu.
-
(#12) Helen Mirren
- 73
Helen Mirren took on the role of Russia's most famous queen for the 2019 biopic miniseries Catherine the Great. Mirren was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.
-
(#13) Katharine Hepburn
- Dec. at 96 (1907-2003)
1968's The Lion in Winter depicts a medieval English family, led by patriarch Henry II (Peter O'Toole), engaged in copious scheming and betrayal as they jockey for power. Screen legend Katharine Hepburn won an Oscar for her portrayal of French/English Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
-
(#14) Claire Foy As Anne Boleyn
Before playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, Claire Foy portrayed Anne Boleyn in the 2015 BBC miniseries Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel's acclaimed historical novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Foy was nominated for a BAFTA TV award for Best Actress.
-
(#15) Kirsten Dunst
- 36
Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola's offbeat 2006 biopic of France's last queen before the revolution, combined rock-n-roll music with lavish period trappings. Although the film didn't make waves at the Oscars (apart from an award for costume design), Kirsten Dunst's lead performance helped complete her transition from child starlet to serious leading lady.
-
(#16) Elizabeth Taylor
- Dec. at 79 (1932-2011)
Elizabeth Taylor played the legendary last queen of Egypt in Joseph Mankiewicz's Cleopatra, a mega-budgeted 1963 production that dramatized the monarch's romances with Roman strongmen Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. The film was a box office flop, but is arguably better than its reputation.
-
(#17) Natalie Portman
- 37
Natalie Portman portrayed Henry VIII's ill-fated wife Anne Boleyn in the 2008 film adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl.
-
(#18) Emily Blunt
- 35
Emily Blunt portrayed Queen Victoria in 2009's The Young Victoria, and received Best Actress nominations from the Golden Globes and the British Independent Film Awards.
-
(#19) Margot Robbie
- 28
Margot Robbie applied copious amounts of pancake makeup to transform herself into Elizabeth I, the antagonist of 2018's Mary Queen of Scots. The performance earned her BAFTA and SAG nominations for Best Supporting Actress.
-
(#20) Glenda Jackson
- 82
The 1971 BBC miniseries Elizabeth R gave us what is still, to some, the definitive onscreen portrayal of Elizabeth I - by Glenda Jackson. Jackson received two Emmys for this performance.
-
(#21) Marlene Dietrich
- Dec. at 91 (1901-1992)
Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich played Catherine the Great in Josef von Sternberg's 1934 film, The Scarlet Empress.
New Random Displays Display All By Ranking
About This Tool
Playing royals on the screen, especially the queen, will bring a certain amount of honor. Many big-name Hollywood stars have been on the throne in film and television. From Cate Blanchett to Saoirse Ronan, from Elizabeth I to Mary Queen of Scots, many outstanding actresses have reproduced famous queens in history, many of whom have won awards for their depictions of royal roles.
Since the 14th century, one queen after another has begun to control the supreme power and lead the country to prosperity in European countries. European queens have played an indelible role in history. The random tool lists 21 famous actors who played famous queens.
Our data comes from Ranker, If you want to participate in the ranking of items displayed on this page, please click here.