Biography
Lena Headey was born on October 3rd 1973 in the Bermuda Islands. Her father John Headey who worked for five years (from 1971 till 76) for the Bermuda police and his wife Mrs. Susan Headey lived on the Atlantic Islands Group (British Overseas Territories). When Lena was five years old her parents moved with her to England. In 1982 they moved to Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. At the age of 17 Lena quit her school education to become an actress after she was discovered during a school theatre performance and given a role in Waterland.
So far the 5' 5½" English actress has appeared in over 40 cinema and TV productions and was recognised for her performances by the English Rose School Of Acting. Today Lena lives near London where she's not too far away from film shoots (usually in Europe) and prefers the "normal life" usually associated with a long and stable career - even though relocating to America would give her a better chance to become an A-list actress.
As Lena never attended a drama school, she relies on the feelings she experiences when exposing herself to the character in detail. This makes her work incredibly intensive, agile and passionate. She proves her talent as an actress with the variability of her proficiency by variety of her roles. Lena thinks it's thrilling that one can totally change their appearance for a certain role - another reason why she doesn't want to be type-cast or limited in the roles that she is given and instead wants to try acting in as many different genres as possible.
Lena is particularly interested in interpersonal relationships on screen - she regards Aberdeen as the one film she is most proud of - apart from the fact that she actually survived the shooting of The Brothers Grimm. The Cave is the one, in contrast, she prefers to forget. Among Lena's future career aspirations lies a co-production with Shane Meadows and Pedro Almodóvar and to take on the challenge of directing at least once.
In Imagine Me And You, Possession, Mrs. Dalloway as well as in the TV production Band Of Gold Lena played homosexual characters - in addition Lena remarked that her role in The Brothers Grimm is probably lesbian. However, Lena herself is not and protects herself against questions about her relationship with the words "It's very exciting, but just for me and him, family and mates" (InStyle, August 2006).
Lena Headey is described as an intelligent, witty and beautiful woman who remains down to earth and follows her principles. The fact that she does not only differ from other red carpet beauties by her open attitude towards life and her natural and her impressive aura, can also be seen in the fact that she - whenever she can - goes to a gym in order to box.
Fairy tales were an important part of Lena's childhood and they are still important to her today, although she prefers those with dark mysterious villains, such as 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' or 'Rumpelstiltskin'. Perhaps therefore among other things she believes in the supernatural and spirits.
Lena is a vegetarian - Angelika's hare was made of latex with blood-filled condoms but the toad was real (see: The Brothers Grimm). As a child she had two hamsters and several goldfish as pets. In an interview with Harald Magazine she confessed that she killed one of the fish by mistake when she was seven years old - which at that time surely, was not because of the occasional Gin that today according to her own statement, sometimes wakes the devil in her.
Her absolute childhood heroine was Wonder Woman and even though Lena originally wanted to become a hairdresser, today she is an established actress and asserts herself as a power woman in her own way. She likes to travel, loves new experiences and likes to be inspired by different cultures. One of her favourite writers is the Japanese Haruki Murakami and as a favourite place she names the Borough Market in London.
Ms Headey considers honesty and sympathy as very important characteristics and describes herself as spontaneous, strong, unpredictable, adventurous and funny. She thinks she's rather untidy and disorganized, chaotical but choosy. Lena doesn't have her own stylist, prefers jeans and cushy clothes and likes hats as well as sun glasses.
During The Jungle Book-shooting in India, Lena got acquainted and fell in love not only with Yoga but also with actor Jason Flemyng. She tattooed his first name in Thai on her right upper arm. After the break-up of their relationship she had a "Cover Up" tattooed over it: a butterfly/flower design. She also has a small black five-angular star on each of both lower arms, a large lotus flower on her upper back and a tattoo on her left ankle.
Lena believes that much in life depends on the correct timing. With proven talent, the faith that hard work pays off and fate by her side nothing stands in the way of her career. In an interview (Arena, May 2006) she said if she hadn't had success as an actress she would have become a confectioner. I'm sure she would have done this job with passion as well - but fortunately we'll never know…