Headey had her first experience of acting when she was a pupil at Shelley College she was noticed at age 17, when performing in a school production at the Royal National Theatre, and was picked for a role in the 1992 film Waterland. When she was five, her family returned to England, initially settling in Somerset before moving again to Highburton when she was 11.

Her father, a police officer from Yorkshire, was stationed in Hamilton at the time in the Bermuda Police Service. Lena Kathren Headey was born in Hamilton on the island of Bermuda on 3 October 1973, the daughter of English parents Sue and John Headey.

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 Trollhunters (2017–2018), and puppet-animated series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019). Outside of film, Headey starred as Sarah Connor in the science fiction television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009) and had a recurring role as Amelia Hughes in the animated web series Infinity Train (2019–2021). 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).

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 (2007). Headey made her film debut in The Remains of the Day (1989) and also appeared in mystery drama Waterland (1992). 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. Lena Kathren Headey ( / ˈ l iː n ə ˈ h iː d i/ LEE-nə HEE-dee born 3 October 1973) is a Bermudian-English actress.

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