Every Actress Who Played The Queen: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman & More Stars

By:

Elissa Anderson

October 21, 2022 12:57PM EDT

Talk about royal behavior! Queen Elizabeth II has been played by a wild range of actresses over the years. See them all here.

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Actresses Who Played The Queen: Photos

Actresses Who Played The Queen: Photos — There is basically no one more iconic than Queen Elizabeth, so it’s no surprise that the late British monarch has been the subject of tons of movies and TV shows. Movies about the regent have covered all eras of her life, from her coronation right up until her golden years. Some films have been critical darlings, while others have been more or less forgotten since their release.

Olivia Colman really nailed her time as The Queen, during seasons 3 and four of The Crown. She played the royal during her 1964 to 1990 era. She won an Emmy Award and a Globen Globe Award for her portrayal.

Ready to see all the actresses who have played Queen Elizabeth on screen? Check out our gallery here

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Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren — Helen Mirren played the monarch in 2006’s The Queen. The film followed the Queen after the shocking death of Princess Diana.

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Claire Foy

Claire Foy — Claire Foy was simply fabulous as a young Queen Elizabeth II during the first seasons of The Crown. Claire couldn’t rely on royal insiders for insight into the character, so she had to get creative.

Talking to the L.A. Times in 2016, she said, “All the people who are closest to her would never speak to anyone. You’re sort of doomed in that there is no way in. So you just have to do the thing where you go, ‘OK, I’m a girl of a certain age, of a certain background, these are my interests, this is the person I want to marry,’ and then just flesh it out.”

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Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson — Emma Thompson was Queen Elizabeth in the 2012 TV movie Playhouse Presents: Walking the Dogs. The film was about set around the time of some infamous break-ins to Buckingham Palace.

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Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman — Olivia Colman’s stellar acting made one aspect of playing The Queen difficult. Talking to Vanity Fair in 2018, she explained, “I emote. The Queen is not meant to. She’s got to be a rock for everyone, and has been trained not to [emote]. We’ve discovered that… whenever anyone is telling me something sad, it makes me cry.”

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Kristin Scott Thomas

Kristin Scott Thomas — Kristin Scott Thomas played The Queen on London’s West End. The play The Audience was revived in 2015, and focused on the intricacies of the Queen’s weekly meetings, known as audiences, with her prime ministers

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Imelda Staunton

Imelda Staunton — Imelda Staunton will make her debut as The Queen in The Crown’s fifth season, out via Netflix in Nov. 2022. Interestingly, Imelda appeared as the Queen Mother in the 2003 BBC mini-series Cambridge Spies.

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Sarah Gadon

Sarah Gadon — Sarah Gadon played a bright-eyed Princess Elizabeth in 2015’s romance A Royal Night Out. The flick was a totally fictionalized account of Liz and sister Princess Margarets night out on V-Day 1945.

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Neve Campbell

Neve Campbell — Neve Campbell poked fun at the royals in 2004’s Churchill – The Hollywood Years. In the parody then-Princess Elizabeth falls for Winston Churchill (played by Christian Slater) during World War II.

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Freya Wilson

Freya Wilson — Actress Freya Wilson (far right) played a child version of Queen Elizabeth in 2010’s The King’s Speech with Colin Firth. The film was about King George VI’s battle with a speech impediment during World War II.

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Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander — Jane Alexander played Queenie in the made-for-TV movie William & Catherine: A Royal Romance. The 2011 flick followed Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship.

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Jeannette Charles

Jeannette Charles — Jeannette Charles was a professional Queen impersonator, here in The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad. She talked about her reverence for the monarch with The Guardian in May 2022.

Though her parts can be silly, she said, “I would never do anything that reflected badly on the monarch or myself. I don’t think anyone else had earned a living by resembling someone famous before – now there’s a whole industry.”

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Maggie Sullivan

Maggie Sullivan — Maggie Sullivan had the role of the Queen in the Lifetime TV movie Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance from 2018. She put her skirt suit back on the next year for the sequel Harry & Meghan, Becoming Royal.

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Barbara Flynn & More

Barbara Flynn & More — Barbara Flynn, above, was one of five women who played the Queen in a 2009 project from UK’s Channel 4. The royal was also portrayed by Samantha Bond, Emilia Fox, Susan Jameson, and Diana Quick in vignette depicting different eras.

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Rosemary Leach

Rosemary Leach — Rosemary Leach was Queen Elizabeth II in the 2009 made-for-TV movie Margaret about former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. People criticized the film for implying the Queen encouraged the Tory PM to resign. Buckingham Palace even released an official statement, which said, “We never discuss anything regarding meetings that the Queen has with any of her prime ministers.”

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