1. Helen McCrory was known for her television roles as Polly Gray in the BBC series Peaky Blinders ; Madame Kali in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful ; Emma Banville in the ITV series Fearless ; and Kathryn Villiers in the BBC mini-series MotherFatherSon.
Helen McCrory was born on 17 August 1968 in Paddington, London.
Helen McCrory was educated at Queenswood School near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, then spent a year living in Italy.
Helen McCrory won third prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her 1993 performance as Rose Trelawny in Trelawny of the 'Wells' at the National Theatre.
Helen McCrory was later nominated for a 2006 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her role as Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End.
Helen McCrory appeared in Charles II: The Power and The Passion, as Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine and in supporting roles in such films as Interview with the Vampire, Charlotte Gray, The Count of Monte Cristo and Casanova.
Helen McCrory appeared in a modernised television adaptation of Frankenstein.
Helen McCrory was later cast as Bellatrix's sister Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released in July 2009.
Helen McCrory played the principal villain role of Rosanna Calvierri in the 2010 episode "The Vampires of Venice" of the BBC television series Doctor Who.
Helen McCrory starred in The Last of the Haussmans alongside Julie Walters and Rory Kinnear at the Royal National Theatre, which began 12 June 2012.
Helen McCrory played lead role, wedding director Julie Ranmore, in the three-part ITV drama Leaving.
In 2013, Helen McCrory narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri.
Helen McCrory appears in series 6 through archive and unreleased footage.
In 2014, Helen McCrory played the title role in the National Theatre's production of Medea, directed by Carrie Cracknell.
Helen McCrory returned as a regular for the show's second season, playing the main antagonist.
In 2014, Helen McCrory starred in A Little Chaos, opposite Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman who directed the film.
Helen McCrory was confirmed to play the lead role, human-rights lawyer Emma Banville, in six-part ITV drama series Fearless, which aired in June 2017.
In 2019, Helen McCrory starred as Kathryn Villiers in Tom Rob Smith's MotherFatherSon alongside Richard Gere and Billy Howle.
In June 2020, Helen McCrory was featured in an episode of the BBC Radio 4's programme Desert Island Discs; Donna Ferguson from The Guardian called the episode one of five key shows in the programme's 80 year history.
Helen McCrory served as patron for the charity Sir Hubert von Herkomer Arts Foundation, dedicated to offering youth a gateway to the arts, which her husband Damian Lewis took over as patron in 2021 following her death.
Helen McCrory was an ambassador with the charity The Prince's Trust, which she spoke about on Good Morning Britain in her final public appearance in March 2021.
Helen McCrory died of breast cancer at her home in London on 16 April 2021, aged 52.
Helen McCrory was filming for series 6 of Peaky Blinders at the time of her death.
In 2016, Helen McCrory received an honorary doctorate from the University of York.