Helen McCrory is a British actress who is perhaps best known for her portrayals of the British barrister, lecturer, and writer, Cherie Blair, in the films The Queen (2006), and The Special Relationship (2010). Helen Elizabeth McCrory was born on August 17, 1968, in Paddington, London, England; her father is a Scottish diplomat and her mother is Welsh. Helen attended Queenswood School (an all girl’s school near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and twenty miles from London) before spending a year in Italy. She studied acting at the Drama Centre in London. In addition to her portrayals of Cherie Blair, Helen McCrory’s film credits include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows-Part 1 (2010), Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows-Part 2 (2011), Flying Blind (2012), Skyfall (2012), Bill (2015), and Loving Vincent (2017).

Helen is also known for playing the role of the main antagonist Madame Kali in the television series Penny Dreadful. Since 2013, she has been portraying Aunt Polly in the British crime drama Peaky Blinders. Helen McCrory was married to actor Damian Lewis in July of 2007. The couple has a daughter, Manon, who was born in 2006, and a son, Gulliver, who was born in 2007. In 2017, Helen McCrory was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.