Welcome to Emmy Campaign Season! “But Kismet, the Emmys aren’t until September 14 — we don’t even have the nominations yet!” Yes, but voting to determine those nominations begins on June 12, which is why we’re seeing an uptick in For Your Consideration events, plus specialty articles like The Hollywood Reporter’s Roundtable series. THR debuted their Drama Actress Roundtable on Friday with the following lineup: Kathy Bates, Niecy Nash-Betts, Parker Posey, Cristin Milioti, Keri Russell, and Helen Mirren. Helen is in the running for her roles in 1923 and MobLand, both Paramount+ shows. During the discussion (which somehow included once again Helen’s sadness over Kurt Cobain missing out on GPS), Helen revealed that when she was starting out in her 20s, someone in the industry told her she wouldn’t get work unless she got a nose job. But just like when a bear waltzes up to her property uninvited, Helen stood her ground, didn’t back down, and said no (to the asshole). As she put it to the roundtable, “I didn’t want to be a pretty actress anyway.”
“I was told to have a nose job in my 20s,” Mirren told the group.
“You’re kidding me,” a surprised Russell, 49, said.
“Someone said, ‘You’ll never get work if you don’t have a nose job,’” Mirren replied, adding, “I said no. I didn’t want to be a pretty actress anyway. I elected to be not so pretty.”
Last November, Mirren opened up about her perception of the word beauty and how she believes it has more to do with what’s inside a person, during an appearance at the 2024 L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Honoree celebration in West Hollywood, Calif.
“I’ve always had this issue with the word beauty because it assumes that you’re looking to be beautiful in an exterior,” she told PEOPLE exclusively.
“Of course, there are many, many different kinds of beauty in the world; it’s a very broad term,” Mirren continued. “Being an ambassador for a beauty products company, I always wanted to say, ‘We’re not trying to be beautiful, we’re trying to be authentically and genuinely and happily and positively ourselves, whether that’s beautiful or not.’”
The Oscar-winning actress says she appreciates the “world of makeup and of costume and of fashion, because it’s all transformative.” But there are other times when she feels like her best self.
“I think probably in a bath with a candle and a book,” she shared, adding, “Or having a cocktail with my husband in the evening, just one!”
Oftentimes when I’m watching a Helen Mirren performance, I think to myself, “Oooh I want to be that person!” Not because her characters are necessarily good or smart or beautiful, but because I’m usually bowled over by how undeniably themselves they are. So Helen’s comments about wanting authenticity over beauty totally resonated with me. Although I’d argue that there is a definite, inherent beauty in authentically being yourself. Helen has long been averse to using the words “beautiful” or “pretty,” but I felt like her comments here were the most clear she’s been on what she’s striving for on the inside, which then has the side effect of beauty. At this point in the roundtable, Kathy Bates brought up another nuance to the beauty conversation, noting “When you see an amazing performance, it doesn’t matter what that person looks like — they’re beautiful.” Yup, I agree. As did Cristin Milioti, who replied, “They’re hot!” Anyway, Helen Mirren doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at winning an Emmy this year, but I love that she’s showing up in her bearable shoes to vie for the nominations, nonetheless!
PS — Since Helen brought up feeling like her best self in the bathtub, I feel compelled to remind us all of the time she Zoomed into the Tonight Show… while in the tub. #Goals.
Retro photos are from 1969 (black and white with art), 1979 (black and white curly hair) and 1986 (color photo from the TV movie coming through) credit: Photoshot/Avalon, United Archives/IFTN/Avalon/Avalon. Current photos credit: Olivier Huitel/Avalon