Lena Kathren Headey ( LEE-nə HEE-dee; born 3 October 1973) is a British actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she received five Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award nomination. She was also nominated for a Saturn Award for her portrayal of Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, in 300 (2006) and a BAFTA Award for directing the short film The Trap (2019). Headey made her film debut in the mystery drama Waterland (1992), and appeared in the British television play, The Clothes in the Wardrobe (US: The Summer House) (1993). 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 (2006). 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). Headey starred as Sarah Connor in the science-fiction television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009) and had recurring roles as Big Mama in the animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–2020) and as Amelia Hughes in the animated web series Infinity Train (2019–2021). 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 Tales of Arcadia (2017–2018; 2020), and the puppet series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019).