Actress Dame Helen Mirren never wanted to be a Hollywood star and didn’t even think she’d be able to become an actress.
The 70-year-old star who has been in movies including ‘Calendar Girls’, ‘Red’ and ‘Arthur’ never imagined she would be able to follow her career dreams but initially set her sights on theatre work.

She said: ”It was never my ambition to be a Hollywood star.
”I never even imagined that being an actress would be possible.
”I came from a family background where that world just seemed like a fortress, something you couldn’t get into.
”I wasn’t thinking about Hollywood because I wanted to be a theatre actress. I didn’t even go to the cinema very often.”
As acting was not on Helen’s agenda, she initially followed the advice of her parents to train as a teacher instead.
She revealed: ”They wanted me to become a teacher not an actress! So I did train as a teacher.”
And though she finally achieved her dreams, the ‘Eye in the Sky’ star’s path never ran smoothly.
She told the Mail : ”Somehow I’ve been led stumbling to the point where I am right now, which is the place I most want to be.
”It’s been an endless litany of mistakes and mis-steps.”
Though she didn’t carve out a teaching career, Helen admitted that she did achieve one thing her parents wanted.
She said: ”One very important thing that my parents always taught me was: ‘You must be financially independent.’
”I take great pride and great pleasure in knowing that these days I am, indeed, financially secure, and that I have everything I have, I have earned.”
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