Lena Headey

Lena Headey plays Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. A small change in her expression can turn an apparently civil conversation into a warning. She gives Cersei pride and calculation without smoothing away her capacity to misread people.

Before Thrones, Headey led Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as Sarah Connor. That performance uses a more practical, guarded form of resolve. Her film roles include Gorgo in 300, Ma-Ma in Dredd and work in The Remains of the Day and Fighting with My Family.

She also plays Dorothy Hunt in White House Plumbers. Across those parts, Headey is particularly effective at showing someone deciding how much of a reaction to allow another person to see. Cersei makes unusually rich use of that ability.