With the hit Netflix series The Crown back on our screens with its anticipated fifth season, it sees another recast, with Imelda Staunton taking over Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II.
Despite three different versions of Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, the late monarch has been portrayed by various other actresses on both the big and small screens over the years. But who did it best?
The team at Betway has looked at the leading actresses who’ve portrayed Queen Elizabeth and determined which performance is the best, based on the IMDb rating of the film or TV show the regal performance appeared in.
- Claire Foy – The Crown (8.5 IMDb Rating)
In seasons one and two of The Crown, Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II as a young woman. The first season of the biographical drama chronicled the monarch’s ascension to the throne and the early years of her reign, with the second season covering the 60s.
The actress won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, and two SAG Awards for her work on the show, with many praising the show for its great acting across the board. The average IMDb score of her first two seasons comes in at 8.5.
- Olivia Colman – The Crown (8.4 IMDb Rating)
When it came to seasons three and four, The Crown recast Foy with Olivia Colman who played the slightly older Queen, chronicling her family’s life throughout the 70s and 80s.
These series were met with nearly the same critical acclaim as the first two and Colman won an Emmy, two Golden Globes and two SAG Awards for her performance in the series. The average IMDb rating for her two seasons comes in just below Foy’s at 8.4.
- Emma Thompson – Playhouse Presents: Walking The Dogs (7.4 IMDb Rating)
In the 2012 series of standalone dramas called Playhouse Presents, Emma Thompson played Queen Elizabeth in an episode titled Walking The Dogs, which centers around a real Buckingham Palace break-in that took place in 1982.
The standalone episode stands at a 7.4 rating on IMDb with the series as a whole having a 6.8 rating. The episode starring Thompson as the Queen is the only episode in the show to be nominated for an award.
- Helen Mirren – The Queen (7.3 IMDb Rating)
In the 2006 film The Queen, Helen Mirren portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in a film that dominated that year’s awards season. In her oscar-winning performance, Helen Mirren plays The Queen at a shocking time for the family, as they respond to the death of Princess Diana, an event that shook the nation.
As well as an Oscar, the film won two BAFTAs, a SAG, and two AARPs. With an IMDb rating of 7.3, the film received universal acclaim along with high praise for Helen Mirren for her performance as The Queen.
- Rosemary Leach – Margaret (7.1 IMDb Rating)
The 2009 TV movie Margaret is the second time Rosemary Leach starred as Queen Elizabeth, due to her striking resemblance. The film centers around Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s final days in office, played by Lindsay Duncan.
The film has a 7.1 IMDb rating and won a Royal Television Society Award and a Scottish BAFTA, with many saying Leach’s performance as the Queen was a vast improvement from her earlier attempt in the 2003 film Prince William.
- Sarah Gadon – A Royal Night Out (6.5 IMDb Rating)
Sarah Gadon starred as a young Princess Elizabeth in 2015’s A Royal Night Out. The film follows Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret – both stir-crazy from the wartime confines of Buckingham Palace, as they venture out for a night of freedom and fun in 1940s London.
The film won a Hamptons International Film Festival Award and was nominated for two National Film Awards and a British Independent Film Award. It holds a 6.5 rating on IMDb.