ALISON BOSHOFF: How The Crown links all 22 of the British stars nominated for the Golden Globes

The Crown has been nominated as the Best TV drama series at the 2021 Golden Globes — the fourth time it has received this honour — and we will find out on February 28 if it wins at last.

Seven actors from the series are also up for awards for acting and writing, including Olivia Colman, Emerald Fennell, Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin.

However, The Crown Club must be the most gold-plated clique in television history — as, astonishingly, every single one of the 22 British actors who gets a nomination this year has some direct connection to the show, either through marriage or work.

What’s striking, too, is that this golden generation are overwhelmingly youthful — forming a brilliant cohort of sumptuously talented actors and actresses set to illuminate our screens for decades to come, and who have clearly bewitched American audiences.

From Jodie Comer, who worked with The Crown’s Emerald Fennell on Killing Eve, to Sir Anthony Hopkins, who co-stars with Olivia Colman in the new movie The Father, the royal drama casts it tentacles into seemingly every corner of Hollywood. ALISON BOSHOFF reveals how all Globes lead to The Crown . . .

Every single one of the 22 British actors nominated for a Golden Globe has a direct connection to The Crown

CROWN CAST

OLIVIA COLMAN, 47

2021 Golden Globes nominated:

Best performance by an actress in a television series, drama: The Crown, for her performance as the Queen.

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role: The Father, a film about a woman supporting her father who has dementia.

EMMA CORRIN, 25

Best performance by an actress in a television series, drama: The Crown, for her performance as Lady Diana Spencer.

EMERALD FENNELL, 35

Best director, motion picture: Promising Young Woman.

Best screenplay, motion picture, for Promising Young Woman. This drama about a woman seeking revenge after the rape of her friend is also up for best motion picture, drama. She plays Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown.

GILLIAN ANDERSON, 52

Best performance by an actress in a television supporting role: The Crown, for the U.S.-born actress’s role as Margaret Thatcher.

Gillian Anderson is among the seven actors from The Crown up for Golden Globe awards

Gillian Anderson is among the seven actors from The Crown up for Golden Globe awards 

HELENA BONHAM CARTER, 54

Best performance by an actress in a television supporting role: The Crown, for her performance as Princess Margaret.

JOSH O’CONNOR, 30

Best performance by an actor in a television series, drama: The Crown, for his performance as Prince Charles.

VANESSA KIRBY, 32

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture, drama: Pieces Of A Woman, about a home birth that goes tragically wrong. She played Princess Margaret in series one and two of The Crown.

AND ALL THE OTHER BRITISH NOMINEES’ LINKs TO THE CROWN

CAREY MULLIGAN, 35

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture, drama: Promising Young Woman.

The Crown connection: The star of the 2020 film drama Promising Young Woman, which was written and directed by The Crown star Emerald Fennell, who played Camilla Parker Bowles. Mulligan was also in the TV adaptation of Bleak House alongside Gillian Anderson, who plays Margaret Thatcher in The Crown.

JODIE COMER, 27

Best performance by an actress in a limited series: Killing Eve.

The Crown connection: Comer is the assassin star of Killing Eve — and the second series was written by The Crown actress Emerald Fennell. She and Fennell are good friends with Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge — who cast her friend Olivia Colman, the Queen in The Crown, as the stepmother in Fleabag.

ANYA TAYLOR-JOY, 24

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy: Emma.

Best performance by an actress in a limited series: The Queen’s Gambit. The Queen’s Gambit is also nominated as best television limited series.

The Crown connection: Actress Taylor-Joy was in the film of Jane Austen’s Emma with Josh O’Connor, Prince Charles in The Crown, last year. O’Connor played Mr Elton and the two became fast friends, forming a WhatsApp group that is still going.

DAISY EDGAR-JONES, 22

Best performance by an actress in a limited series: Normal People.

Daisy Edgar-Jones, pictured with her costar Paul Mescal in Normal People, has been nominated for best performance by an actress in a limited series

Daisy Edgar-Jones, pictured with her costar Paul Mescal in Normal People, has been nominated for best performance by an actress in a limited series

The Crown connection: Newcomer Daisy Edgar-Jones appeared in the 2019 War Of The Worlds adaptation with Stephen Campbell Moore. 

He was married to actress Claire Foy, the Queen in series one and two of The Crown, but the pair separated after four years of marriage in 2018.

GARY OLDMAN, 62

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture, drama: Mank about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. Mank is also up for best motion picture, drama.

The Crown connection: British actor Oldman was married to actress Lesley Manville. She is set to play Princess Margaret in seasons five and six of The Crown. He also starred with Helena Bonham Carter in the Harry Potter films Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.

ANTHONY HOPKINS, 83

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture, drama: The Father, about a man with dementia. The Father is also up for best motion picture, drama.

The Crown connection: Hopkins’s co-star in The Father is Olivia Colman, who stars as the Queen in series three and four. He also appeared with Helena Bonham Carter, Princess Margaret in The Crown, in the 1992 adaptation of E. M. Forster’s Howards End.

LILY COLLINS, 31

Best performance by an actress television series, musical or comedy: Emily In Paris. The series is also up for best television series, musical or comedy.

Lily Collins is up for performance by an actress television series, musical or comedy for her hit Netflix show Emily in Paris

Lily Collins is up for performance by an actress television series, musical or comedy for her hit Netflix show Emily in Paris

The Crown connection: Collins was Fantine in the 2018 BBC adaptation of Les Miserables alongside The Crown’s Olivia Colman as Madame Thenardier.

DEV PATEL, 30

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy: The Personal History Of David Copperfield.

The Crown connection: Patel had a small role in the 2009 TV series Mister Eleven, in which Olivia Colman starred. He also connects to Colman via actor Hugh Laurie, who starred with him in David Copperfield and with Colman in The Night Manager.

HUGH GRANT, 60

Best performance by an actor in a limited series: The Undoing. The show is also nominated as best television limited series.

The Crown connection: Starred in both Sense And Sensibility and Paddington 2 with actress Imelda Staunton, who is to take over from Colman as the Queen in The Crown for series five and six. Staunton was also in the Harry Potter films alongside The Crown actress Helena Bonham Carter.

JOHN BOYEGA, 28

Best performance by an actor in a television supporting role: Small Axe, which is also nominated as best television limited series.

John Boyega has been nominated for best performance by an actor in a television supporting role for Small Axe

John Boyega has been nominated for best performance by an actor in a television supporting role for Small Axe

The Crown connection: Boyega, raised within two miles of Olivia Colman’s house in South London, starred with her in the 2018 animated adaptation of Watership Down. 

He was Bigwig and she was Strawberry.

SACHA BARON COHEN, 49

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy: Borat, Subsequent Moviefilm. The film is also nominated for best motion picture, musical or comedy.

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role for The Trial Of The Chicago 7, which is also up for best motion picture, drama.

The Crown connection: Baron Cohen, privately educated and raised in North London, starred alongside The Crown’s Helena Bonham Carter in the Oscar-winning 2012 film adaptation of Les Miserables. He was the innkeeper Thenardier and she was his wife.

JAMES CORDEN, 42

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy: The Prom. The film is also nominated for best motion picture, musical or comedy.

James Corden was an insurance fraud investigator in the 2018 film Ocean's 8, which also starred Helena Bonham Carter

James Corden was an insurance fraud investigator in the 2018 film Ocean’s 8, which also starred Helena Bonham Carter

The Crown connection: Chat show host Corden was an insurance fraud investigator in the 2018 film Ocean’s 8, which also starred Helena Bonham Carter.

ROSAMUND PIKE, 42

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy: I Care A Lot.

The Crown connection: Some thought that Pike should have been cast as Princess Diana rather than Elizabeth Debicki, who is to take the role in series five. She was in Watership Down in 2018 as the Black Rabbit of Inle — alongside Olivia Colman.

NICHOLAS HOULT, 31

Best performance by an actor in a television series, musical or comedy for The Great.

The Crown connection: Was in The Favourite with Olivia Colman. Also connects to Golden Globes nominee Hugh Grant, alongside whom he famously starred in About A Boy in 2002.

MATTHEW RHYS, 46

Best performance by an actor in a television series, drama: Perry Mason, a dark reboot of the beloved detective story.

Matthew Rhys has been nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for his role in Perry Mason (pictured)

Matthew Rhys has been nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for his role in Perry Mason (pictured)

The Crown connection: Welsh actor Rhys was in the 2002 film Deathwatch with Matthew Goode, who plays Princess Margaret’s husband Antony Armstrong-Jones in The Crown.

Lifelong friends, Goode and Rhys also made The Wine Show for ITV in 2016.

DANIEL KALUUYA, 31

Best performance by a supporting actor: Judas And The Black Messiah, a movie about the Black Panther political movement.

The Crown Connection: Kaluuya played agent Colin Tucker in the 2011 comedy romp Johnny English Reborn. Gillian Anderson, Mrs Thatcher in The Crown, was his boss, Pegasus.

He also links to The Crown via Psychoville, a TV series in which he starred alongside Dame Eileen Atkins, Queen Mary in The Crown, and Imelda Staunton, who is to play the Queen.