Dame Joan Henrietta Collins DBE is an English actress, author, and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 1983, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been recognized for her philanthropy, particularly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honours. In 2015, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services.
Collins was born in Paddington, London, and trained as an actress in her teens at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She signed to The Rank Organisation at the age of 17, and had small roles in the British films Lady Godiva Rides Again and The Woman's Angle before taking on a supporting role in Judgment Deferred. Collins went under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1955, and in that same year starred as Elizabeth Raleigh in The Virgin Queen and Princess Nellifer in Land of the Pharaohs, the latter garnering a cult following.