Minnie Driver Says It's 'Extraordinary' Starring in Serpent Queen with Samantha Morton: 'Always Playing Opposite Men' (Exclusive)

Few actresses can pull off playing one of Britain’s most celebrated monarchs but in The Serpent Queen, Minnie Driver does it with great panache.

For the Starz period drama's second season, Driver, 54, portrays Queen Elizabeth I of England, bringing her own special brand of verve and wit to portray the revered ruler. Samantha Morton returns as Catherine de Medici, who served as Queen of France during the 16th century, bringing her commanding presence and smoldering looks. Their scenes together are easily among this season’s highlights.

Driver tells PEOPLE that acting opposite Morton, 47, was an “extraordinary” experience.

“Anytime that you get to act opposite someone who's of your own generation, is also a woman, has lived through the same experiences in this business that I have, it's extraordinary,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “It doesn't happen that way. It hasn't happened that often for me at all. I'm always playing opposite men mostly.”

Raised in Barbados and Hampshire, England, Driver’s father, Ronnie Driver, was a World War II bombardier and pilot, while her mother, Gaynor Churchward, was a fabric designer. From them, the actress learned the meaning of resilience.

“If you can take a breath, just put one foot in front of the other, the landscape’s going to change. It just might take a minute,” she says.

The pair split when Driver was 6 years old, making growing up for her and her sister challenging at times. “I think taking those hard moments and turning them into something else was something my childhood gave me and that I still use every day,” she adds.

When the actress was 23, she starred in Circle of Friends with Chris O'Donnell as the strong-willed Irish student Benny — a breakout role that would help pave the way for the rest of her acting career. Two years later, she appeared in Good Will Hunting with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the latter of whom she dated for almost a year. 

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"There are so many exquisite, amazing moments in the making of that film," she says of Good Willing Hunting, adding, "We were in this bubble of creativity of just making this beautiful thing. ... I got to know and became really good friends with Elliot Smith. He was a musical genius. ... The time that I spent with him and the music that we played together are some of the most memorable moments of my life."

"Then you get to both Matt and Ben at the beginning, they're both actors who'd obviously worked before, but this is the beginning of two extraordinary careers," she continues. "There was so much that was budding. There was so much that was beautiful in that film. It was a magical moment. You can't manufacture those, and if they could, I guess every movie would be like that."

Memorable roles in TV and film projects like Return to Me, The Riches, The Phantom of the Opera and Speechless followed. As her star grew bigger, Driver became more accustomed to the global recognition.

“It still takes me by surprise when someone grabs my arm in an elevator and they've got tears in their eyes, because they had an incredibly moving and meaningful experience watching something that I've done," she says. "But there’s this beautiful connectivity you have with people, that you move them so much they want to come up and tell you how much you mean to them."

Filming The Serpent Queen was remarkable in many ways, Driver says, from her scenes with Morton — “She is a very powerful, focused actor” — to her own intricate costumes, which were made on a 16th-century loom from France.

"A textile maker had a loom from 1590, and they wove the fabric that she then made one of my gowns out of,” she explains. “There were things sewn on that were meaningful to the character of Elizabeth, there were emblems and talisman. … It was like putting on a historical artifact, but the costumes, really, they did a huge amount of work for me.”

Driver, who will be seen next in three films, including The Assessment with Alicia Vikander, Himesh Patel and Elizabeth Olsen, is now able to reflect on her successful career with the added wisdom that often comes from decades of experience. If she could offer her younger self — the 24-year-old on the verge of stardom — any helpful advice, it would be to seize intriguing opportunities as they come and to truly believe in herself.

 “I would tell her to enjoy it more and to worry less. Also, to not take anything for granted, that something that shows up one day, do not expect it to be there the next day,” she says. “Don't hang your hat on anything outside of yourself. I would've told her to trust herself more and not see the outward approbation of others.”

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The Serpent Queen airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.