Helen Mirren To Receive Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award

Nov 19, 2021 by apost team

There’s no doubt that Helen Mirren is one of the world’s most celebrated actresses. She’s the only actor to have ever earned the so-called Triple Crown of Acting — winning the highest accolades in film, television and theater — in both the U.S. and the U.K. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that Mirren, 76, will receive the Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG) for Life Achievement on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.

"Dame Helen Mirren is quite simply a brilliant and luminous talent," said Fran Drescher, president of the SAG-AFTRA union for Hollywood actors, according to Reuters. 

"She has set the bar very high for all actors and, in role after role, she exceeds even her own extraordinary performances," Drescher added.

Mirren’s extraordinary and accomplished life begins in London, England, where she was born on July 26, 1945. The second of three children, she had an older sister, Katherine, and a younger brother, Peter.

At a young age, Mirren found a love and passion for acting and landed herself the lead role in her primary school's production of "Hansel and Gretel." She also performed in more school productions as she got older and attended St. Bernard's High School for Girls. Furthering her education while still trying to make her dreams come true, Mirren attended the New College of Speech and Drama in London before finally auditioning for the National Youth Theatre at the age of 18. She was easily accepted into the program, and her career took off shortly after.

Mirren's work with the theatre is especially notable, as it led her to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She quickly picked up more important roles with the company, including a part in "The Revenger's Tragedy," "All's Well That Ends Well," and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." Her work onstage carried her throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s.

The stage quickly became her home during the rest of the 1970s and during much of the 1980s. Some of the plays she performed during this time were "The Seagull," "Measure for Measure," "The Duchess of Malfi," and "Elegy for a Lady." Even after she had begun finding roles in movies and television, Mirren couldn't help but return to her origins and performed as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience" in February 2013. Mirren even won the Best Actress in a Play award from the Laurence Olivier Awards in 2013 for her role. In 2015, she won her first-ever Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her part in "The Audience."

Life On The Silver Screen

Mirren's career in film first started during the late 1960s with appearances in movies such as "Herostratus" in 1967 and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1968. Her big break in this part of the industry came from her role in "The Long Good Friday" in 1980, where she starred opposite Bob Hoskins. The actress was unstoppable, as she had no problems finding more and more work as the years went by, and her career easily stayed steady until the new millennium.

apost.com

Over the course of her career, Mirren has portrayed a handful of British royal family members and has truly shown off her impressive range as an actress. Her first performance as a queen was in 1994 with her portrayal of Charlotte in "The Madness of King George." In 2005, she portrayed Elizabeth I in the television series "Elizabeth I," which was shortly followed by her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen" in 2006. As of now, Mirren is the only actress that has played both Queens Elizabeth onscreen.

A Lifetime Of Achievements

One of the most accomplished acts an actor can do is receive the Triple Crown of Acting, a term used in the American entertainment industry to describe those who have won the most prestigious awards across acting disciplines, such as the Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award. In British Entertainment, this can be achieved with the equivalent accolades in that industry, which include awards from the BAFTA Film Awards, BAFTA Television Awards, and the Laurence Olivier Awards.

While some actors have achieved this include Al Pacino, Jessica Lange and Viola Davis in one country, Mirren is the only actor or actress in history to have completed both the American and British Triple Crowns. And in February 2022, Mirren will add another feather to her cap, a SAG Lifetime Achievement, which she will share with acting greats like Robert De Niro and Betty White. 

“Since I was a young actor starting out, I have always been inspired by and learned from American screen acting, so this award is particularly meaningful for me,” Mirren said of the award in a statement.

One of Mirren’s most recent roles was on the Amazon Prime series “Solos,” which premiered in May 2021.

What do you think of Mirren’s SAG award? Do you have a favorite movie of hers? Let us know — and be sure to pass this story on to others.