Chiswick born actress Dame Helen Mirren was honoured for her achievements at the British Independent Film Awards this week.

61 year old Mirren was awarded the UK film industry's Achievement Award at the prestigious awards ceremony hosted by actor James Nesbitt in Hammersmith. The event marks the beginning of the film industry's international award season which culminates with the Oscars.

Other winners on the night included controversial director Ken Loach who won the special jury prize and actor Jim Broadbent who was given an award for outstanding contribution to British film.

Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff in 1945 in Chiswick, Helen Mirren is the daughter of an English mother and a Russian aristocrat father stranded in London after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Mirren realised she wanted to become an actress from a very early age. She joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark at the age of eighteen playing Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra (1965) at the Old Vic.

Mirren is better known for her more recent roles which have included ITV's Prime Suspect, Brit flick Calendar Girls and a performance fit for a monarch in The Queen.

 

December 1, 2006