Dame Helen Mirren said she doesn’t feel as if she “remotely deserves” a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
The actor spoke about suffering from imposter syndrome as she prepares to accept the award next week.
Mirren follows in the footsteps of stars including Robert De Niro, Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly in receiving the prestigious prize.
Speaking to You magazine ahead of the ceremony, Mirren said: “Yes, it’s extraordinary. I genuinely do not feel I remotely deserve it, except that I’m still alive and working.
“I’ve done some wonderful films and I’ve done some pretty awful films. It took me by surprise, completely. A great honour.”
Mirren said that she still thinks of herself as “the way [she] was” in her younger years – “struggling, ambitious, frustrated and self-critical”.
“I still feel the same person. I wonder if that ever goes?” she asked. “There’s always that endless, niggling feeling, ‘Oh god, I’m going be found out any minute now. I got away with it that time, but the next time I’ll be found out.’
“Because you can never be absolutely sure that you’re that good at what you do. It’s not like being a doctor or a surgeon or an architect or a gardener where you can look at your work and go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s really good” It’s a much more mutable thing, our job.”
Mirren’s next film, The Duke, is out in UK cinemas on 25 February.
Additional reporting by PA
