Helen Mirren will be honoured with a Bafta fellowship at the annual awards ceremony next month.

Mirren, who has won four Baftas and been nominated for prizes on a further seven occasions, follows in the footsteps of Hollywood luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Christopher Lee and Martin Scorsese. Bugsy Malone, Fame and Mississippi Burning director Alan Parker was handed the fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, at last year's ceremony.

Mirren said: "This is the greatest professional honour I can imagine, certainly one I never dreamt of as a schoolgirl in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. To join that list of legendary names is overwhelming."

Bafta chairman John Willis said: "Dame Helen Mirren receives the fellowship as one of the most outstanding actresses of her generation. Dame Helen's incredibly successful career is testament to the determination, dedication and skill she brings to each of her roles."

Mirren's career began in the 1960s, but her breakthrough role is often considered to be Victoria, the sharp-as-a-knife gangster's moll she played opposite Bob Hoskins in the 1980 British crime thriller The Long Good Friday. She picked up a first Bafta film nomination for 1984 IRA drama Cal, and a second for 1994's The Madness of King George, for which she was also nominated for an Oscar for the first time.

Mirren received a damehood for services to the performing arts in 2003, and won a Bafta, a Golden Globe and the Oscar for best actress for the 2006 Stephen Frears film The Queen.

This year's Bafta awards will take place on Sunday 16 February at the Royal Opera House, London. Stephen Fry will host the ceremony, with Gravity (11 nominations), 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle (10 nominations each) the leading contenders for the big prizes.