Profile

Dame  Judi Dench is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest female actors. She started her career as a Shakespearean stage actor in her 20s and is now widely respected as an exceptional interpreter of classical and modern drama, tragedy and comedy.
     She made her professional debut in 1957 as Ophelia in Hamlet with the Old Vic Company, and played leading Shakespearean roles including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Isabella in Measure for Measure.  In the 1970s and 80s, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers working with the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
     In television she achieved popular success appearing with her husband Michael Williams (d. 2001) in the series A Fine Romance in the 1980s. In 1992, she appeared in another long running series As Time Goes By, and more recently in the period drama series Cranford.
     Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as ‘M’ in GoldenEye (1995), a role she’s played in each James Bond film since.  She gained international recognition as Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown, and won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998).  At 76, she is still working on a number of projects and has no plans to retire.

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Dame Judi Dench is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest female actors. She started her career as a Shakespearean stage actor in her 20s, and is now widely respected as an exceptional interpreter of classical and modern drama, tragedy and comedy.     
    “I call myself a theatre actor. The greatest body of my work is in the theatre and the theatre is the thing I really like the best,” she says.
     She was born in Heworth, York in 1934. Under the influence of her elder brother Jeffery, she became interested in acting and went to London’s Central School of Speech and Drama.
       Dench made her professional debut in 1957 straight out of drama school, as Ophelia in Hamlet with the Old Vic Company.  In 1960, her performance as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli, was a great success and she was recognized as one of the most promising stage performers of her generation.
      She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1961, playing Anya in The Cherry Orchard, and Isabella in Measure for Measure, and many other roles.  She even played Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret in 1968 to great acclaim.  In the 1970s and 80s, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers working with the National Theatre Company and the RSC, with notable performances in The Duchess of Malfi, Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing.  One of her favorite  roles, she says, was Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Anthony Hopkins at the National in 1987.
     In television she achieved popular success appearing with her husband Michael Williams in the series A Fine Romance in the 1980s. In 1992, she appeared in another long running series As Time Goes By, and more recently in the period drama series Cranford.
     Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast against type as ‘M’ in GoldenEye (1995), a role she’s played in each James Bond film since.  She gained international recognition playing Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown (1997), and won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the small part of Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998).  Other film credits include Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells.   
     As well as her Oscar, Judi Dench has won six British Academy of Film and TV Awards (BAFTAs), and  seven Laurence Olivier Awards and many others.
     She was married to actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001.  Their daughter, Finty Williams, is also an actor.
      At 77, Judi Dench is still enthusiastic about her craft and is working on a number of projects. One of her next appearances will be in Clint Eastwood’s film about the founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, as his mother:   “In my career of 54 years, every role I do broadens my outlook. I have no plan to retire.”