Judith Olivia Dench attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and at Old Vic Theatre. She is a ten-time BAFTA winner including Best Actress in a Comedy Series for A Fine Romance (1981) in which she appeared with her husband, Michael Williams, and Best Supporting Actress in A Handful of Dust (1988) and A Room with a View (1985). She received an ACE award for her performance in the television series Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985). She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, and was created Dame of Order of the British Empire in 1988.
In 1998, she won the Academy for Best Supporting Actress as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. She appeared in Chocolat (2000), Angelina Ballerina (2001-2003), Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Jane Eyre (2011). Judi Dench also appeared along with an ensemble cast including Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Kenneth Brannagh, and Michelle Pfieffer in Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and in the widely reviled film adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats (2019).
She is perhaps most widely recognized for playing the character of "M" in the Pierce Brosnan/Daniel; Craig era James Bond films, Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World is Not Enough (1999), Angelina Ballerina (2001-2003), Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2005), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and a glorified cameo in Spectre (2015).
Vin Diesel wanted to act with her, so he and David Twohy wrote Aereon character just for Judi Dench. Of the finished film, Dench explained in her autobiography that she did not understand the film's plot but enjoyed making the film.
External Links[]
- Judi Dench at the Internet Movie Database
- Judi Dench on Wikipedia