Dame Judi Dench, CH DBE FRSA

Dame Judith Olivia Dench CH DBE FRSA, is a globally respected actress of theatre, television and film. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest actresses of the post war period.

Born in Heworth, York, she was exposed to the theatre from an early age - her father was a GP for the York theatre and her mother was it's wardrobe mistress.

I started off as a theatre designer, and by some extraordinary circumstance I saw something in Stratford-upon-Avon, and realised that that's the kind of design I want, but also that that's the kind of designer I'll never be.

She initially trained as a set designer and became interested in drama school when her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. She applied and was accepted by the School, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Upon graduation, she had already been awarded four acting prizes, including the Gold Medal as Outstanding Student.

I think you can teach people a technique - you can teach them how to use their voices, how to breathe properly, how to move their limbs a certain way. But to actually explain how one performs comedy or drama or tragedy isn't the same as the movements one makes.

Her professional debut came in September 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Early in her career she performed in many of Shakespeare's plays, in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.

It was good to learn so early. They're not going to be kind to you. You have to do it and get on, and then gulp down and get better.

The only real failure is the failure to try. We get up in the morning. We do our best. Nothing else matters.

Although most of her work at this time was in theatre, she also branched into film work and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer.

I'm always fearful. … Fear generates in you a huge energy. You can use it. When I feel that mounting fear, I think, 'Oh, yes, there it is!' It's like petrol.

In 1964, she appeared on television as Valentine Wannop in Theatre 625's adaptation of Parade's End, shown in three episodes. That same year, she made her film debut in The Third Secret, before featuring in a small role in the Sherlock Holmes thriller A Study in Terror (1965).

She performed again on BBC's Theatre 365 in 1966, as Terry in the four-part series Talking to a Stranger, for which she won a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress.

I don't think anybody can be told how to act. I think you can give advice. But you have to find your own way through it.

In 1968, she received rave reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret.

Over the next two decades she strongly established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The theatre is the thing I love doing most.

In 1979 she received a nomination for a Best Actress BAFTA, for her portrayal of Hazel Wiles, in the incredibly moving BBC television film On Giant's Shoulders.

She also received critical acclaim for her work on television during this period, in the series A Fine Romance (1981–1984) and As Time Goes By (1992–2005).

In 2001, she received the BAFTA Fellowship and in 2004 she was presented with the Special Olivier Award.

Dench, rose to international fame playing the role of M in the James Bond franchise - a role she continued to play for twenty years, her tenure starting with Golden Eye (1995), followed by Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015).

My husband was actually very keen that I would become a Bond girl.

She has received 7 Academy Award nominations - in 1998, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.  Her other Academy Award nominated roles have been in: Mrs Brown (1997), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006) and Philomena (2013). 

She has also won 6 British Academy Film Awards, 4 BAFTA TV Awards, 7 Olivier Awards, 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 2 Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. 

I am so thrilled to be nominated for something I loved working on every single day.

In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute (BFI) and she is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

In 2016, Dench made Olivier Award history when she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in The Winter's Tale, breaking her own record with her eighth win as a performer.

In 2017, she portrayed Princess Dragomiroff in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Agatha Christie's, Murder on the Orient Express. The same year she also reprised her role of Queen Victoria in Stephen Frear's production of Victoria & Abdul.

I don't really want to retire. I intend to go on working as long as I can because I still have a huge amount of energy.

In 2019, Dench she starred as Old Deuteronomy in Tom Hooper's film adaptation of Cats.

I've always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I've done. Mainly because I don't do it well. But it's like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.

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