Judi Dench

Dame Judi Dench celebrated her 90th birthday on 9 December 2024.

Since playing Ophelia in Hamlet at The Old Vic Theatre over 60 years ago, Judi Dench has garnered wide popular and critical admiration for a career marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles. She has won numerous major awards – including an Academy Award, 10 BAFTA Awards and a record eight Olivier Awards – for work on both stage and screen, and in recognition of her many achievements she received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970, became a DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour. She has also received the Japan Arts Association’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale Laureate Award for Film and Theatre.

Judi is recognised globally for her legendary role as M in seven James Bond films, from Goldeneye to Skyfall. Her other film work includes Tea With Mussolini, directed by Franco Zeffirelli; A Room With a View and A Handful of Dust, both of which brought her BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress; Henry V and Hamlet, both directed Kenneth Branagh; Philomena, directed by Stephen Frears; Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Fukunaga; My Week with Marilyn, directed by Simon Curtis; J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood; the hugely successful India-set comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and its sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, both directed by John Madden; Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot, opposite Dustin Hoffman; and Shakespeare in Love, directed by John Madden. Judi can next be seen on screen in Richard Eyre’s, Allelujah!.

Judi Dench – Theatre Awards

Judi has won eight Olivier Awards, for Macbeth and Juno and the Paycock for the RSC; Pack of Lies and The Winter’s Tale in the West End; and Anthony and Cleopatra, Absolute Hell, and A Little Night Music, all at The National Theatre; and a Special Olivier Award in 2004.

Her performance in David Hare’s Amy’s View, directed by Richard Eyre, brought her a Critics Circle Award and an Olivier Award nomination when it played in London at The National and Aldwych, followed by a Tony Award for Best Actress when the play transferred to Broadway. In 2013 she was nominated for an Olivier Award for her stage performance in Peter and Alice, directed by Michael Grandage.

Judi Dench has won Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Juno and the Paycock, A Kind of Alaska / The Importance of Being Earnest and Antony and Cleopatra.

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