Judi Dench
Biography
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is a retired English film, stage and television actress. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968. During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By. Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she played in each James Bond film until Skyfall (2012). She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001). Regarded by critics as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, and frequently named as the leading British actress in polls, Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. She was married to actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of actress Finty Williams.
Known For
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
The Graham Norton Show
2007
The One Show
2006
0Tony Awards
1956
The South Bank Show
1978
BBC Play of the Month
1965
ITV Playhouse
1967
ITV Playhouse
1967
Playhouse
1974
Omnibus
1967
0Parkinson
1998
Filmography
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self · 2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self · 2014
The Graham Norton Show
as Self · 2007
The One Show
as Self · 2006
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter / Winner · 1956
The South Bank Show
· 1978
BBC Play of the Month
as Elizabeth Moris · 1965
ITV Playhouse
as Helen Payle · 1967
ITV Playhouse
as Z · 1967
Playhouse
as Sister Scarli · 1974
Omnibus
as Self - Reading Poetry · 1967
Parkinson
as Self · 1998
Countryfile
as Self · 1988
Theatre 625
as Valentine Wannop · 1964
Theatre 625
as Terry Stevens · 1964
Pebble Mill
as Self · 1991
An Audience with...
as Self · 1978
Pride & Prejudice
as Lady Catherine de Bourgh · 2005
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
as Society Lady · 2011
The Oscars
as Self · 1953
Who Do You Think You Are?
as Self · 2004
Parkinson
as Self - Guest · 2004
Parkinson
as Self - Guest / Performer · 2004
Parkinson
as Self - Guest (archive footage) · 2004
Performance
as Christine Foskett · 1991
Casino Royale
as M · 2006
Going Live!
as Self · 1987
Skyfall
as M · 2012
The BAFTA Awards
as Self · 1949
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
as Miss Avocet · 2016
Screen One
as Anne · 1989
BBC2 Play of the Week
as Imogen Langrishe · 1977
BBC2 Play of the Week
as Helen Wiles · 1977
Spectre
as M (uncredited) · 2015
Quantum of Solace
as M · 2008
As Time Goes By
as Jean Pargetter · 1992
The World Is Not Enough
as M · 1999
The Hollow Crown
as Cecily · 2012
Murder on the Orient Express
as Princess Dragomiroff · 2017
HBO First Look
as Self · 1992
Tomorrow Never Dies
as M · 1997
Die Another Day
as M · 2002
GoldenEye
as M · 1995
Home on the Range
as Mrs. Caloway (voice) · 2004
Remembers…
as Self · 2022
An Age of Kings
as Katherine of Valois · 1960
Staged
as Judi · 2020
The Magic Faraway Tree
as The Fridge (voice) · 2026
Talking Pictures
as Self (archive footage) · 2013
Cranford
as Miss Matilda Jenkyns · 2007
Artemis Fowl
as Commander Root · 2020
Detective
as Charlotte Revel · 1964
Festival
as Angela Thwaites · 1963
Theatre Night
· 1985
Theatre Night
as Helene Alving · 1985
Theatre Night
as Mrs Rogers · 1985
Playing Shakespeare
· 1984
Tulip Fever
as The Abbess of St. Ursula · 2017
Notes on a Scandal
as Barbara Covett · 2006
Shakespeare in Love
as Queen Elizabeth · 1998
A Room with a View
as Eleanor Lavish · 1986
Jane Eyre
as Mrs. Fairfax · 2011
Vicious
as Judi Dench (voice, uncredited) · 2013
Ooh La La!
as Amélie · 1968
My Week with Marilyn
as Dame Sybil Thorndike · 2011
The Chronicles of Riddick
as Aereon · 2004
Chocolat
as Armande Voizin · 2000
Middlemarch
· 1994
Spirited
as Dame Judi Dench · 2022
Victoria & Abdul
as Queen Victoria · 2017
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
as Evelyn Greenslade · 2012
Angelina Ballerina
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2001
Red Joan
as Joan Elizabeth Stanley · 2018
Cats
as Old Deuteronomy · 2019
Blithe Spirit
as Madame Arcati · 2020
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
as Evelyn Greenslade · 2015
A Fine Romance
as Laura Dalton · 1981
Belfast
as Granny · 2021
Nine
as Lilli · 2009
Confession
as Woman · 1970
J. Edgar
as Anna Marie Hoover · 2011
Henry V
as Mistress Quickly · 1989
Louis Theroux Interviews
as Self · 2022
Philomena
as Philomena · 2013
Love in a Cold Climate
as Aunt Sadie · 1980
Ladies in Lavender
as Ursula · 2004
Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius
as Self · 2023
Six Minutes to Midnight
as Miss Rocholl · 2020
The Shipping News
as Agnis Hamm · 2001
Hamlet
as Hecuba · 1996
Iris
as Iris Murdoch · 2001
84 Charing Cross Road
as Nora Doel · 1987
The Importance of Being Earnest
as Lady Bracknell · 2002
Nothing Like a Dame
as Self · 2018
Roald Dahl's Esio Trot
as Mrs. Silver · 2015
Tea with Mussolini
as Arabella · 1999
Behaving Badly
as Bridget Mayor · 1989
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
as Self · 2026
All Is True
as Anne Shakespeare · 2018
Talking to a Stranger
as Terry Stevens - Daughter · 1966
Mrs Brown
as Queen Victoria · 1997
Mrs. Henderson Presents
as Mrs. Laura Henderson · 2005
A Handful of Dust
as Mrs. Beaver · 1988
Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill
as Dorrie Edgehill · 1985
A Study in Terror
as Sally · 1965
Muse of Fire
as Self · 2013
Doogal
as Narrator (voice) · 2006
Six by Sondheim
as Self (archive footage) · 2013
Everything or Nothing
as Self · 2012
Live from Studio Five
as Self · 2009
Off the Rails
as Diana · 2021
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
as Self - Performer · 2016
Absolute Hell
as Christine Foskett · 1991
Joke
· 2026
Jack & Sarah
as Margaret · 1995
My Homeland
as Reader · 1976
National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage
as Cleopatra/Desiree Armfeldt · 2013
HiT Favourites: Happy Children's Favourites
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2006
The Big Night In
as Self · 2020
A Midsummer Night's Dream
as Titania · 1968
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
as Desiree Armfeldt (segment "Send In The Clowns") · 1998
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
as Self · 2022
Bond Girls Are Forever
as Herself · 2002
Village Wooing
as Z · 1979
Run For Your Wife
as Bag Lady · 2012
Die Another Day: From Script to Screen
as Self · 2002
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
as Elizabeth · 2000
Allelujah
as Mary · 2023
Judi Dench's Wild Borneo Adventure
as Self · 2019
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh
as Self · 2025
Billy Connolly: A BAFTA Tribute
as Self · 2002
Four in the Morning
as Wife ("Judi") · 1965
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
as Paulina · 2015
The Browning Version
as Millie Crocker-Harris · 1985
MCAINE: An Anagram of Cinema
as Self - Actress (archive footage) · 2023
Goldeneye: The Secret Files
as Self · 1995
J.R.R.T. : A Study of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 1892-1973
as Narrator · 1992
The Sound of 007: Live from the Royal Albert Hall
as Self · 2022
Going Gently
as Sister Scarli · 1981
The Third Secret
as Miss Ada Humphries · 1964
GoldenEye: The Secret Files - The Cast
as Self · 1995
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
as Self - Narrator (voice) · 2000
Best Ever Bond
as Self · 2002
Born to be The King
as Narrator · 2022
Can You Hear Me Thinking?
as Anne · 1990
Top Gear: 50 Years of Bond Cars
as Self · 2012
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
as Self · 2016
Bugs!
as Narrator (voice) · 2003
Judi Dench: Our National Treasure
as Self (archive footage) · 2022
Dames of Classic Drama at the BBC
as Self (archive material) · 2015
Stars in Shorts
as Mary · 2012
Angelina Ballerina - Lights, Camera, Action!
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2003
Macbeth
as Lady Macbeth · 1979
The Vote
as Christine Metcalfe · 2015
The Cherry Orchard
as Mme. Ranevsky · 1981
Into the Woods
as The Giant (voice) · 2011
Letters to My Younger Future Self
· 2026
Saigon: Year of the Cat
as Barbara Dean · 1983
Rage
as Mona Carvell · 2009
Shaken and Stirred on Ice
as Self · 2002
Langrishe, Go Down
as Imogen Langrishe · 1978
On Giant's Shoulders
as Hazel Wiles · 1979
Angelina Ballerina: The Show Must Go On
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2004
James Bond Supports International Women's Day
as M (voice) · 2011
Maria Callas: Living and Dying for Art and Love
as Self · 2004
Highly Classified: The World of 007
as Self · 1998
Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening
as Performer: "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" · 2002
The Comedy of Errors
as Adriana · 1978
Angelina Ballerina: All Dancers on Deck
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2006
The Cherry Orchard
as Anya · 1962
He Who Rides a Tiger
as Joanne · 1965
A Dairy Tale
as Mrs. Calloway (voice) · 2004
Directing Bond: The Martin Chronicles
· 2006
Angelina Ballerina: The Big Performance
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2005
Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me
as Self · 2025
Wetherby
as Marcia Pilborough · 1985
The Life of Shakespeare
as self · 2002
Friend Request Pending
as Mary · 2011
Make and Break
as Mrs. Rogers · 1987
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Ian McKellen
as Self · 2026
Angelina Ballerina: Angelina's Princess Dance
as Miss Lilly (voice) · 2005
Luther
as Katharina · 1974
The Angelic Conversation
as (voice) · 1987
The Show Must Go On! - Live at the Palace Theatre
as Self - Preshow Announcement (voice) · 2021
Palo Santo
as Mother of Palo Santo · 2018
Ghosts
as Helene Alving · 1987
Dead Cert
as Laura Davidson · 1974
Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees
as Self · 2017
I Remember It Well: Dame Judi Dench in Conversation with Gyles Bandreth
as Self · 2022
Dame Judi and Jay: The Odd Couple
as Self · 2024
Quintessentially British
as Self · 2022
We Become Silent - The Last Days of Health Freedom
as Narrator · 2005
Judi Dench Talks to Richard Eyre
as Self · 2002