JUDI DENCH
Date of Birth: December 9, 1934
Born in Yorkshire England, Judi attended Mount School, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Her first appearance on stage was in a play at her Quaker junior school. She played a snail.
Since her theater debut, she has performed with Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and at Old Vic Theatre.
The number of awards won for her performances in theater, film and television is phenomenal. 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 (1986). She received an ACE award for her performance in the television series Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985). She made history in 1996 as the first person to win two Olivier awards (for British theater) for different roles. She has been nominated five times for an Academy award, including for her work in Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005). She won the golden statuette in 1999 for an eight-minute performance in Shakespeare in Love (1998). She also received a Tony award for her work in the Broadway production of Amy's View. In 2007, she received yet another Academy Award nomination for her work in Notes on a Scandal (2006). For her starring role in the BBC series Cranford, Dench received a BAFTA TV Award nomination in 2008 and an Emmy award nomination in 2010. She continues to work in movies, however, having played Mrs. Fairfax in the recent big screen adaptation of Jane Eyre (2011), as well as a role in the blockbuster sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) with Johnny Depp.
In 1970 she was awarded the O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire), and in 1988, she was named Dame of the British Empire, for a career marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles.
Dench has one daughter, Finty (b. 1972), with her late husband Michael. Michael passed away January 11, 2001 of lung cancer.