Since playing Ophelia in Hamlet at the Old Vic 40 years ago, Dame Judi Dench has received wide critical acclaim for a career marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles. She has won more than 25 awards—including nine British Academy Awards—in a career that has encompassed the stage, television and motion pictures. She received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970 for services to the theatre, and subsequently became a DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 1988. Most recently, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from The Julliard School, paying homage to her as an "outstanding artist and cultural leader."

Dench won an Academy Award®, a BAFTA Award and was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics for her performance in the hit romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for Lasse Hallström’s Chocolat.

Dame Judi won a BAFTA Award for her performance in The Last of the Blond Bombshells for Working Title Television. In 2001 she filmed Iris, directed by Richard Eyre, with Jim Broadbent (for which she received an Academy Award® nomination) and The Shipping News, directed by Lasse Hallström, with Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore.

She continues working on the London stage, starring in David Hare’s "Amy’s View" (winning a Tony Award for her Broadway performance), Peter Hall’s "The Royal Family" and the two-hander "The Breath of Life" at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with Dame Maggie Smith.

Dench’s recent film credits also include Charles Dance’s Ladies in Lavender. Onstage, she most recently performed in "All’s Well That Ends Well" for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and London’s West End.