Judi Dench Honour (CH) in the 2005 Birthday Honours. In June 2011, she became a fellow of the British Film Institute (BFI). In a biography by John Miller it was noted that in the late 1990s Dench was the patron of over 180 charities, many of which were related either to the theatre or to medical causes, for example York Against Cancer. Dench is a patron of the Leaveners, Friends School Saffron Walden, The Archway Theatre, Horley, Surrey and OnePlusOne Marriage and Partnership Research, London. She became president of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London in 2006, taking over from Sir
Judi Dench worldwide. In Simon Curtis' "My Week with Marilyn", which depicts the making of the 1957 film "The Prince and the Showgirl" starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, Dench played actress Sybil Thorndike. The film garnered largely positive reviews, and earned Dench a Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination at the 65th BAFTA Awards. Dench's last film of 2011 was Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar", a biographical drama film about the career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, from the Palmer Raids onwards, including an examination of his private life as a closeted homosexual. Hand-picked by Eastwood