Judi Dench filmography Judi Dench filmography Dame Judi Dench is an English actress who has worked in theater, television, and film. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of 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. Over the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre
Maggie Smith her first Emmy Award for the 2003 TV film "My House in Umbria". On stage, she starred as Madeleine Palmer, opposite Judi Dench, in the David Hare play "The Breath of Life" in 2002, toured Australia in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" in 2004, and starred in "The Lady from Dubuque" in 2007. Beginning in 2010, Smith appeared as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the British period drama "Downton Abbey". This role won her a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. In 2014, the role also won her a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2012, she played Muriel