Happy birthday, Dame Judi Dench! The British actress turns 82 on Dec. 9, 2016.
Dench spent much of her career as an acclaimed classical theater actress, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company for more than 20 years.
Though she also appeared films starting in the ‘60s, it wasn’t until 1997, at the age of 63, that Dench made her really big break in movies. Legendary producer Harvey Weinstein bought the rights to her Queen Victoria TV biopic Mrs. Brown and released it in theaters. Dench quickly became a household name.
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She went on to win an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, and she scored Academy Award nominations for films including Chocolat, Notes on a Scandal, and Philomena.
At 82, Dench shows no signs of slowing down, and her humor and zest for life came through in a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s the rudest word in my dictionary, ‘retire,'” she said. “And ‘old’ is another one. I don’t allow that in my house. And being called ‘vintage.’ I don’t want any of those old words. I like ‘enthusiastic’ and I like the word ‘cut’ because that means you’ve finished the shot.”
Launch the gallery to look back on Judi Dench through the years, starting with her earliest days as a 20-year-old acting school graduate just beginning her career!
Here’s Dench at age 20 on May 8, 1957. She was just about to play the Virgin Mary in a production of the New York Mystery Plays, her first professional role since leaving the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Dench as Juliet, alongside English actor John Stride, in a rehearsal for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic in London on Sept. 30, 1960.
Dench in May 1969.
Dench married actor Michael Williams on Feb. 5, 1971. They had one daughter, actress Finty Williams, and remained married until Michael’s death from lung cancer in 2001.
In this 1987 photo, Dench processes donations to the Emergency Appeal for Mozambique, an charitable initiative she launched.
Dench cradles her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love at the 1999 Academy Awards.
Just two dames just hanging out! Dame Judi Dench poses with Dame Maggie Smith for a charity screening of their 2004 drama Ladies in Lavender.
Dench walks the red carpet at the 2007 premiere for her psychological thriller Notes on a Scandal.
Dench shares a laugh with her daughter, Finty Williams, as they attend the Collars and Cuffs Ball at the Royal Opera House on Sept. 17, 2009, in London.
Dench chats with Queen Elizabeth II and artist Anish Kapoor during a reception at Buckingham Palace on July 11, 2011.
Dench walks the red carpet for the 2013 premiere of her film Philomena in Venice, Italy.
Dench shares a smile as she walks the red carpet for the world premiere of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in 2015.
Dench arrives at the 2016 Laurence Olivier awards on April 3, 2016.
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