#RespectYourElders: Are any of your favorite actors or actresses nominated for the 2018 Golden Globes? Actress Judi Dench (born 1934) is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role in “Victoria and Abdul.” This is her 12th Golden Globe nomination and could be her third win.
Dench began her career as a stage actress in England, and made her professional debut at the Old Vic Theatre in 1957. She went on to become one of England’s most valued theatre performers, becoming a company member at the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Many of Dench’s biggest roles have been on British stage and screen, but she’s a favorite to American audiences, too. She received the “Best Supporting Actress” Academy Award in 1998 for her role in “Shakespeare in Love,” and was nominated for six other Academy Awards between 1997 and 2013. Dench has received numerous prestigious awards in England and around the world, including wins at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards, the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the Laurence Olivier Awards.
Dench has received accolades beyond the screen and stage, as well. She became a Dame of Order of the British Empire in 1988, and has received honors from several universities. Since 1996, she’s been awarded numerous honorary degrees — most recently, a Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University. Dench was also named one of Debrett’s most influential people in the U.K. in 2017, and has been recognized for her support for numerous charities such as Acting for Others and the Chickenshed Theatre Trust.
Dench also continues to branch out into new acting roles. In 2017, she appeared in three films: “Tulip Fever,” “Victoria and Abdul” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Even though she recently developed macular degeneration, a common condition among older adults that leads to vision loss, she continues to do what she loves. On losing her eyesight, Dench told The Los Angeles Times, “you can adapt to anything quickly.” She’s adjusting to the condition by way of “a wonderful friend who reads to me” and using large-font texts when she’s reading by herself. She says although these larger fonts “look ridiculous, it doesn’t matter. It works.”
See how Dench’s career has evolved in this history of her greatest roles. Do you think she’ll win her third Golden Globe in 2018?