Dame Judi Dench turns 88 - we take a look at her career from Skyfall to TikTok

Dame Judi Dench turns 88-years-old on December 9 2022, and she shows no signs of slowing down her career that has gone from strength to strength since the 1950’s. She has become a national icon, and is regarded as one of the best, and most versatile, British actresses on stage and screen.

Dench made her professional debut with the Old Vic Company in 1957, kicking off an incredibly successful career on the stage. She went on to perform in several of Shakespeare’s plays, in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.

Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also received critical acclaim for her work on television, specifically for her starring roles in the series A Fine Romance (1981–1984) and As Time Goes By (1992–2005).

While, the early days of her career were mostly spent on stage she did do some film work and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer. In 1968, she drew excellent reviews for her leading role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret.

Dench has garnered a long list of various accolades throughout a career which has spanned over six decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards and seven Olivier Awards.

Dench has been nominated at the Oscars eight times and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love which was released in 1998. She is also the recipient of several honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Society of London Theatre Special Award and the British Film Institute Fellowship Award.

She has played many iconic roles in her career, one of which being M in eight of the films in the James Bond franchise, specifically the Daniel Craig era. She fast became a fan favourite, and fans were gutted to see her character killed off in Skyfall *spoiler*, she did make a cameo in the 2015 Spectre film though.

In her decades-long career Dench has become an unstoppable force, even when her health has not been at its best. In 2012, she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, or AMD for short.

This condition doesn’t cause total blindness, but it makes everyday activities like reading and recognising faces tricky. However, the acting legend has spoken about her condition and said she won’t let the ‘bad enough’ condition put an end to her career. Dench has opened up about the eye condition that runs in her family during an interview with Louis Theroux for BBC Two.

As if stage and screen wasn’t enough, Dench stole the hearts of TikTok when she began filming videos on the short video platform with her grandson Sam Williams. She quickly became an overnight sensation. She told Channel 4 news that doing the videos ‘saved her life’ during the pandemic.

She said: “every day is so uncharted. You wake up and you wonder what day it is, and you wonder what date it is, and sometimes what month. And then you think, ‘What do I do today?’ And if the prospect is, ‘Well, what is there to do today?’”