Judi Dench

Dench was born in the Heworth area of York on 9 December 1934, the daughter of an Irish mother and English father. Her mother, Eleanora Olive (née Jones) (1897–1983), was born in Dublin; her father, Reginald Arthur Dench MC & Bar (1897–1964), was a doctor from Dorset who grew up primarily in Dublin and who fought on the Western Front in World War I. Her parents met while studying at Trinity College Dublin. In October 2021, Dench was the subject of BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are?, where it was revealed that she is descended from the Bille family of Danish aristocrats, and Steen Andersen Bille (1624–1698), the illegitimate son of Anders Steensen Bille (1578–1633), as well as Claus Bille (1490–1558), a grandfather of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). Judi is also distantly related to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, as both descended from Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth. She is also a cousin of Greek-Australian actors Rebekah Elmaloglou and Sebastian Elmaloglou. Her niece, Emma Dench, is a historian of ancient Rome. Dench attended the Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York, and became a Religious Society of Friends|Quaker. She had two elder brothers named Peter (1925–2017) and Jeffery (1928–2014), the latter of whom also became an actor. Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre: her father was the GP for York Theatre Royal, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress. Actors often stayed in the Dench household. During these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in 1951, 1954 and 1957. In the third production she played the role of the Virgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens. Though she initially trained as a set designer, Dench became interested in drama school as her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. She was also inspired by seeing Peggy Ashcroft play Cleopatra on stage, which she later said "changed my life". She applied and was accepted by the Central School, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London, where she was a classmate of Vanessa Redgrave, graduating and being awarded four acting prizes, including the Gold Medal as Outstanding Student.