She was awarded the 1997 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actress for her performance in Amy's View at the Royal National Theatre.
She was awarded the 1997 London Evening Standard Theatre Award: The Patricia Rothermere Award for her contributions to theatre.
She was awarded the 2004 Laurence Olivier Theatre Special Award for her Outstanding Contributions to British Theatre.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's Honours List and awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1988 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to drama.
She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performance in Filumena.
She was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of the 1997 season for her performance in Amy's View at the Royal National Theatre: Lyttelton and then Aldwych theatres.
She was ranked second in the 2001 Orange Film Survey of the greatest British Film Actresses.
She was to play "Grizabella" in the original "CATS" West End production, but an ailment forced her out of the play. Elaine Paige replaced her.
Topped the poll in Britain's Finest Actresses, July 2005
Voted Best British Actress of all time in a poll for Sky TV [Feb 2005].
Was awarded an honourary Litt.D. (Doctor in Letters) from Trinity College on Friday, 11th July, 2003.
Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2005 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actress category for her performance in the film The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), she failed to receive a nomination however.
Was not able to attend the Oscars in 2007, because she had to undergo a knee surgery.
Was six months pregnant with her daughter Finty Williams when she completed her run of the play "London Assurance".
When Royal Shakespeare Company Director Peter Hall asked Judi Dench to play the title role in a staged, and then later televised, production of Cleopatra, Dench refused, saying that her Cleopatra would be a "menopausal dwarf." Director Hall was later successful in coaxing Dench into the role, of which she won rave reviews from both theatre critics and TV audiences.
When she started training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, she admits she wasn't taking it as seriously as she ought to have done. She was caught out during an improvisation scene at which point she realised that that was what it was all about and studied harder than she had ever done in her life.
Whilst training at the Old Vic Theatre in the 1950s, Dench shared a flat with Barbara Leigh-Hunt.
Won Broadway's 1999 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for "Amy's View."
Younger sister of Jeffery Dench.