DATE OF BIRTH
December 28, 1934
BIOGRAPHY
Maggie Smith is one of the few actresses to have won an Emmy, a Tony and an Oscar, also known as the Triple Crown of Acting. She first ventured into theater, specifically at the Oxford Playhouse and eventually made her first movie in 1956. Since then, she has appeared in over 70 films and TV series.
On the big screen, Smith is known for her work in the Sister Act movie franchise where she played Mother Superior, A Room with a View, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Secret Garden, Hook, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the Harry Potter films as Professor Minerva McGonagall.
While Smith successfully established herself on the silver screen, she also remained visible on TV thanks to ITV Play of the Week and Downton Abbey where she stars as Violet Crawley.
PLACE OF BIRTH
Ilford, Essex, England, UK
BIRTH NAME
Margaret Natalie Smith
GENDER
Female
FUN FACTS
- She’s a breast cancer survivor.
- She’s been married twice.
- Her two sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, are also actors.
AWARDS
Academy Awards
1969: Best Actress (for playing “Jean Brodie” in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
1978: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Diana Barrie” in California Suite)
BAFTA Awards
1969: Best Actress (for playing “Jean Brodie” in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
1984: Best Actress (for playing “Joyce Chilvers” in A Private Function)
1985: Best Actress (for playing “Charlotte Bartlett” in A Room with a View)
1988: Best Actress (for playing “Judith Hearne” in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)
1999: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Lady Hester Random” in Tea with Mussolini)
Emmy Awards
2003: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie (for playing “Emily Delahunty” in My House in Umbria)
2011: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie (for playing “Violet, Dowager Countess” in Downton Abbey)
Golden Globe Awards
1978: Best Actress – Musical or Comedy (for playing “Diana Barrie” in California Suite)
1986: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Charlotte Bartlett” in A Room with a View)
Kansas City Film Critics Circle
1978: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Diana Barrie” in California Suite)
1986: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Charlotte Bartlett” in A Room with a View)
2001: Best Supporting Actress (for playing “Constance Trentham” in Gosford Park)
Screen Actors Guild
2001: Outstanding Cast – Motion Picture (for Gosford Park)
FILMOGRAPHY
2010 – present Downton Abbey (TV series)
2011 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet
2010 Nanny McPhee Returns
2009 From Time to Time
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2007 Capturing Mary (TV movie)
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 Becoming Jane
2005 Keeping Mum
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2004 Ladies in Lavender
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2003 My House in Umbria (TV movie)
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
2001 Gosford Park
2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
1999 David Copperfield (TV movie)
1999 All the King’s Men (TV movie)
1999 The Last September
1999 Tea with Mussolini
1998 It All Came True
1997 Washington Square
1996 The First Wives Club
1995 Richard III
1993 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
1993 The Secret Garden
1993 Great Performances (TV series)
1992 Sister Act
1992 Screen Two (TV series)
1991 Hook
1990 Romeo.Juliet
1988 Talking Heads (TV mini-series)
1987 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1985 A Room with a View
1984 A Private Function
1984 Lily in Love
1983 All for Love (TV series)
1983 Better Late Than Never
1982 The Missionary
1982 Evil Under the Sun
1981 Clash of the Titans
1981 Quartet
1978 California Suite
1978 Death on the Nile
1976 Murder by Death
1973 Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing
1972 Travels with My Aunt
1968-1972 BBC Play of the Month (TV series)
1969 Oh! What a Lovely War
1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1968 Hot Millions
1968 ITV Playhouse (TV series)
1967 The Honey Pot
1967 Much Ado About Nothing (TV movie)
1957-1966 ITV Play of the Week (TV series)
1965 Othello
1965 Young Cassidy
1964 The Pumpkin Eater
1963 The V.I.P.s
1962 Go to Blazes
1958-1960 Armchair Theatre (TV series)
HEIGHT
5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
QUOTES
“The performances you have in your head are always much better than the performances on stage.”
“It’s true I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”
