Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith

Name: Dame Margaret Natalie Smith
DOB: Dec. 28, 1934
Where: Ilford, Essex, England
Occupation: Actress
Years Active: 1952-present

-English film, stage and TV actress
-Still acting after 59 years
-Has appeared in various popular films, such as Hook(1991), Sister Act(1992) and is best known for her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series.

Playing the head nun in Sister Act

-Currently stars in the drama series Downtown Abbey, as Violet Crawley, the Dowager-Countess of Grantham, which earned her an Emmy.

Playing elegant society woman Violet in Downtown Abbey

Early life
-Born in Ilford, Essex, England to Margaret Smith, a Glasgow-born secretary and Nathaniel Smith, a Newcastle upon Tyne-born public health pathologist who also worked at Oxford University.
-Has twin older brothers, Alistair and Ian

Career
-Has an extensive career both on screen and in live theatre, and is known as one of England's pre-eminent actresses.

-In 1969, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as an unorthodox Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. This role was originally created by Vanessa Redgrave in 1966.

-In 1978, she also won the Academy Award for best supporting actress as her role of the brittle actress Diana Barry in California Suite, opposite actor Michael Caine.

-But today, she is best known as the stern, yet loving assistant Headmistress and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series, opposite Daniel Radcliffe, who she worked with in the 1999 BBC series David Copperfield.

Teaching Ron Weasley(Rupert Grint) to ballroom dance

Towards the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pt. II. Everyone is preparing to take on The Dark Lord

-In 2005, she starred alongside fellow British actor Rowan Atkinson in Keeping Mum. She played Rosie Jones, who had murdered her unfaithful husband and his mistress, later on adopting the name Grace and going to work for a vicar named Walter Goodfellow(Rowan Atkinson)

-In 2010, she appeared as Violet, the Dowager-Countess of Grantham on the British period drama Downtown Abbey

Personal Life
-Has been married twice. 1st husband was Robert Stephens, who she married on June 29, 1967 at Greenwich Register Office. They had 2 sons: actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens. 2nd husband was Beverly Cross, who she married on August 23, 1975 at Guildford Register Office. He died on March 20, 1998.

-In 2007, according to the Sunday Telegraph, it was revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was then said to have made a full recovery.

Filmography