Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex on 28 December 1934. She is a renowned English actress and theatre artist who has an acting career spanning more than 60 years. She was honored as a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for her services to performing arts. Smith also received the Companion of Honour from the Queen in 2014 in recognition of her long stage, film and TV career. Her well known movies include Othello (1965), A Room with a View (1985), Richard III (1995), Tea with Mussolini (1999), Gosford Park (2001), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer`s Stone (2001), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Lady in the Van (2015). Smith has been nominated six times for the Oscars and won it twice. Smith won her first Academy Award for Best Actress portraying the titular character in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). In the 1978 movie California Suite (1978), Smith won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Maggie Smith`s 2019 release includes Downton Abbey. Directed by Michael Engler, starring Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael in prominent roles.