Margaret Natalie Smith, better known as Dame Maggie Smith, is a renowned and celebrated actress born in Essex, England. Her mother, Margaret Hutton, a secretary, and her father, Nathaniel Smith, a teacher at Oxford University, shaped her early life. Smith has been married twice, first to actor Robert Stephens, with whom she had two sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, who are also actors, and then to playwright Beverley Cross, until his passing in 1998.
Maggie Smith's illustrious career commenced at the Oxford Playhouse in the 1950s. Her film debut in 1956, as a party guest in "Child in the House," marked the beginning of a long and distinguished list of over sixty film and television appearances alongside some of the world's most prominent actors and actresses. Notable performances include "Othello" (1965) with Laurence Olivier, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969),"California Suite" (1978) with Michael Caine and Jane Fonda, "A Room with a View" (1985),"Richard III" (1995) with Ian McKellen and Jim Broadbent, "Tea with Mussolini" (1999) with Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Cher, and "Gosford Park" (2001) with Kristin Scott Thomas and Clive Owen, directed by Robert Altman.
Throughout her illustrious career, Maggie Smith has received six Academy Award nominations and has won twice, for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969) and "California Suite" (1978). In recent years, she has gained widespread recognition for her portrayal of the formidable Professor McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" franchise and the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Julian Fellowes' ITV drama series "Downton Abbey" (2010-2011).
