Claim: Maggie Smith is person who acts.

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith , -LRB- born 28 December 1934 -RRB- , known as Maggie Smith , is an English actress . She has had an extensive , varied career in stage , film and television spanning over sixty-five years . Smith has appeared in over 50 films and is one of Britain 's most recognisable actresses . A prominent figure in British culture for six decades , she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for services to the performing arts , and received the Companion of Honour from the Queen in 2014 for services to drama .   Smith began her career on stage at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952 and made her Broadway debut in New Faces of ' 56 . For her work on the London stage , she has won a record five Best Actress Evening Standard Awards ; for The Private Ear and The Public Eye -LRB- 1962 -RRB- , Hedda Gabler -LRB- 1970 -RRB- , Virginia -LRB- 1981 -RRB- , The Way of the World -LRB- 1984 -RRB- and Three Tall Women -LRB- 1994 -RRB- . She received Tony Award nominations for Private Lives -LRB- 1975 -RRB- and Night and Day -LRB- 1979 -RRB- , before winning the 1990 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage . Other stage roles include Stratford Shakespeare Festival productions of Antony and Cleopatra -LRB- 1976 -RRB- and Macbeth -LRB- 1978 -RRB- , and West End productions of A Delicate Balance -LRB- 1997 -RRB- and The Breath of Life -LRB- 2002 -RRB- .   On screen , Smith first drew praise for the crime film Nowhere to Go -LRB- 1958 -RRB- , for which she received her first BAFTA Award nomination . She has won two Academy Awards , winning Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie -LRB- 1969 -RRB- and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite -LRB- 1978 -RRB- . She is one of only six actresses to have won in both categories . She has won a record four BAFTA Awards for Best Actress , including for A Private Function -LRB- 1984 -RRB- and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne -LRB- 1988 -RRB- , a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for Tea With Mussolini -LRB- 1999 -RRB- , and three Golden Globe Awards . A six-time Oscar nominee , her other nominations were for Othello -LRB- 1965 -RRB- , Travels with My Aunt -LRB- 1972 -RRB- , A Room with a View -LRB- 1986 -RRB- , and Gosford Park -LRB- 2001 -RRB- .   Smith played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series -LRB- 2001 -- 11 -RRB- . Other notable films include Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing -LRB- 1973 -RRB- , Death on the Nile -LRB- 1978 -RRB- , Clash of the Titans -LRB- 1981 -RRB- , Evil Under the Sun -LRB- 1982 -RRB- , Hook -LRB- 1991 -RRB- , Sister Act -LRB- 1992 -RRB- , The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel -LRB- 2012 -RRB- and The Lady in the Van -LRB- 2015 -RRB- . She won an Emmy Award in 2003 for My House in Umbria , to become one of the few actresses to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting , and starred as Lady Violet Crawley , Dowager Countess of Grantham on Downton Abbey -LRB- 2010 -- 15 -RRB- , for which she won three Emmys , her first non-ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award and her third Golden Globe . Her honorary awards include the BAFTA Special Award -LRB- 1993 -RRB- , the BAFTA Fellowship -LRB- 1996 -RRB- , and the Special Olivier Award -LRB- 2011 -RRB- . She received the Stratford Shakespeare Festival 's Legacy Award in 2012 , and the Evening Standard Icon Award in 2013 .