Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith played the no-holds-barred professor Minerva McGonagall who should be credited for making Hogwarts stable. Appearing in 7 films out of 8, Smith ardently exhibited the prowess of McGonagall and delivered some of the most iconic lines in the franchise. Her character is one of the few who stood up against Dolores Umbridge and made quite a mark due to her performance. Today, Smith continues to show off her badass acting skills, most recently as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley in ‘Downton Abbey’. Did you know that Smith had been diagnosed with two illnesses in her lifetime, one is Graves’ disease and the other is breast cancer, both of which she survived. She is, indeed, as tough as nails her Harry Potter character.