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Personal Info

Gender

Female

Birthday

1959-04-15 (66 years old)

Place of Birth

Paddington, London, England, UK

Emma Thompson

Biography:

Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama.

Born to actors Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law, Thompson was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she became a member of the Footlights troupe and appeared in the comedy sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984). In 1985, she starred in the West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, which was a breakthrough in her career. In 1987, she became famous for her performances in two BBC series, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War, winning the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her work on both series. In the early 1990s, she often collaborated with then-husband, actor and director Kenneth Branagh in films such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), and Much Ado About Nothing (1993).

Thompson won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Merchant-Ivory period drama Howards End (1992). In 1993, she received two Academy Award nominations—Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress—for the respective roles of the housekeeper of a grand household in The Remains of the Day and a lawyer in In the Name of the Father, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this feat. Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay—making her the only person in history to win Oscars for both acting and writing—and once again won the BAFTA. Further critical acclaim came for her roles in Primary Colors (1998), Love Actually (2003), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Late Night (2019), and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022).

Other notable film credits include the Harry Potter series (2004–2011), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), An Education (2009), Men in Black 3 (2012) and the spin-off Men in Black: International (2019), Brave (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Cruella (2021), and Matilda the Musical (2022). Her television credits include Wit (2001), Angels in America (2003), The Song of Lunch (2010), King Lear (2018) and Years and Years (2019). She portrayed Mrs. Lovett in a Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2014. Authorised by the publishers of Beatrix Potter, Thompson has also written three Peter Rabbit children's books.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Emma Thompson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Acting

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony as Self (archive footage)
Cruella as The Baroness

2020

Dolittle as Poly (voice)

2019

Late Night as Katherine Newbury
Missing Link as Dora the Yeti Elder (voice)
Last Christmas as Petra Andrich
Years and Years as Vivienne Rook

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Saving Mr. Banks as P.L. Travers
Beautiful Creatures as Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes

2012

Men in Black 3 as Agent O
Brave as Elinor (voice)
Walking the Dogs as The Queen

2011

2010

2009

An Education as Headmistress
Creating the World of Harry Potter as Self - 'Professor Trelawney'

2008

Brideshead Revisited as Lady Marchmain
Last Chance Harvey as Kate Walker

2007

2006

Stranger Than Fiction as Karen Eiffel

2005

Nanny McPhee as Nanny McPhee
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant as Self (archive footage)
Hoodwinked! as Lesa (voice) (uncredited)

2004

2003

Love Actually as Karen
Imagining Argentina as Cecilia Rueda
QI as Self
Angels in America as Nurse Emily / Homeless Woman / The Angel

2002

Treasure Planet as Captain Amelia (voice)
Sucré salé as Self
Timeshift as self

2001

2000

Maybe Baby as Druscilla

1998

Primary Colors as Susan Stanton
Judas Kiss as FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins
Junket Whore as Self
Parkinson as Self

1997

The Winter Guest as Frances
Hospital! as Elephant Woman
The View as Self
Leute heute as Self
The View as Self - Guest

1996

1995

Sense and Sensibility as Elinor Dashwood
Carrington as Dora Carrington

1994

Junior as Dr. Diana Reddin
My Father the Hero as Isabel (uncredited)
The Blue Boy as Marie Bonnar
Ellen as Emma Thompson

1993

The Remains of the Day as Miss Kenton
In the Name of the Father as Gareth Peirce
GMTV as Self

1992

Peter's Friends as Maggie Chester
Howards End as Margaret Schlegel

1991

Dead Again as Margaret Strauss / Grace
Impromptu as Duchess D'Antan
Rabbit Ears - The White Cat as Narrator (voice)

1989

Henry V as Katherine
The Tall Guy as Kate
Look Back in Anger as Alison Porter
The Winslow Boy as Catherine Winslow

1988

1987

Tutti Frutti as Suzi Kettles
Fortunes of War as Harriet Pringle

1984

Slags as Young Woman

1983

Alfresco as Various
The Crystal Cube as Jackie Meld / Various Roles

1982

The Cellar Tapes as various
The Young Ones as Miss Money-Sterling
Cheers as Nanny Gee

1981

1977

1975

Saturday Night Live as Self - Host

1962

1953

The Oscars as Self

-

Writing

2019

Last Christmas as Screenplay

2016

Bridget Jones's Baby as Screenplay

2014

Effie Gray as Screenplay

2005

Nanny McPhee as Screenplay

2001

Wit as Writer
Wit as Teleplay

1995

Sense and Sensibility as Screenplay

1983

Alfresco as Writer

Production

2024

Mediha as Executive Producer

2019

Ponyboi as Co-Producer
Last Christmas as Producer

2016

Sold as Executive Producer

2010

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang as Executive Producer

-

The Dead of Winter as Executive Producer
Down Cemetery Road as Executive Producer

Crew

1998

Eight as Thanks

Creator