Emma Thompson

Acting

Born Apr 15, 1959

From Paddington, London, England, UK

Dame Emma Thompson (born April 15, 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.

Emma Thompson

Known For

Cruella

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Sheep Detectives

Brave

Beauty and the Beast

I Am Legend

Dead of Winter

Love Actually

Filmography — Acting

Cruella

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Sheep Detectives

Brave

Beauty and the Beast

I Am Legend

Dead of Winter

Love Actually

Men in Black 3

Treasure Planet

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Men in Black: International

Sense and Sensibility

Dolittle

Nanny McPhee

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

In the Name of the Father

Burnt

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Johnny English Strikes Again

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical

Last Christmas

Bridget Jones's Baby

Much Ado About Nothing

Saving Mr. Banks

The Remains of the Day

The Boat That Rocked

Stranger Than Fiction

Junior

Dead Again

Howards End

Beautiful Creatures

Men, Women & Children

Effie Gray

A Walk in the Woods

What's Love Got to Do with It?

Missing Link

An Education

Brideshead Revisited

Primary Colors

Henry V

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Wit

Late Night

King Lear

The Love Punch

The Children Act

My Father the Hero

Last Chance Harvey

An Audience with Adele

Alone in Berlin

Impromptu

When Harry Left Hogwarts

Judas Kiss

The Tall Guy

How to Build a Girl

Maybe Baby

Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony

Nos Bastidores de Hollywood

The Winter Guest

Peter's Friends

Carrington

The Legend of Barney Thomson

Everybody to Kenmure Street

Junket Whore