Emma Thompson | |||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Thompson at the Nanny McPhee London premiere, 2005 |
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Born | 15 April 1959 Paddington, London, England |
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Spouse(s) | Kenneth Branagh (1989–1995) Greg Wise (2003–present) |
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Emma Kyralee Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is an Academy Award-, Emmy Award-, BAFTA Award- and Golden Globe-winning Anglo-Scottish actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She is also a patron of the Refugee Council.
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Thompson was born in Paddington, London, England. Her father was the actor Eric Thompson, best known for having written and narrated The Magic Roundabout, shown on BBC children's television in the 1960s and '70s. Her mother is the Scottish actress Phyllida Law. Thompson's younger sister is actress Sophie Thompson. Thompson has spent part of her life in Scotland and has stated that she "feel[s] Scottish".[1]
Thompson went to Camden School for Girls and then studied English at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was a member (along with fellow actors Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Tony Slattery) and vice-president of the University's theatrical club, the Footlights. Her acting talent was so impressive that agent Richard Armitage signed her to a contract while she was still 2 years away from graduation. In 1982, Emma completed her education at Cambridge with her degree. Soon after that, she came to fame with a leading role in the West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, opposite Robert Lindsay, followed by the BBC serial drama, Fortunes of War.
Thompson's first major film role was in a romantic comedy, The Tall Guy. Her career took a more serious turn with a series of critically acclaimed performances and films, beginning with 1992's Howards End (for which she received an Oscar for Best Actress); the part of Gareth Peirce, the lawyer for the Guildford Four, in In the Name of the Father; The Remains of the Day opposite Anthony Hopkins; and as the British painter Dora Carrington in the film Carrington.
She won her next Oscar in 1996, for Best Adapted Screenplay for her screenplay adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, a film in which she also played the Oscar-nominated lead role opposite Hugh Grant. She has said that she keeps both of her award statues in her downstairs bathroom, citing embarrassment at placing them in a more prominent place [2].
One of Thompson's earliest television appearances was in 1984 alongside Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as guest stars on the sitcom The Young Ones. In 1988, she starred in and wrote the eponymous Thompson comedy sketch series for BBC1; the series was not successful with audiences or critics. Described in Time Out magazine as "very clever-little-me-ish", it has never been repeated in Britain despite her Oscar successes, and Thompson has not returned to the sketch comedy field.
Thompson's recent television work has included a starring role in the 2001 HBO drama Wit, in which she played a dying cancer patient, and 2003's Angels in America, playing multiple roles, including one of the titular angels. Her Emmy Award was as a guest star in a 1997 episode of the show Ellen; in the episode, she played a fictionalised parody of herself: a closeted lesbian more concerned with the media finding out she's actually American. She also appeared in an episode of Cheers in 1992 titled "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't".
Most recently, Thompson appeared in supporting roles such as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She has also appeared in the hit comedy Love Actually. The film Nanny McPhee, written by Thompson, was first released in October 2005. Thompson worked on the project for nine years, having written the screenplay and starred, alongside her mother (who has a cameo appearance). In the film Stranger Than Fiction she plays an author planning on killing her main character, Harold Crick, who turns out to be a real person. Most recently, Emma Thompson made a short uncredited cameo as a doctor introducing the cure for cancer in the form of measles in the latest film adaptation for I Am Legend, and awaiting release is the film Last Chance Harvey, where Thompson leads opposite Dustin Hoffman, with appearances from Eileen Atkins and Kathy Baker, An Education and The Boat That Rocked, the new Richard Curtis film which also stars Gemma Arterton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, January Jones, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport and Rhys Ifans.
Due to scheduling conflicts, Thompson will not reprise her role as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
While she was at Cambridge University, Thompson had a romantic relationship with fellow student, actor Hugh Laurie, who was also a member of the Cambridge Footlights Revue.
Thompson married Kenneth Branagh, with whom she appeared in Fortunes of War, on 20 August 1989. They appeared together several times, in hit films such as Dead Again, Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing, but were eventually divorced in October 1995.
In 2003, Thompson married actor Greg Wise (who starred with her in Sense and Sensibility) with whom she has a daughter, Gaia Romilly, born in 1999. In 2003, Thompson and Wise informally adopted a 16-year-old Rwandan refugee named Tindyebwa Agaba. They are currently fighting his deportation back to Rwanda where it is thought all his family were killed in the genocide.[3]
The following is a list of Thompson's Film credits:
Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
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1987 | Tutti Frutti | Suzi Kettles | Cult BBC TV Series starring Emma and Robbie Coltrane bringing both to national prominence. Written by John Byrne |
Fortunes of War | Harriet Pringle | BAFTA winner for best actress (jointly with work on Tutti Frutti) | |
1989 | Henry V | Catherine of Valois | |
1990 | The Tall Guy | Kate Lemmon | |
1991 | Dead Again | "Grace"/Amanda Sharpe/Margaret Strauss | |
Impromptu | Duchess d'antan (Claudette) | ||
1992 | Howards End | Margaret Schlegel | Winner, Academy Award for Best Actress |
Peter's Friends | Maggie Chester | ||
1993 | Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | |
The Remains of the Day | Miss Kenton | Nominated Academy Awards for Best Actress | |
In the Name of the Father | Gareth Peirce | Nominated Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress | |
1994 | Junior | Dr. Diana Reddin | |
1995 | Carrington | Dora Carrington | |
Sense and Sensibility | Elinor Dashwood | Winner, Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Nominated Academy Awards for Best Actress | |
1997 | The Winter Guest | Frances | |
1998 | Primary Colors | Susan Stanton | |
2001 | Wit | Vivian Bearing | Television movie Nominated for Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries |
2002 | Treasure Planet | Captain Amelia | Animated Disney film, science fiction version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island |
2003 | Imagining Argentina | Cecilia | |
Love Actually | Karen | ||
Angels in America (miniseries) | Nurse Emily/the Homeless Woman/the Angel America | ||
2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Professor Sybill Trelawney | |
2005 | Nanny McPhee | Nanny McPhee | Script Writer |
2006 | Stranger than Fiction | Karen Eiffel | |
2007 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Professor Sybill Trelawney | |
I Am Legend | Dr. Alice Krippin | Uncredited Cameo | |
2008 | Brideshead Revisited | Lady Marchmain | |
Last Chance Harvey | Kate | awaiting release | |
An Education | TBA | post-production | |
2009 | The Boat That Rocked | Charlotte | post-production |
The following is a partial list of Thompson's Theatre credits:
Note: Bold indicates she won the award in question. Unbolded means she was merely nominated.
Preceded by Simon McBurney |
Footlights Vice President 1980–1981 |
Succeeded by Will Osborne |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs |
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role 1992 for Howards End |
Succeeded by Holly Hunter for The Piano |
Preceded by Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs |
NYFCC Award for Best Actress 1992 for Howards End |
Succeeded by Holly Hunter for The Piano |
Preceded by Eric Roth for Forrest Gump |
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 1995 for Sense and Sensibility |
Succeeded by Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade |
Preceded by Susan Sarandon for The Client |
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role 1996 for Sense and Sensibility |
Succeeded by Brenda Blethyn for Secrets & Lies |
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Persondata | |
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NAME | Thompson, Emma |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress, screenwriter |
DATE OF BIRTH | 15 April 1959 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | London, England |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |