Emma Thompson

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.

Cast

Love Actually
Karen
The Remains of the Day
Miss Kenton
Stranger Than Fiction
Karen Eiffel
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Sybill Trelawney
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sybill Trelawney
Henry V
Katherine
Sense and Sensibility
Elinor Dashwood
I Am Legend
Dr. Alice Krippin
Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee
The Tall Guy
Kate
Peter's Friends
Maggie Chester
In the Name of the Father
Gareth Peirce
Junior
Dr. Diana Reddin
Dead Again
Margaret Strauss / Grace
An Education
Headmistress
Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice
Howards End
Margaret Schlegel
Treasure Planet
Captain Amelia (voice)
Primary Colors
Susan Stanton
Brideshead Revisited
Lady Marchmain
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Sybill Trelawney
Wit
Vivian Bearing
Imagining Argentina
Cecilia Rueda
The Winter Guest
Frances
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Nanny McPhee
Men in Black 3
Agent O
An Audience with Adele
Self
The Real Mary Poppins
Self
Judas Kiss
FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins
Brave
Elinor (voice)
Last Chance Harvey
Kate Walker
Carrington
Dora Carrington
The Boat That Rocked
Charlotte
The Song of Lunch
She
How to Stop a Nuclear War
Narrator
Saving Mr. Banks
P.L. Travers
Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom
Narrator (voice)
Beautiful Creatures
Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes
Merchant Ivory
Self
Effie Gray
Lady Eastlake
The Cellar Tapes
various
Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity
Narrator (voice)
The Love Punch
Kate Jones
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
Self (archive footage)
Look Back in Anger
Alison Porter
Men, Women & Children
Narrator (voice)
Hollywood's Dark Secret
Self
A Walk in the Woods
Catherine Bryson
The Legend of Barney Thomson
Cemolina
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
Self (archive footage)
The Fringe, Fame and Me
Self
Slags
Young Woman
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Mrs. Lovett
Walking the Dogs
The Queen
My Father the Hero
Isabel (uncredited)
Dead of Winter
Barb
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Self
Alone in Berlin
Anna Quangel
Beauty and the Beast
Mrs. Potts
Burnt
Dr. Rosshilde
Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
When Harry Left Hogwarts
Self
Extinction
Unknown
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
Self
James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty
Self
The Blue Boy
Marie Bonnar
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Dr. Rawlings
Impromptu
Duchess D'Antan
The Sheep Detectives
Unknown
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Maureen Meyerowitz
Junket Whore
Self
Bridget Jones's Baby
Dr Rawlings
The Winslow Boy
Catherine Winslow
To the Ends of the Earth
Narrator (voice)
Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day'
Self
Hospital!
Elephant Woman
Maybe Baby
Druscilla
Sea Sorrow
Self
Fry and Laurie Reunited
Self
The Children Act
Fiona Maye
King Lear
Goneril
Johnny English Strikes Again
Prime Minister
Late Night
Katherine Newbury
Missing Link
Dora the Yeti Elder (voice)
Last Christmas
Petra Andrich
How to Build a Girl
Amanda
Men in Black: International
Agent O
Cruella
The Baroness
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Self (archive footage)
Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson
Elle-Même
Dolittle
Poly (voice)
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Nancy Stokes
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
Agatha Trunchbull
Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw
Self
The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey
Self
What's Love Got to Do with It?
Cath Stevenson
Rabbit Ears - The White Cat
Narrator (voice)
Hear Me Roar
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss
The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science
Narrator (voice)
Twelve Nights
Narrator
Tin Fish
Unknown
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Unknown
A Sense of Character
Self
A Very Quiet Man
Self
Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility
Self
Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility
Self
Bad Tidings
(archive footage)