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Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson (born April 15, 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.

Early life

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".

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.

Career

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 .

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.

Personal life

While she was at Cambridge University, Thompson had a romantic relationship with her 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.

Acting credits

The following is a list of Thompson's Film credits:

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1987	Tutti Frutti	Suzi Kettles	Cult BBC TV Series starring Emma and Robbie Coltrane bringing both to national prominence. Written by John Byrne
1987	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/Margaret Strauss
1991	Impromptu	Duchess d'antan (Claudette)
1992	Howards End	Margaret Schlegel	Winner, Academy Award for Best Actress
1992	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
1995	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
2007	I Am Legend	Dr. Alice Krippin	Uncredited Cameo
2008	Brideshead Revisited	Lady Marchmain
	Last Chance Harvey	Kate	post-production
	An Education	TBA	post-production
2009	The Boat That Rocked	Charlotte	post-production

The following is a partial list of Thompson's Theatre credits:

1990 - Played The Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream - International tour.
1989 - Played Alison in Look Back In Anger by John Osborne - Lyric Shaftesbury, London.
1984/5 - Played Sally in the musical Me and My Girl - Adelphi Theatre, London.
1984 - Wrote and starred in the one woman show Short Vehicle - Edinburgh Festival.
1982 - Appeared in Not The Nine O'Clock News - UK tour.
1982 - Co-wrote and appeared in Beyond the Footlights - Lyric Hammersmith, London.

Awards

Academy Awards

1992 - Best Actress - Howards End
1993 - Best Actress - The Remains of the Day
1993 - Best Supporting Actress - In the Name of the Father
1995 - Best Actress - Sense and Sensibility
1995 - Best Adapted Screenplay - Sense and Sensibility

Emmy Awards

1998 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - Ellen
2001 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie - Wit
2004 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie - Angels in America

SAG Awards

Golden Globe Awards

1993 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama - Howards End
1994 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama - The Remains of the Day
1994 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama - In the Name of the Father
1995 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Junior
1996 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama - Sense and Sensibility
2002 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Wit