Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson
Thompson in Paris at the César Awards 2009
Born	15 April 1959 (1959-04-15) (age 52) Paddington, London, England, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Occupation	Actor, comedian, screenwriter
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Kenneth Branagh (1989–1995; divorced) Greg Wise (2003–present; 2 children)

Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End. The following year Thompson garnered dual Academy Award nominations, as Best Actress for The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father.

In 1995, Thompson scripted and starred in Sense and Sensibility, a film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role among other awards. Other notable film and television credits have included the Harry Potter film series, Wit (2001), Love Actually (2003), Angels in America (2003), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), Last Chance Harvey (2008), An Education (2009), and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2009).

Thompson is a patron of the Refugee Council and president of the Teaching Awards.

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 1970s. 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]

Education

Thompson went to Camden School for Girls^[2] and then read English at Newnham College at the University of Cambridge where she was a member (along with fellow actors Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery) and vice-president of the university's comedy troupe, the Footlights. Her acting talent was so impressive that agent Richard Armitage signed her to a contract while she was still two years away from graduation. Thompson graduated from Cambridge in 1980. Shortly afterward, she came to fame with a leading role opposite Robert Lindsay in the Leicester Haymarket Theatre's production of the musical Me and My Girl, which had just been rescripted by Stephen Fry.

Career

Thompson's earliest television appearances included the comedy sketch show Alfresco, broadcast in 1983 and 1984 (as well as its three-part pilot There's Nothing to Worry About, shown in 1982), which also featured Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Also in 1984 she guested alongside Fry and Laurie in the episode "Bambi" of the sitcom The Young Ones, playing Miss Money-Sterling. Her breakthrough began in 1987 with her role as red-haired rock guitarist Suzi Kettles in the cult TV series Tutti Frutti. This was followed by acclaim for the BBC series Fortunes of War in which she starred with her then future husband, Kenneth Branagh. For these two 1987 roles she won a BAFTA for Best Actress. 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",^{[citation needed]} it has never been repeated in Britain despite her Oscar successes, and Thompson has not returned to the sketch comedy field.

Thompson's first major film role was in Richard Curtis's romantic comedy The Tall Guy (1989) co-starring Jeff Goldblum. Her career took a more serious turn with a series of critically acclaimed performances and films, beginning with Howards End (1992), 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.

Thompson won her next Oscar in 1996, for best adapted screenplay for her adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, a film directed by Ang Lee, 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.^[3]

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 this episode she played a fictionalised parody of herself: a closeted lesbian more concerned with the media finding out she is actually American. She also appeared in an episode of Cheers in 1992 titled "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't".

Thompson at the London premiere of Nanny McPhee, 2005

More 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. In 2002, she voiced Captain Amelia in Disney's Treasure Planet, an adaptation of Treasure Island. She also appeared in the 2003 comedy Love Actually. The film Nanny McPhee, adapted by Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books, 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, Thompson made a short uncredited cameo as a doctor introducing the cure for cancer in the form of measles in the latest film adaptation of I Am Legend, and starred in Last Chance Harvey opposite Dustin Hoffman, Eileen Atkins and Kathy Baker. In 2009, she appeared in An Education and The Boat That Rocked, the new Richard Curtis film, which also starred Gemma Arterton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, January Jones, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport and Rhys Ifans.

Thompson reprised her role as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.^[4] She will also voice Queen Elinor in the upcoming 2012 Pixar film Brave.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

While at Cambridge, Thompson was romantically involved with actor Hugh Laurie,^[5] a fellow Footlights member and an undergraduate at Selwyn College, just across the road from Newnham. Thompson continues her friendship with Laurie.

She married actor Kenneth Branagh on 20 August 1989. They acted together several times, in the TV series Fortunes of War, and in hit movies such as Dead Again, Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. They divorced in October 1995.

Thompson married actor Greg Wise in 2003 in Dunoon, Scotland, where she has a second home.^[6] The couple have a daughter, Gaia Romilly, born in 1999. In 2003, the couple informally adopted a 16-year-old Rwandan refugee named Tindyebwa Agaba. They successfully resisted his deportation back to Rwanda, his family having been killed in the genocide.^[7]

Activism

Environmental work

Thompson in 2008

Thompson is a supporter of Greenpeace. It was announced on 13 January 2009 that, with three other members of the organisation, she had bought land near the village of Sipson, under threat from a proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport.^[8] It was hoped that possession of the land, half the size of a football pitch, would make it possible to prevent the government from carrying through its plan to expand the airport.

Bought for an undisclosed sum from a local land owner, the plot was to be split into small squares and sold across the globe. Thompson said, "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans. It's laughably hypocritical. That's why we've bought a plot on the runway. We'll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables."^[9]

Political and religious views

Thompson has said of her religious and political views: "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur'an and I refute them."^[10] Despite this, she says that the guiding moral principles, ethical principles and much of the philosophy of Christianity is very good and that she celebrates Christmas.^[11] She told the BBC Andrew Marr Show in March 2010 that she had been a member of the Labour Party "all my life."^[12] Thompson is also a Palestinian human rights activist, having been a member of the British-based ENOUGH! coalition that seeks to end the "Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank."^[13]

Infringement Accusation

In 2011, playwright, Gregory Murphy, accused Emma Thompson of misappropriating his Off-Broadway and West End theatre 2009 play and subsequent screenplay, "The Countess," about the bizarre "love triangle" between John Ruskin, Effie Gray and John Everett Millais.^[14] Murphy asserts that copies of his play and screenplay were sent to her and her husband, Greg Wise, through a mutual friend. After obtaining a copy of a screenplay titled, "Effie", credited to Thompson and Wise, Murphy contacted the film's producers, noting that "Effie" was distinctly related to Murphy's own screenplay in its "time-frame, character development, structure and tone."^[15]

Thompson asserts that she has never seen "The Countess", read its screenplay, or ever received a copy from the mutual friend, who is willing to testify that he never gave her a copy. She maintains that all similarities between "Effie" and "The Countess" are simply the result of them being based on the same historical events.^[15]

Thompson met with Murphy at her home in an attempt to reach an agreement, and there followed over a number of months discussion of a possible writer's credit on the film and payment to Murphy. However no settlement could be reached to the satisfaction of both parties.

Thompson is expected to go into production on "Effie" in August 2011. However, she must "be able to demonstrate that there is no validity to Mr. Murphy's claim of infringement" to close the financing for the film.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Henry V	Catherine of Valois
1989	Tall Guy, TheThe Tall Guy	Kate Lemmon
1991	Dead Again	Grace Margaret Strauss
1991	Impromptu	Claudette, Duchess d'Antan	Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
1992	Howards End	Margaret Schlegel	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero) Evening Standard British Film Awards – Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
1992	Peter's Friends	Maggie Chester	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
1993	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
1993	Remains of the Day, TheThe Remains of the Day	Miss Kenton	David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero) Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1993	In the Name of the Father	Gareth Peirce	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1994	Junior	Dr. Diana Reddin	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1995	Carrington	Dora Carrington	National Board of Review Award for Best Actress Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
1995	Sense and Sensibility	Elinor Dashwood	Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Writer Evening Standard British Film Awards – Best Adapted Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay National Board of Review Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay USC Scripter Award Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Film – Screenplay Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997	Winter Guest, TheThe Winter Guest	Frances	Pasinetti Award for Best Actress Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Actress Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actress Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
1998	Primary Colors	Susan Stanton	Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama Nominated – European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema
1998	Judas Kiss	Sadie Hawkins
2000	Maybe Baby	Druscilla
2002	Treasure Planet	Captain Amelia	animated film (voice only) Nominated – Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2003	Imagining Argentina	Cecilia
2003	Love Actually	Karen	Empire Award for Best Actress Evening Standard British Film Awards – Best Actress London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Professor Sybill Trelawney
2005	Nanny McPhee	Nanny McPhee	writing credits
2006	Stranger than Fiction	Karen Eiffel	Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
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	Nominated – Audience Award for Best International Actress Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2008	Last Chance Harvey	Kate Walker	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009	Education, AnAn Education	Headmistress
2009	Boat That Rocked, TheThe Boat That Rocked	Charlotte
2010	Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang	Nanny McPhee	known as Nanny McPhee Returns in North America
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2	Professor Sybill Trelawney
2012	Brave	Queen Elinor	Voice
2012	Men in Black III	Agent O	Filming

• Sources for Awards: Evening Standard British Film Awards – IMDB: Emma Thompson Awards

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Cambridge Footlights Revue	various characters	TV-special, 1 episode
1982	There's Nothing to Worry About!	Mrs. Wally	TV-series, 3 episodes
1983–84	Alfresco	various characters	TV-series, 13 episodes
1984	Young Ones, TheThe Young Ones	Miss Money-Sterling	TV-series, episode Bambi
1987	Tutti Frutti	Suzi Kettles	BBC TV Series starring Thompson and Robbie Coltrane bringing both to national prominence. Written by John Byrne
1987	Fortunes of War	Harriet Pringle	British Academy Television Award for Best Actress (jointly with work on Tutti Frutti)
1988	Thompson	Various Roles	TV-series
1989	Look Back in Anger	Alison Porter	TV film
1990	Winslow Boy, TheThe Winslow Boy	Catherine Winslow	TV production
1992	Cheers	Nanette Guzman	TV-series, 1 episode
1994	Blue Boy, TheThe Blue Boy	Marie Bonnar	TV-film
1997	Ellen	Herself	TV-series, 1 episode Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series
1997	Hospital!	Elephant Woman	TV-series, 1 episode
2001	Wit	Vivian Bearing	TV-film Best Actress at the Valladolid International Film Festival Humanitas Prize for 90 Minute or Longer Cable Category Christopher Award for Television & Cable Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards for Best Actress – TV-Film Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
2003	Angels in America	Nurse Emily the Homeless Woman the Angel America	TV-series Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
2010	Song of Lunch, TheThe Song of Lunch	She

Theatre

The following is a partial list of Thompson's theatre credit:

• 1982 – Appeared in Not the Nine O'Clock News – UK tour.
• 1982 – Co-wrote and appeared in Beyond the Footlights – Lyric Hammersmith, London.
• 1984 – Wrote and starred in the one woman show Short Vehicle – Edinburgh Festival.
• 1984/5 – Played Sally in the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester production of the musical Me and My Girl, co-starring with Robert Lindsay. The show then successfully transferred to the Adelphi Theatre, London. (The book for Me and My Girl was adapted by Stephen Fry)
• 1989 – Played Alison in Look Back in Anger by John Osborne – Lyric Shaftesbury, London.
• 1990 – Played The Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream – International tour.

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson

Further reading

• Hewison, Robert (1984). Footlights! A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy. Methuen, London. ISBN 0-413-56050-3. 
• Branagh, Kenneth (1989). Beginning. St. Martin's Press, New York. ISBN 0-312-05822-5. 
• Shuttleworth, Ian (1994). Ken and Em. Headline Book Publishing, London. ISBN 0-7472-1225-2. 
• Nickson, Chris (1997). Emma: The Many Facets of Emma Thompson. Taylor Publishing. ISBN 0878339655. 

References

1. ^ Rick Fulton (12 October 2005). "It's nanny McMe". http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16236943&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=it-s-nanny-mcme-name_page.html. Retrieved 18 November 2007. 
2. ^ Thomas, Liz. "'Innits' and aints' drive me insane! Emma Thompson hits out at teenagers' sloppy English after visit to her old school". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1315774/Emma-Thompson-hits-teenagers-sloppy-English.html. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 
3. ^ "Movie & TV News – WENN". IMDb.com. 17 January 2006. http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-01-17. Retrieved 18 January 2009. 
4. ^ "Clémence Poésy confirms Emma Thompson's Deathly Hallows reprisal". This is South Wales. 19 March 2010. http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/cl-mence-po-sy-confirms-emma-thompsons-deathly-hallows-reprisal-71643/. Retrieved 19 March 2010. 
5. ^ Tim Walker 9:56 pm GMT 12 Jan 2009 (12 January 2009). "The Telegraph, January 2009". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/4224331/Hugh-Lauries-elemental-about-Emma-Thompson.html. Retrieved 3 May 2011. 
6. ^ "It'S Nanny Mcme". The Daily Record. 12 October 2005. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16236943&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=it-s-nanny-mcme-name_page.html. Retrieved 23 February 2011. 
7. ^ Alison Boshoff (7 March 2008). "The young refugee who was adopted by a famous actress". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=528573&in_page_id=1773. Retrieved 7 March 2008. 
8. ^ "Protesters buy up Heathrow land". London: BBC News. 13 January 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7825169.stm. Retrieved 18 January 2009. 
9. ^ "Celebs buy Heathrow expansion land". pa.press.net. MSN News UK. 13 January 2009. http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=12726578&icid=toptodayuk. Retrieved 18 January 2009. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ Cornwell, Jane (15 October 2008). "Acting on outspoken beliefs". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24497883-15803,00.html. Retrieved 23 February 2011. 
11. ^ Allen, Jenny. "Between Friends". Good Housekeeping. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/celebrity-interviews/maggie-gyllenhaal-emma-thompson-interview-3. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 
12. ^ "Andrew Marr show interview". BBC News. 28 March 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8590095.stm. Retrieved 30 March 2010. 
13. ^ "Emma Thompson bids for Palestinian Rights". Electronicintifada.net. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6451.shtml. Retrieved 23 February 2011. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Owen Bowcott (9 February 2011). "Emma Thompson's Effie Facing Copyright Fight". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/09/emma-thompson-effie-copywright. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Gregory Murphy (24 April 2011). "The Day I Sat in Emma Thompson's Kitchen and Accused Her of Stealing My Movie". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1379933/The-day-I-sat-Emma-Thompsons-kitchen-accused-stealing-movie.html. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 

External links

• Emma Thompson at the Internet Movie Database
• Emma Thompson at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Emma Thompson at the TCM Movie Database
• The Guardian Interview, 10/16/05
• Thompson answers questions on her AIDS charity work, 11/25/03

Persondata
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