Profile photo of Emma Thompson

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.

Filmography

2026
The Sheep Detectives
Movie
2025
Dead of Winter

as Barb

Movie
2025
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

as Dr. Rawlings

Movie
2022
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

as Nancy Stokes

Movie
2021
Cruella

as The Baroness

Movie
2020
Dolittle

as Poly (voice)

Movie
2019
Last Christmas

as Petra Andrich

Movie
2019
Men in Black: International

as Agent O

Movie
2018
Johnny English Strikes Again

as Prime Minister

Movie
2017
Beauty and the Beast

as Mrs. Potts

Movie
2012
Brave

as Elinor (voice)

Movie
2012
Men in Black 3

as Agent O

Movie
2010
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

as Nanny McPhee

Movie
2007
I Am Legend

as Dr. Alice Krippin

Movie
2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

as Sybill Trelawney

Movie
2006
Stranger Than Fiction

as Karen Eiffel

Movie
2005
Nanny McPhee

as Nanny McPhee

Movie
2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

as Sybill Trelawney

Movie
2003
Love Actually

as Karen

Movie
2002
Treasure Planet

as Captain Amelia (voice)

Movie
1995
Sense and Sensibility

as Elinor Dashwood

Movie
1991
Dead Again

as Margaret Strauss / Grace

Movie
2025
Down Cemetery Road

as Zoë Boehm

TV Show