
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.

as Lydia Harbottle

as Van Guy

as Barb

as Dr Rawlings

as Self

as Cath Stevenson

as Agatha Trunchbull

as Self

as Nancy Stokes

as Self

as The Baroness

as Self (archive footage)

as Amanda

as Poly (voice)

as Petra Andrich

as Self

as Agent O

as Dora the Yeti Elder (voice)

as Katherine Newbury

as Prime Minister

as Self (archive footage)

as Narrator (voice)

as Fiona Maye

as Goneril

as Self

as Maureen Meyerowitz

as Mrs. Potts

as Elle-Même

as Narrator (voice)

as Narrator (voice)

as Dr Rawlings

as Anna Quangel

as Narrator (voice)

as Dr. Rosshilde

as Catherine Bryson

as Cemolina

as Narrator (voice)


as Lady Eastlake

as Self

as Kate

as P.L. Travers

as Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes

as Self

as Elinor (voice)

as The Queen

as Agent O

as Self

as Sybill Trelawney

as Self

as She

as Nanny McPhee

as Headmistress

as Charlotte

as Self

as Self

as Kate Walker

as Lady Marchmain

as Dr. Alice Krippin

as Self

as Sybill Trelawney

as Karen Eiffel

as Self (archive footage)

as Nanny McPhee

as Self (archive footage)

as Sybill Trelawney

as Cecilia Rueda

as Karen

as Miss Money-Sterling (archive footage)

as Captain Amelia (voice)

as Self (archive footage)

as Vivian Bearing

as Druscilla

as Self

as FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins

as Susan Stanton

as Frances

as Elephant Woman

as Elinor Dashwood

as Dora Carrington

as Dr. Diana Reddin

as Marie Bonnar

as Isabel (uncredited)

as Gareth Peirce

as Miss Kenton

as Beatrice

as Maggie Chester

as Margaret Schlegel

as Narrator (voice)

as Grace / Margaret Strauss

as Duchess D'Antan

as Alison Porter

as Katherine

as Catherine Winslow

as Kate

as Young Woman

as various

as Narrator (voice)

as Elizabeth Butler-Sloss