1959-04-15 Paddington, London, England, UK
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.
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Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie | 2026-11-13 | |
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Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy | Dr. Rawlings | 2025-02-12 |
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Dead of Winter | Barb | 2025-09-23 |
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Merchant Ivory | Self | 2024-08-30 |
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What's Love Got to Do with It? | Cath | 2023-01-26 |
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Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical | Agatha Trunchbull | 2022-11-25 |
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The Fringe, Fame and Me | Self | 2022-08-08 |
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The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special | Self | 2022-11-29 |
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | Nancy Stokes | 2022-06-16 |
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An Audience with Adele | Self | 2021-11-21 |
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Twelve Nights | Narrator | 2021-12-02 |
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Cruella | The Baroness | 2021-05-26 |
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Hannibal Hopkins et Sir Anthony | Self (archive footage) | 2021-03-26 |
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Sense and Sensibility: 25th Anniversary Reunion | Self | 2021-10-12 |
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How to Build a Girl | Amanda | 2020-09-24 |
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Dolittle | Poly (voice) | 2020-01-02 |
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Late Night | Katherine Newbury | 2019-01-25 |
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Men in Black: International | Agent O | 2019-06-12 |
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Hollywood's Dark Secret | Self | 2019-07-09 |
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Missing Link | Dora the Yeti Elder (voice) | 2019-04-04 |
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Extinction | 2019-09-01 | |
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Last Christmas | Petra Andrich | 2019-11-07 |
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King Lear | Goneril | 2018-05-28 |
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Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal | Self (archive footage) | 2018-08-21 |
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Johnny English Strikes Again | Prime Minister | 2018-09-13 |
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Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom | Narrator (voice) | 2018-08-13 |
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The Children Act | Fiona Maye | 2018-08-01 |
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Beauty and the Beast | Mrs. Potts | 2017-03-16 |
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) | Maureen Meyerowitz | 2017-10-13 |
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Sea Sorrow | Self | 2017-11-08 |
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To the Ends of the Earth | Narrator (voice) | 2016-10-29 |
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Alone in Berlin | Anna Quangel | 2016-02-15 |
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Bridget Jones's Baby | Dr Rawlings | 2016-09-14 |
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The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science | Narrator (voice) | 2016-10-31 |
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Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson | Elle-Même | 2016-11-20 |
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Burnt | Dr. Rosshilde | 2015-10-02 |
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A Walk in the Woods | Catherine Bryson | 2015-09-02 |
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Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity | Narrator (voice) | 2015-12-01 |
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The Legend of Barney Thomson | Cemolina | 2015-07-24 |
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Men, Women & Children | Narrator (voice) | 2014-10-17 |
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Mrs. Lovett | 2014-09-26 |
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Effie Gray | Lady Eastlake | 2014-03-08 |
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The Love Punch | Kate Jones | 2014-01-13 |
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The Real Mary Poppins | Self | 2014-01-17 |
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Saving Mr. Banks | P.L. Travers | 2013-11-29 |
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Beautiful Creatures | Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes | 2013-02-13 |
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Brave | Elinor (voice) | 2012-06-21 |
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Walking the Dogs | The Queen | 2012-05-31 |
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Men in Black 3 | Agent O | 2012-05-23 |
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When Harry Left Hogwarts | Self | 2011-11-11 |
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | Sybill Trelawney | 2011-07-12 |
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The Song of Lunch | She | 2010-10-08 |
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Fry and Laurie Reunited | Self | 2010-11-24 |
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Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang | Nanny McPhee | 2010-03-26 |
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The Boat That Rocked | Charlotte | 2009-04-01 |
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An Education | Headmistress | 2009-10-29 |
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A Sense of Character | Self | 2009-03-17 |
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Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility | Self | 2009-03-17 |
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A Very Quiet Man | Self | 2009-03-17 |
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Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility | Self | 2009-03-17 |
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Adapting Austen | Self | 2009-03-17 |
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Last Chance Harvey | Kate Walker | 2008-12-25 |
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Brideshead Revisited | Lady Marchmain | 2008-07-25 |
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Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out | Self | 2007-08-11 |
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Sybill Trelawney | 2007-07-08 |
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I Am Legend | Dr. Alice Krippin | 2007-12-12 |
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Stranger Than Fiction | Karen Eiffel | 2006-09-09 |
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Hoodwinked! | Lesa (voice) (uncredited) | 2005-12-16 |
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A Tribute To Ismail Merchant | Self (archive footage) | 2005-10-30 |
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Nanny McPhee | Nanny McPhee | 2005-10-21 |
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Nos Bastidores de Hollywood | Self | 2005-03-01 |
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Sybill Trelawney | 2004-05-31 |
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Love Actually | Karen | 2003-09-07 |
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Imagining Argentina | Cecilia Rueda | 2003-09-13 |
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Treasure Planet | Captain Amelia (voice) | 2002-11-26 |
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Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw | Self | 2001-01-01 |
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Wit | Vivian Bearing | 2001-02-09 |
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The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey | Self | 2001-01-01 |
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Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day' | Self | 2001-10-22 |
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Maybe Baby | Druscilla | 2000-06-02 |
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Junket Whore | Self | 1998-10-12 |
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Judas Kiss | FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins | 1998-09-16 |
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Primary Colors | Susan Stanton | 1998-03-20 |
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Hospital! | Elephant Woman | 1997-03-30 |
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The Winter Guest | Frances | 1997-12-27 |
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Carrington | Dora Carrington | 1995-05-25 |
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Sense and Sensibility | Elinor Dashwood | 1995-12-13 |
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My Father the Hero | Isabel (uncredited) | 1994-02-04 |
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Junior | Dr. Diana Reddin | 1994-11-22 |
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The Blue Boy | Marie Bonnar | 1994-07-02 |
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In the Name of the Father | Gareth Peirce | 1993-12-12 |
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The Remains of the Day | Miss Kenton | 1993-11-05 |
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Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | 1993-05-07 |
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Peter's Friends | Maggie Chester | 1992-09-18 |
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Howards End | Margaret Schlegel | 1992-03-13 |
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Impromptu | Duchess D'Antan | 1991-04-12 |
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Rabbit Ears - The White Cat | Narrator (voice) | 1991-09-14 |
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Dead Again | Margaret Strauss / Grace | 1991-08-23 |
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Tin Fish | 1990-04-24 | |
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Look Back in Anger | Alison Porter | 1989-12-28 |
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The Tall Guy | Kate | 1989-02-01 |
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The Winslow Boy | Catherine Winslow | 1989-04-30 |
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Henry V | Katherine | 1989-10-05 |
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Slags | Young Woman | 1984-02-11 |
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Royal Variety Performance 1984 | 1984-11-25 | |
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The Cellar Tapes | various | 1982-05-20 |
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Hear Me Roar | Elizabeth Butler-Sloss | |
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James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty | Self | |
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How to Stop a Nuclear War | Narrator |
