Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson (born 15.4.1959)

Emma Thompson is a British actress and has won a number of awards, including an Academy Award and awards from BAFTA and Golden Globe.

Emma Thompson: Childhood

Emma Thompson was born in Paddington, London. Her father, Eric Thompson, was an actor and also wrote the hugely successful children's show The Magic Roundabout. Her mother, Phyllida Law is also an actress.

Thompson attended Camden School for Girls and went on to study English at Cambridge University. Whilst at university, Thompson was a member of Footlights, the university theatrical club. Fellow members at the time included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery. Shortly after graduating from university, Emma landed a role in the West End production of Me and My Girl, alongside Robert Lindsay. She then went on to star in the BBC drama Fortunes of War.

Emma Thompson: Acting Career

Thompson started out in television, with a BBC comedy sketch show, entitled Thompson. The series was unpopular and criticised by TV journalists.

Emma Thompson got her first major role in a film, in The Tall Guy. In 1992, she went on to star in Howard's End. It was this role that earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. She went on to appear in a string of critically acclaimed productions, including In The Name of the Father and The Remains of the Day, in which she starred alongside Anthony Hopkins.

In 1996, Thompson won her second Oscar; this time for Best Adapted Screenplay, for her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, the novel by Jane Austen. She was also nominated for Best Actress for her lead role in the film. Hugh Grant co-starred as the male lead.

Returning to television work, Thompson has featured in HBO's drama series Wit in 2001 and Angels in America in 2003.

Thompson's more recent film work has seen her star as Sybill Trelawney in two Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In 2005, Emma Thompson took the lead role in Nanny McPhee, which she also wrote. The project took her nine years and was considered a moderate success.

In Stranger than Fiction, Thompson plays an author obsessed with killing her main character, though the character turns out to be a real person.

Emma Thompson: Personal Life

Whilst at university, Thompson dated fellow Footlights member Hugh Laurie.

In 1989, Emma Thompson married the actor Kenneth Branagh. She had previously worked with him on Fortunes of War. The couple went on to work with each other on Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Dead Again. In 1995, the pair divorced.

In 2003, Emma Thompson re-married, to the actor Greg Wise. They have a daughter together, named Gaia Romilly, who was born in 1999. The year that they married, the couple also adopted a 16 year old Rwandan refugee by the name of Tindyebwa Agaba. It is thought that Tindyebwa's family members were all killed in the Rwandan genocide. Thompson and Wise are currently fighting a decision to deport him.