Emma Thompson
Acting • Born 1959-04-15
Biography
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
153 credits
Love Actually
Movie • 2003
Karen
The Remains of the Day
Movie • 1993
Miss Kenton
Stranger Than Fiction
Movie • 2006
Karen Eiffel
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Movie • 2004
Sybill Trelawney
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Movie • 2007
Sybill Trelawney
Henry V
Movie • 1989
Katherine
Sense and Sensibility
Movie • 1995
Elinor Dashwood
I Am Legend
Movie • 2007
Dr. Alice Krippin
Nanny McPhee
Movie • 2005
Nanny McPhee
The Tall Guy
Movie • 1989
Kate
Peter's Friends
Movie • 1992
Maggie Chester
In the Name of the Father
Movie • 1993
Gareth Peirce
Junior
Movie • 1994
Dr. Diana Reddin
Dead Again
Movie • 1991
Margaret Strauss / Grace
An Education
Movie • 2009
Headmistress
Much Ado About Nothing
Movie • 1993
Beatrice
Howards End
Movie • 1992
Margaret Schlegel
Treasure Planet
Movie • 2002
Captain Amelia (voice)
Primary Colors
Movie • 1998
Susan Stanton
Brideshead Revisited
Movie • 2008
Lady Marchmain
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Movie • 2011
Sybill Trelawney
Wit
Movie • 2001
Vivian Bearing
Imagining Argentina
Movie • 2003
Cecilia Rueda
The Winter Guest
Movie • 1997
Frances
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Movie • 2010
Nanny McPhee
Men in Black 3
Movie • 2012
Agent O
An Audience with Adele
Movie • 2021
Self
The Real Mary Poppins
Movie • 2014
Self
Judas Kiss
Movie • 1998
FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins
Brave
Movie • 2012
Elinor (voice)
Last Chance Harvey
Movie • 2008
Kate Walker
Carrington
Movie • 1995
Dora Carrington
The Boat That Rocked
Movie • 2009
Charlotte
The Song of Lunch
Movie • 2010
She
How to Stop a Nuclear War
Movie
Narrator (voice)
Saving Mr. Banks
Movie • 2013
P.L. Travers
Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom
Movie • 2018
Narrator (voice)
Beautiful Creatures
Movie • 2013
Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes
Merchant Ivory
Movie • 2024
Self
Effie Gray
Movie • 2014
Lady Eastlake
The Cellar Tapes
Movie • 1982
various
Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice)
The Love Punch
Movie • 2014
Kate Jones
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
Movie • 2021
Self (archive footage)
Look Back in Anger
Movie • 1989
Alison Porter
Men, Women & Children
Movie • 2014
Narrator (voice)
Hollywood's Dark Secret
Movie • 2019
Self
A Walk in the Woods
Movie • 2015
Catherine Bryson
The Legend of Barney Thomson
Movie • 2015
Cemolina
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
Movie • 2005
Self (archive footage)
The Fringe, Fame and Me
Movie • 2022
Self
Slags
Movie • 1984
Young Woman
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Movie • 2014
Mrs. Lovett
Walking the Dogs
Movie • 2012
The Queen
My Father the Hero
Movie • 1994
Isabel (uncredited)
Dead of Winter
Movie • 2025
Barb
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Movie • 2007
Self
Alone in Berlin
Movie • 2016
Anna Quangel
Beauty and the Beast
Movie • 2017
Mrs. Potts
Burnt
Movie • 2015
Dr. Rosshilde
Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
Movie • 2005
Self (archive footage)
When Harry Left Hogwarts
Movie • 2011
Self
Extinction
Movie • 2019
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
Movie • 2022
Self
James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty
Movie
Self
The Blue Boy
Movie • 1994
Marie Bonnar
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Movie • 2025
Dr. Rawlings
Impromptu
Movie • 1991
Duchess D'Antan
The Sheep Detectives
Movie • 2026
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Movie • 2017
Maureen Meyerowitz
Junket Whore
Movie • 1998
Self
Bridget Jones's Baby
Movie • 2016
Dr Rawlings
The Winslow Boy
Movie • 1989
Catherine Winslow
To the Ends of the Earth
Movie • 2016
Narrator (voice)
Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day'
Movie • 2001
Self
Hospital!
Movie • 1997
Elephant Woman
Maybe Baby
Movie • 2000
Druscilla
Sea Sorrow
Movie • 2017
Self
Fry and Laurie Reunited
Movie • 2010
Self
The Children Act
Movie • 2018
Fiona Maye
King Lear
Movie • 2018
Goneril
Johnny English Strikes Again
Movie • 2018
Prime Minister
Late Night
Movie • 2019
Katherine Newbury
Missing Link
Movie • 2019
Dora the Yeti Elder (voice)
Last Christmas
Movie • 2019
Petra Andrich
How to Build a Girl
Movie • 2020
Amanda
Men in Black: International
Movie • 2019
Agent O
Cruella
Movie • 2021
The Baroness
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage)
Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson
Movie • 2016
Elle-Même
Dolittle
Movie • 2020
Poly (voice)
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Movie • 2022
Nancy Stokes
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
Movie • 2022
Agatha Trunchbull
Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw
Movie • 2001
Self
The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey
Movie • 2001
Self
What's Love Got to Do with It?
Movie • 2023
Cath Stevenson
Rabbit Ears - The White Cat
Movie • 1991
Narrator (voice)
Hear Me Roar
Movie
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss
The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science
Movie • 2016
Narrator (voice)
Tin Fish
Movie • 1990
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Movie • 1984
A Sense of Character
Movie • 2009
Self
A Very Quiet Man
Movie • 2009
Self
Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility
Movie • 2009
Self
Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility
Movie • 2009
Self
Bad Tidings
Movie • 2024
Self (archive footage)
Everybody to Kenmure Street
Movie • 2026
Van Guy
Colleagues From Hell
Movie • 1989
Alfresco
TV • 1983
Various
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
TV • 2003
Self
The Tony Danza Show
TV • 2004
Self
QI
TV • 2003
Self
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
TV • 2001
Self - Guest
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
E! True Hollywood Story
TV • 1996
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
The Young Ones
TV • 1982
Miss Money-Sterling
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Guest
Angels in America
TV • 2003
Nurse Emily / Homeless Woman / The Angel
Tutti Frutti
TV • 1987
Suzi Kettles
Fortunes of War
TV • 1987
Harriet Pringle
The Jonathan Ross Show
TV • 2011
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Thompson
TV • 1988
Self - Host
There's Nothing to Worry About!
TV • 1982
Various
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Self - Guest
The Val Doonican Music Show
TV • 1977
GMTV
TV • 1993
Self
Funny Valentines
TV • 2015
Debbie
Wetten, dass..?
TV • 1981
Self
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
TV • 2022
Lady Marcham
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Leute heute
TV • 1997
Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV • 2014
Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self
The View
TV • 1997
Self - Guest
Years and Years
TV • 2019
Vivienne Rook
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self - Guest
Sucré salé
TV • 2002
Self
Down Cemetery Road
TV • 2025
Zoë Boehm
The Comic Strip Presents...
TV • 1982
Young Woman
Cheers
TV • 1982
Nanny Gee
Ellen
TV • 1994
Emma Thompson
The Crystal Cube
TV • 1983
Jackie Meld / Various Roles
Timeshift
TV • 2002
self
Parkinson
TV • 1998
Self
Screen Two
TV • 1985
Marie
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TV • 2019
Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self