Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is an English actress and screenwriter. Her work spans 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, as well as a nomination for two Grammy Awards. In 2018, she was made a dame 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 came to prominence 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).
For her performance in the Merchant-Ivory period drama Howards End (1992), Thompson won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress. 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 saga (2004–2011), Nanny McPhee (2005) (which she also wrote), 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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Photos
Movies (117)
Cairn
2026 · Thanks
The Sheep Detectives
2026 · Lydia Harbottle
Everybody to Kenmure Street
2026 · Van Guy, Executive Producer
Muerte en invierno
2025 · Barb, Executive Producer
Bridget Jones: Loca por él
2025 · Dr Rawlings
Mediha
2024 · Executive Producer
Merchant Ivory
2024 · Self
¿Y qué tendrá que ver el amor?
2023 · Cath Stevenson
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
2022 · Self
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
2022 · Agatha Trunchbull
The Fringe, Fame and Me
2022 · Self
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
2022 · Nancy Stokes
An Audience with Adele
2021 · Self
Cruella
2021 · The Baroness
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
2021 · Self (archive footage)
How to Build a Girl
2020 · Amanda
Dolittle
2020 · Poly (voice)
Last Christmas
2019 · Petra Andrich, Producer, Screenplay
Extinction
2019
Hollywood's Dark Secret
2019 · Self
Men in Black: International
2019 · Agent O
Missing Link
2019 · Dora the Yeti Elder (voice)
Ponyboi
2019 · Co-Producer
Late Night
2019 · Katherine Newbury
Johnny English Strikes Again
2018 · Prime Minister
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2018 · Self (archive footage)
Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom
2018 · Narrator (voice)
The Children Act
2018 · Fiona Maye
King Lear
2018 · Goneril
Sea Sorrow
2017 · Self
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
2017 · Maureen Meyerowitz
Beauty and the Beast
2017 · Mrs. Potts
Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson
2016 · Elle-Même
The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science
2016 · Narrator (voice)
To the Ends of the Earth
2016 · Narrator (voice)
Bridget Jones's Baby
2016 · Dr Rawlings, Screenplay
Sold
2016 · Executive Producer
Alone in Berlin
2016 · Anna Quangel
Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity
2015 · Narrator (voice)
Burnt
2015 · Dr. Rosshilde
A Walk in the Woods
2015 · Catherine Bryson
The Legend of Barney Thomson
2015 · Cemolina
Men, Women & Children
2014 · Narrator (voice)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – In Concert with the New York Philharmonic
2014 · Self / Mrs. Lovett
Effie Gray
2014 · Lady Eastlake, Screenplay
The Real Mary Poppins
2014 · Self
The Love Punch
2014 · Kate
Saving Mr. Banks
2013 · P.L. Travers
Beautiful Creatures
2013 · Mrs. Lincoln / Sarafine Duchannes
Brave: Brave Old World
2012 · Self
Brave
2012 · Elinor (voice)
Walking the Dogs
2012 · The Queen
Men in Black 3
2012 · Agent O
When Harry Left Hogwarts
2011 · Self
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2011 · Sybill Trelawney
Fry and Laurie Reunited
2010 · Self
The Song of Lunch
2010 · She
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
2010 · Nanny McPhee, Executive Producer, Screenplay
An Education
2009 · Headmistress
The Boat That Rocked
2009 · Charlotte
A Sense of Character
2009 · Self
A Very Quiet Man
2009 · Self
Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility
2009 · Self
Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility
2009 · Self
Last Chance Harvey
2008 · Kate Walker
Brideshead Revisited
2008 · Lady Marchmain
I Am Legend
2007 · Dr. Alice Krippin
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
2007 · Self
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 · Sybill Trelawney
Stranger Than Fiction
2006 · Karen Eiffel
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
2005 · Self (archive footage)
Nanny McPhee
2005 · Nanny McPhee, Screenplay
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004 · Sybill Trelawney
Imagining Argentina
2003 · Cecilia Rueda
Love Actually
2003 · Karen
More Great Comedy Moments
2003 · Miss Money-Sterling (archive footage)
Treasure Planet
2002 · Captain Amelia (voice)
Heart of the Festival
2002 · Self (archive footage)
Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day'
2001 · Self
We Know Where You Live. Live!
2001 · Self
Agudeza
2001 · Vivian Bearing, Writer, Teleplay
Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw
2001 · Self
The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey
2001 · Self
Maybe Baby
2000 · Druscilla
Junket Whore
1998 · Self
Eight
1998 · Thanks
Judas Kiss
1998 · FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins
Primary Colors
1998 · Susan Stanton
The Winter Guest
1997 · Frances
Hospital!
1997 · Elephant Woman
Sense and Sensibility
1995 · Elinor Dashwood, Screenplay
Carrington
1995 · Dora Carrington
Junior
1994 · Dr. Diana Reddin
The Blue Boy
1994 · Marie Bonnar
My Father the Hero
1994 · Isabel (uncredited)
In the Name of the Father
1993 · Gareth Peirce
The Remains of the Day
1993 · Miss Kenton
Much Ado About Nothing
1993 · Beatrice
Peter's Friends
1992 · Maggie Chester
Howards End
1992 · Margaret Schlegel
Rabbit Ears - The White Cat
1991 · Narrator (voice)
Dead Again
1991 · Grace / Margaret Strauss
Impromptu
1991 · Duchess D'Antan
Tin Fish
1990
Look Back in Anger
1989 · Alison Porter
Henry V
1989 · Katherine
The Winslow Boy
1989 · Catherine Winslow
The Tall Guy
1989 · Kate
Colleagues From Hell
1989
Royal Variety Performance 1984
1984
Slags
1984 · Young Woman
The Cellar Tapes
1982 · various, Writer
How to Stop a Nuclear War
· Narrator (voice)
James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty
· Self
Hear Me Roar
· Elizabeth Butler-Sloss
Moonsong: A Life In Seven Verses
Short Stay
· Thanks
TV shows (45)
Down Cemetery Road: El misterio de Oxford
2025 · Zoë Boehm, Executive Producer
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
2022 · Lady Marcham
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019 · Self - Guest, Self
Years and Years
2019 · Vivienne Rook
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015 · Self - Guest, Self
Funny Valentines
2015 · Debbie
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014 · Self
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014 · Self - Guest
Playhouse Presents
2012 · The Queen
The Jonathan Ross Show
2011 · Self
The Graham Norton Show
2007 · Self, Self - Guest
The Tony Danza Show
2004 · Self
Angels in America
2003 · Nurse Emily / Homeless Woman / The Angel
QI
2003 · Self
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003 · Self
Timeshift
2002 · self
Sucré salé
2002 · Self
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
2001 · Self - Guest
Parkinson
1998 · Self
The View
1997 · Self, Self - Guest
Leute heute
1997 · Self
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Ellen
1994 · Emma Thompson
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993 · Self - Guest
GMTV
1993 · Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
Los Simpson
1989 · Constance Clavinger (voice)
Thompson
1988 · Self - Host
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
1988 · Self - Guest
Fortunes of War
1987 · Harriet Pringle
Tutti Frutti
1987 · Suzi Kettles
Theatre Night
1985 · Catherine Winslow, Jenny Wilbur
Screen Two
1985 · Marie
The Crystal Cube
1983 · Jackie Meld / Various Roles
Alfresco
1983 · Various, Writer
The Young Ones
1982 · Miss Money-Sterling
The Comic Strip Presents...
1982 · Young Woman
There's Nothing to Worry About!
1982 · Various, Writer, Creator
Cheers
1982 · Nanny Gee
Wetten, dass..?
1981 · Self
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
1979
The Val Doonican Music Show
1977
Saturday Night Live
1975 · Self - Host
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
The Oscars
1953 · Self