Emma Thompson

Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 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 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.

Early life and education

Thompson was born in Hammersmith, London on 15 April 1959. Her mother is Scottish actress Phyllida Law, while her English father, Eric Thompson, was an actor best known as the writer of the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout. Her godfather was the director and writer Ronald Eyre. After successfully taking A levels in English, French and Latin, and securing a scholarship, she began studying for an English degree at Newnham College, Cambridge, She became a self-professed "punk rocker", with short red hair and a motorbike, and aspired to be a comedian like Lily Tomlin. Also in the troupe were fellow actors Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, and she had a romantic relationship with the latter. Fry recalled that "there was no doubt that Emma was going the distance. Our nickname for her was Emma Talented." and co-directed the troupe's first all-female revue, Woman's Hour. She graduated with upper second-class honours. In the early 80s, Thompson studied clowning under Philippe Gaulier at École Philippe Gaulier.

Thompson's father died in 1982, at age 52. and "I can't begin to tell you how much I regret his not being around". She added, "At the same time, it's possible that were he still alive I might never have had the space or courage to do what I've done... I have a definite feeling of inheriting space. And power."

Thompson had her first professional role in 1982, touring in a stage version of Not the Nine O'Clock News. There's Nothing to Worry About! later returned as the networked sketch show Alfresco (1983–84), which ran for two series with Thompson, Fry, Laurie, Ben Elton, and Robbie Coltrane. She played the role of Sally Smith for 15 months, which exhausted her; she later remarked "I thought if I did the fucking 'Lambeth Walk' one more time I was going to fucking throw up."

Thompson achieved another breakthrough in 1987, The following year, she wrote and starred in her own sketch comedy series for BBC, Thompson, but this was poorly received. In 1989, she and Branagh—with whom she had formed a romantic relationship—starred in a stage revival of Look Back in Anger, directed by Judi Dench and produced by Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company. Later that year, the pair starred in a televised version of the play. but Thompson's performance was praised in The New York Times, where Caryn James called her "an exceptionally versatile comic actress". She next turned to Shakespeare, appearing as Princess Katherine in Branagh's screen adaptation of Henry V (1989). The film was released to great critical acclaim.

Howards End and worldwide recognition (1990–1993)

Thompson and Branagh are considered by American writer and critic James Monaco to have led the "British cinematic onslaught" in the 1990s. She continued to experiment with Shakespeare in the new decade, appearing with Branagh in his stage productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear. Thompson returned to cinema in 1991, playing a "frivolous aristocrat" in Impromptu with Judy Davis and Hugh Grant. Her second release of 1991 was another pairing with Branagh, who also directed, in the Los Angeles-based noir Dead Again. She played a woman who has forgotten her identity. Early in 1992, Thompson had a guest role in an episode of Cheers as Frasier Crane's first wife.

thumb|upright=0.85|[[Anthony Hopkins (pictured in 1992) starred with Thompson in Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993)]]

A turning point in Thompson's career Upon release, Roger Ebert wrote that she was "superb in the central role: quiet, ironic, observant, with steel inside". Howards End was widely praised, a "surprise hit", and received nine Academy Award nominations. Among its three wins was the Best Actress trophy for Thompson, who was also awarded a Golden Globe and BAFTA for her performance. and Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote that Thompson was its highlight: "Even as a rather one-dimensional character, she exudes grace and an adroit sense of comic tragedy." She followed this with Branagh's screen version of Much Ado About Nothing (1993). The couple starred as Beatrice and Benedick, alongside a cast that also included Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. Thompson was widely praised for the on-screen chemistry with Branagh and the natural ease with which she played the role, marking another critical success for Thompson. Her performance earned a nomination for Best Female Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards. Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel about a housekeeper and butler in interwar Britain, the story is acclaimed for its study of loneliness and repression, though Thompson was particularly interested in looking at "the deformity that servitude inflicts upon people", since her grandmother had worked as a servant and made many sacrifices. She has named the film as one of the greatest experiences of her career, considering it to be a "masterpiece of withheld emotion". The Remains of the Day was a critical and commercial success, receiving eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a second Best Actress nomination for Thompson.

Along with her Best Actress nomination at the 66th Academy Awards, Thompson was also nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category, making her the eighth performer in history to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year. It came for her role as the lawyer Gareth Peirce in In the Name of the Father (1993), a drama about the Guildford Four starring Daniel Day-Lewis. The film was her second hit of the year, earning $65million and critical praise, and was nominated for Best Picture along with The Remains of the Day.

Sense and Sensibility and established actress (1994–1999)

In 1994, Thompson made her Hollywood debut playing a goofy doctor alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Junior. Although the male pregnancy storyline was poorly received by most critics and flopped at the box office, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the lead trio. She returned to independent cinema for a lead role in Carrington, which studied the platonic relationship between artist Dora Carrington and writer Lytton Strachey (played by Jonathan Pryce). Roger Ebert remarked that Thompson had "developed a specialty in unrequited love", and the TV Guide Film & Video Companion commented that her "neurasthenic mannerisms, which usually drive us batty, are appropriate here".

thumb|Efford House in Holbeton which stood in for Barton Cottage in [[Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)|Sense and Sensibility (1995)]]

Thompson's Academy success continued with Sense and Sensibility (1995), generally considered to be the most popular and authentic of the numerous film adaptations of Jane Austen's novels made in the 1990s. Thompson—a lifelong lover of Austen's work—was hired to write the film based on the period sketches in her series Thompson. She spent five years developing the screenplay, and took the role of the sister Elinor Dashwood despite, aged 35, being 16 years older than the literary character. Directed by Ang Lee and co-starring Kate Winslet, Sense and Sensibility received widespread critical acclaim and ranks among the highest-grossing films of Thompson's career. Shelly Frome remarked that she displayed a "great affinity for Jane Austen's style and wit", and Graham Fuller of Sight and Sound saw her as the film's auteur. Thompson received a third nomination for Best Actress and won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the only person in history to win an Oscar for both acting and screenwriting. She also earned a second BAFTA Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. She then returned to America to appear in an episode of Ellen, and her self-parodying performance received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

For her second Hollywood role, Thompson starred with John Travolta in Mike Nichols's Primary Colors (1998), playing a couple based on Bill and Hillary Clinton. Thompson's character, Susan, is described as that of an "ambitious, long-suffering wife" who has to deal with her husband's infidelity. The film was critically well received but lost money at the box office. According to Kevin O'Sullivan of the Daily Mirror, Americans were "blown away" by her performance and accent, and top Hollywood producers became increasingly interested in casting her. Thompson rejected many of the offers, expressing concerns about living in Los Angeles behind walls with bodyguards, and stated "LA is lovely as long as you know you can leave". She also admitted to feeling tired and jaded with the industry at this point, which influenced her decision to leave film for a year. Thompson followed Primary Colors by playing an FBI agent opposite Rickman in the poorly received thriller Judas Kiss (1998).

Continued screen work and further acclaim (2000–2011)

thumb|upright=0.75|left|Thompson at the premiere of [[Nanny McPhee in 2005]]

When she became a mother in 1999, Thompson made a conscious decision to reduce her workload, and in the following years many of her appearances were in supporting roles. She was not seen on screen again until 2000, with a small part in the British comedy Maybe Baby, which she appeared in as a favour to its director, her friend Ben Elton.

For the HBO television film Wit (2001), however, Thompson took the lead role in what she felt was "one of the best scripts to have come out of America". Adapted from Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize winning play, it focuses on a self-sufficient Harvard University professor who finds her values challenged when she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Thompson was instrumental in bringing in Mike Nichols to direct the project, and the pair spent months in rehearsal to get the complex character right. She was drawn to the "daredevil" role, for which she had no qualms about shaving her head. Reviewing the performance, Roger Ebert was touched by "the way she struggles with every ounce of her humanity to keep her self-respect", and in 2008 he called it Thompson's finest work. Caryn James of The New York Times also described it as "one of her most brilliant performances", adding "we seem to be peering into a soul as embattled as its body." The film earned Thompson nominations at the Golden Globes, Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Thompson's only credit of 2002 was a voice role in Disney's Treasure Planet, an adaptation of Treasure Island, where she voiced Captain Amelia. The animation earned far less than its large budget and was considered a "box office disaster". This failure was countered the following year by one of Thompson's biggest commercial successes, Richard Curtis's romantic comedy Love Actually. She explained, "I've had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer."

Thompson continued with supporting roles in the 2003 drama Imagining Argentina, where she played a dissident-journalist abducted by the country's 1970s dictatorial regime. Antonio Banderas played the husband who tries to find her, in a film that most critics disliked. The film was booed and jeered at when it was screened at the Venice Film Festival and received a scathing article in The Guardian. Thompson had greater success that year when she worked with HBO for a second time in the acclaimed miniseries Angels in America (2003). The film was a success, taking number one at the UK box office and earning $122million worldwide. Commenting on Thompson's screenplay, film critic Claudia Puig wrote that its "well-worn storybook features are woven effectively into an appealing tale of youthful empowerment".

The following year, Thompson appeared in the surreal American comedy–drama Stranger than Fiction, playing a novelist whose latest character (played by Will Ferrell) is a real person who hears her narration in his head. Reviews for the film were generally favourable. Following a brief, uncredited role in the post-apocalyptic blockbuster I Am Legend (2007), Thompson played the devoutly Catholic Lady Marchmain in a 2008 film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. Critics were unenthusiastic about the film, but several picked Thompson out as its highlight. Mark Kermode said "Emma Thompson is to some extent becoming the new Judi Dench, as the person who kind of comes in for 15 minutes and is brilliant ... [but then] when she goes away, the rest of the movie has a real problem living up to the wattage of her presence".

thumb|upright=0.75|Thompson receiving the Crystal Award at the [[World Economic Forum in 2008]]

Thompson received further acclaim for her work in the London-based romance Last Chance Harvey (2008), where she and Dustin Hoffman played a lonely, middle-aged pair who cautiously begin a relationship. Critics praised the chemistry between the two leads, and both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. Thompson's two 2009 films were both set in 1960s United Kingdom, and in both she made cameo appearances: as a headmistress in the critically praised drama An Education and as a "tippling mother" in Richard Curtis's The Boat That Rocked.

Five years after the original, Thompson reprised the role of Nanny McPhee with 2010's Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. Her screenplay transported the story to Britain during World War II. Building on the first film's success, it was another UK box office number one and the sequel was widely seen as an improvement. The same year, Thompson reunited with Alan Rickman for the BBC television film The Song of Lunch, which focused on two unnamed characters meeting at a restaurant 15 years after ending their relationship. Thompson's performance earned her a fourth Emmy Award nomination. Also in 2012, Thompson played Queen Elizabeth II in an episode of Playhouse Presents, which dramatised an incident in 1982 when an intruder broke into the Queen's bedroom. Her first film of 2013 was the fantasy romance Beautiful Creatures, in which she played an evil mother. The film aimed to capitalise on the success of The Twilight Saga, but was poorly reviewed and a box office disappointment. Film critic Peter Travers was critical of Thompson's performance and "outrageously awful Southern accent", and feared "the damage this crock may do to [her] reputation".

Saving Mr. Banks, which depicted the making of Mary Poppins, starred Thompson in a leading role as P. L. Travers, the curmudgeonly author of the source novel, alongside Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. Her performance, in contrast to her widely panned appearance in Beautiful Creatures, was received enthusiastically, with one journalist writing "Emma Thompson is back, firing on all cylinders." but found the inconsistent and complicated character "a blissful joy to embody". The review in The Independent expressed thanks that her "playing of Travers is so deft that we instantly warm to her, and forgive her her snobbery", while Total Films critic felt that Thompson brought depth to the "predictable" film with "her best performance in years". Thompson was nominated for Best Actress at the BAFTAs, SAGs and Golden Globes, and was awarded the Lead Actress trophy from the National Board of Review. Meryl Streep, her co-star in Angels in America, admitted to being "shocked" at Thompson's failure to receive an Oscar nomination for Saving Mr. Banks.

thumb|upright=0.75|left|Thompson attending the premiere of [[The Love Punch at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival]]

The romantic comedy The Love Punch (2013) gave Thompson her second consecutive leading role, where she played half of a divorced couple who reunite to steal the man's ex-boss's diamond. In March 2014, she made her first stage appearance in 24 years – and her New York debut – in a Lincoln Center production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She appeared in the musical for five nights, and her "playful" performance of Mrs Lovett was highly praised; the critic Kayla Epstein wrote that she "not only held her own against more experienced vocalists, but wound up running off with the show". She received her sixth Primetime Emmy Award nomination, specifically for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the televised performance. In 2014, Thompson provided the narration for Jason Reitman's comedy-drama film, Men, Women & Children.

The period drama Effie Gray, a project that she had been working on for many years, based on the true-life story of John Ruskin's disastrous marriage, was written by Thompson but became the subject of a copyright suit before being cleared for cinemas. The American playwright Gregory Murphy said that Thompson's screenplay was an infringement on his play and screenplay The Countess, which he claimed he had submitted to Thompson through a mutual friend in 2003 to consider the role of Elizabeth Eastlake in a proposed film of his play, and to Thompson's husband Greg Wise through a casting director to consider the role of John Ruskin in the play's 2005 West End production. In 2008, Thompson announced that she and Wise "had written a script together about John Ruskin, the Victorian art critic, which we want to make into a film." This settlement offer was later abandoned by Thompson, Greg Wise and their partner Donald Rosenfeld, when their company Sovereign Films took over production of the film and instigated the suit, creating the independent entity Effie Film, LLC to litigate it.

In March 2013, District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa, after allowing Thompson to submit a second revised screenplay into evidence from which Murphy claimed "some of the most troubling material" had been removed, ruled that while there were similarities, the screenplays were "quite dissimilar in their two approaches to fictionalising the same historical events". In response to Murphy's attorney's concerns that the completed film Effie Gray would not adhere to Thompson's second revised screenplay, Judge Griesa concluded his ruling by saying that Thompson's film would not infringe Murphy's play or screenplay "only to the extent that it does not substantially deviate from the 29 November 2011 screenplay," the date of Thompson's second revised screenplay. In December 2013, Thompson said of the still unreleased Effie Gray that its "time has probably passed," comparing it to another project of hers that "didn't happen either". Effie Gray was released in October 2014, to a modest reception. Thompson plays Elizabeth Eastlake and Greg Wise plays John Ruskin. They both declined to promote the film. Camilla Long, reviewing Effie Gray in The Sunday Times, wrote "nothing fits together" and "no one seems to know why they made this film. Where is Thompson's passion and commitment, or any hint of what she intended to achieve." Manohla Dargis in her review in The New York Times called Effie Gray "The cinematic equivalent of a Brazilian wax, the movie omits much of the story's most interesting material to create something that's been smoothly denatured."

Thompson's first film of 2015 was A Walk in the Woods, a comedy adapted from the book by Bill Bryson of which she co-starred with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. She next starred in The Legend of Barney Thomson. Her role was a 77-year-old foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, Glaswegian former prostitute, the mother of the title character. Neither film was a critical success, although the latter received some positive reviews and Empire magazine wrote that Thomson was "unforgettable". Later that year, she had a supporting role in the restaurant-based film Burnt. In 2016, she starred in the World War II-drama Alone in Berlin, based on the story of Otto and Elise Hampel. She also co-wrote the screenplay for Bridget Jones's Baby and appeared in the film as a doctor.

thumb|Thompson (centre) attending the premiere of [[The Meyerowitz Stories at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival]]

In 2017, Thompson appeared in a supporting role as Mrs. Potts (originally voiced by Angela Lansbury in the 1991 animated film) in Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and starring her Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson in the leading role of Belle, alongside Dan Stevens as the Beast. The film received positive reviews and grossed $1.2billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing live-action musical film, the second highest-grossing film of 2017, and the 17th highest-grossing film of all time. She also had a supporting role as a hippy in the Noah Baumbach-directed dramedy The Meyerowitz Stories, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. She followed it with a starring role in the film The Children Act, a drama about a family who refuse cancer treatment for their son based on religious beliefs. She had a cameo role as Queen Elizabeth I in the 2017 Christmas special of the BBC sitcom Upstart Crow.

In 2018, Thompson provided the voiceover for Greenpeace's palm-oil awareness commercial which Iceland (supermarket) picked to promote as their 2018 Christmas advertisement. The commercial was rejected by the advertising organisation Clearcast due to Greenpeace's alleged involvement in politics, thus violating their code of conduct. Also that year, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to drama. In 2018, she also starred in Johnny English Strikes Again as the prime minister of the United Kingdom alongside Rowan Atkinson.

Thompson starred in the comedy-drama Late Night (2019), which was written by Mindy Kaling (who also co-starred in that film) and featured her as a popular television host who hires a new writer to keep the show from getting replaced. The film received positive reviews, with Thompson being singled out for praise, and Owen Gleiberman of Variety remarked that "Thompson truly seems like a born talk-show host. Even when she's just riffing, she grounds Late Night in something real." She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. In the same year, she voiced as the Yeti Elder in the stop-motion animated film Missing Link, reprised her role as Agent O in a more substantial part in Men in Black: International, and co-produced and co-starred alongside Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding in the festive romantic comedy Last Christmas, which was based on the song of the same name by George Michael, and was written by Thompson, her husband Greg Wise, and Bryony Kimmings.

In 2021, Thompson starred opposite Emma Stone as the titular protagonist villain in Cruella, a Disney live-action spin-off/reboot of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, directed by Craig Gillespie, which was released on 28 May 2021 to positive reviews and has grossed $233million worldwide against its $100million budget., She won praise from critics for the role of the Baroness with Alonso Duralde from The Wrap writing, "Thompson sinking every last tooth into a role that's half Miranda Priestly and half Reynolds Woodcock." In 2022, Thompson starred opposite Daryl McCormack in the sex comedy-drama Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, written by Katy Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde.

Thompson plays the authoritarian headmistress Miss Trunchbull in the film adaptation of Matilda the Musical, which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It is directed by Matthew Warchus, with a script written by Dennis Kelly and songs composed by Tim Minchin. Following its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 5 October 2022, film critic Robbie Collin of The Telegraph wrote Thompson's portrayal of Trunchbull is "a deranged villain to remember". The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw stated "the gleefully sly comedy kindred spirits of Thompson and Minchin come together to form the film's bedrock of naughtiness". In 2022, she also starred alongside Lily James and Sajal Aly in the romantic comedy What's Love Got to Do with It?

thumb|Thompson at the [[78th Locarno Film Festival]]

In the upcoming film Dead of Winter, directed by Brian Kirk, Thompson is attached to star alongside Laurel Marsden and Judy Greer. The film was shot in the 2024 winter in North Karelia, Finland, even writing a laudatory letter dedicated to the Finns, published by Helsingin Sanomat. Because of this, the Finnish president Alexander Stubb personally called Thompson and thanked the actress "for her beautiful words, trust in Finns and welcomed her back to Finland".

In 2026 she appeared in and was executive producer for Everybody to Kenmure Street.

Reception and acting style

Thompson is regarded to be among the best actresses of her generation and one of Britain's most recognisable actresses, held in high regard within Hollywood. Early in her career she was closely associated with her first husband, Kenneth Branagh. The public warmed to her after the separation, and she became one of the key actresses of the 1990s. Her status has continued to grow; in 2008, journalist Sarah Sands stated that Thompson has improved with age and experience, and Sands describes her as "the best actress of our times on suffering borne with poignant dignity". She often brings her real personality to her roles, and Kellaway believes that her lack of conventional beauty contributes to her likeability as an actress. but she is noted for her ability to win the empathy of audiences. Projecting a typically "British image", Thompson has stated that the "most moving things are often also funny, in life and in art" which is present in her film work. She was approached by the publishers to write it, the first authorised Peter story since 1930 and the only one not written by Potter. In 2013, Thompson wrote a second book in the series titled The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit. In 2018, Thompson said she would like to write about "what it's like being human now".

Other work

thumb|upright=0.75|A [[Boodles (company)|Boodles client, Thompson at the 2015 launch party for the luxury British jewellers' flagship store in Bond Street, London]]

In 2014, Thompson was among a group of influential British women, which included Annie Lennox and Rita Ora, to feature in the latest iteration of British retailer Marks & Spencer's 'Leading Ladies' marketing campaign.

Acting credits and accolades

Thompson has won two Academy Awards, for Best Actress in James Ivory's Howards End (1992) and for Best Adapted Screenplay for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995), and been nominated for three others. Thompson has also received three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Grammy Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, and six Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2018, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2021.

On 29 October 2025, she started appearing as Zoë Boehm in Down Cemetery Road for Apple TV+ alongside Ruth Wilson as Sarah Trafford. This was her first regular television role since 2019 when she appeared as Vivienne Rook MP in Years and Years (TV series) for BBC One and HBO.

Personal life

Thompson has stated that she feels Scottish, "not only because I am half Scottish but also because I've spent half my life [in Scotland]". She frequently returns to Scotland and visits Dunoon in Argyll and Bute. She owns a home nearby, on the shore of Loch Eck.

Relationships

Thompson's first husband was actor and director Kenneth Branagh, whom she met in 1987 while filming the television series Fortunes of War. They married in 1989 and appeared in several films together, with Branagh often casting her in his productions. Dubbed a "golden couple" by the British press, their relationship received substantial media coverage. Thompson and Branagh announced their separation in September 1995 and divorced in 1997. They cited their work schedules as the reason, but it later emerged that he was having an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter.

Thompson reported that on the day her divorce became final, Donald Trump called her unexpectedly while she was in her trailer on the set of the 1998 film Primary Colors, to ask her on a date. She later joked that had she accepted, she "could have changed the course of American history!"

thumb|upright=0.7|Thompson's husband, [[Greg Wise, whom she met on the set of Sense and Sensibility]]

Thompson was living alone as her relationship with Branagh deteriorated and she became depressed. The family's permanent residence is in West Hampstead, London, on the same road as her childhood home. Agaba became a British citizen in 2009. On 28 February 2020, Thompson and Wise were declared residents of Venice. The couple own homes in West Hampstead, London; Scotland; and Venice.

Views and activism

Thompson has said of her religious views:

She is a supporter of the Labour Party and endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in both the 2015 and 2016 Labour Party leadership elections. She has also expressed support for the now-defunct Women's Equality Party.

Thompson has been a campaigner since her youth.

thumb|upright=0.75|left|Thompson at the 2014 Climate March in London

She is particularly active in human rights work. a patron of the Refugee Council, and has a therapy room in her office for traumatised refugees. Thompson is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and Time magazine named her a "European Hero" in 2009 in recognition of "her work to highlight the plight of AIDS sufferers in Africa". In August 2014, Thompson and her daughter Gaia went on a Greenpeace "Save the Arctic" expedition to raise awareness of the dangers of drilling for oil. She narrated The Real News Network's The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science, a documentary short about Koch Industries and its efforts to discredit climate research, which was released on 31 October 2016. She supported the London Extinction Rebellion rally against climate change in 2019, although she received some criticism for having flown to attend it. She is also an ambassador for the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

On 24 February 2024, Thompson appeared in a video with 29 other world stars to support Ukraine against Russia.

Notes

References

External links

Emma Thompson at the British Film Institute
Emma Thompson at catalog.afi.com
Emma Thompson at Variety.com