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