Emma Thompson Biography

Actress, born in London, UK. She studied at Cambridge and made her stage debut with the Footlights while still a student. She played opposite Robert Lindsay in Me and My Girl (1983), going on to appear on BBC TV's Fortunes of War for which she won a BAFTA award. In 1989 she appeared in the film of Henry V, directed by Kenneth Branagh whom she married the same year (divorced, 1996). On stage, she appeared in Branagh's production of Look Back in Anger (1989), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1990), and King Lear (1990). With Branagh she went on to make the films Dead Again (1991) and Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Other films include Howard's End (1992, Oscar, BAFTA), Remains of the Day (1993), In the Name of the Father (1994), Primary Colors (1998), and Love Actually (2003). She wrote the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1996) which won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1997 she starred in The Winter Guest in which she played opposite her real-life mother, the actress Phyllida Law.