| Emma Thompson  Born: 15-Apr-1959
Birthplace: London, England
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: England
Executive summary: Howard's End Emma Thompson attended Cambridge, where she joined Footlights, the British comedy troupe, and in 1983, she was a player in the short-lived sketch comedy series Alfresco, alongside Robbie Coltrane and Hugh Laurie. She won a BAFTA (British Academy Award) for her role in Coltrane's Spinal Tap-esque miniseries Tutti Fruitti, about a fading Scottish rock band.
Thompson turned to drama as Harriet Pringle in a 1987 BBC miniseries Fortunes of War, which later aired on America's Masterpiece Theatre. A nerdy Kenneth Branagh played her husband, and then joined Thompson and her mother and sister in Thompson, another BBC sketch comedy series. Smitten, Branagh cast Thompson in his film adaptation of Henry V, and they were married after that film wrapped. Henry V was an art house sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, and for a few years Branagh and Thompson were considered the royal couple of fine art films. They came together to America and co-starred in Branagh's Dead Again, a near-perfect tribute to old-fashioned Hollywood thrillers. They starred together in Peter's Friends and Much Ado about Nothing before divorcing.
Thompson won the Oscar for Best Actress in Howard's End, and another Oscar for writing the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. She was also fabulous in the chilly anti-romance Remains of the Day. In more recent comedic roles she played opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in his male-pregnancy comedy Junior, and appeared as Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Thompson's father was a noted stage director, and narrated The Magic Roundabout, a long-running kids show in England. Her mother was a familiar face in several British TV shows through the 1970s and 80s.
Father: Eric Thompson (actor, b. 9-Nov-1929, d. 1-Dec-1982)
Mother: Phyllida Law (actress, b. 8-May-1932)
Sister: Sophie Thompson (actress, b. 1962)
Boyfriend: Hugh Laurie (comedian, dated in early 1980s)
Husband: Kenneth Branagh (actor, m. 20-Aug-1989, div. Oct-1995)
Husband: Greg Wise (actor, m. 29-Jul-2003, one daughter)
Daughter: Gaia Romilly Wise (b. 4-Dec-1999)
Son: Tindyebwa Agaba (Rwandan refugee, "Tindy", b. circa 1987, "informally adopted" 2003)
University: BA English Literature, Cambridge University
Amnesty International
Oscar for Best Actress 1993 for Howard's End
Oscar for Best Screenplay (another medium) 1996 for Sense and Sensibility
Emmy 1998 Outstanding Guest in a Comedy, for Ellen
Golden Globe 1993 Best Actress in a Drama, Howard's End
Golden Globe 1996 Best Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility
Risk Factors: Smoking
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Brideshead Revisited (1-Aug-2008)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (3-Jul-2007)
Stranger Than Fiction (9-Sep-2006)
Nanny McPhee (21-Oct-2005)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (31-May-2004)
Angels in America (7-Dec-2003)
Imagining Argentina (12-Sep-2003)
Love Actually (7-Sep-2003)
Treasure Planet (5-Nov-2002) [VOICE]
Wit (9-Feb-2001)
Maybe Baby (2-Jun-2000)
Judas Kiss (16-Sep-1998)
Primary Colors (20-Mar-1998)
The Winter Guest (28-Aug-1997)
Sense and Sensibility (13-Dec-1995)
Carrington (2-May-1995)
Junior (24-Nov-1994)
In the Name of the Father (29-Dec-1993)
The Remains of the Day (5-Nov-1993)
Much Ado About Nothing (7-May-1993)
Peter's Friends (18-Sep-1992)
Howard's End (13-Mar-1992)
Dead Again (23-Aug-1991)
Impromptu (12-Apr-1991)
Henry V (8-Nov-1989)
The Tall Guy (11-Sep-1989)
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