ACTOR · BORN 1959
Emma Thompson
- Born
- 15 April 1959, Paddington, London, England, UK
- Known for
- In the Name of the Father (1993), Junior (1994), The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017), Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
24 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is an actor best known for In the Name of the Father, Junior and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).
Emma Thompson over the years
24 Interesting Facts About Emma Thompson
Interesting Facts (9)
- #001
Emma Thompson was a member of Cambridge Footlights and in 1981, along with Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery, Hugh Laurie, Paul Dwyer and Paul Shearer, won the first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Emma Thompson: a sceneImage: Wikimedia Commons · Kalai Ramu, CC BY-SA 4.0 - #002
Emma Thompson accepted the role of Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) to impress her daughter Gaia.
- #003
Before giving birth to her daughter Gaia in 1999, Emma Thompson became pregnant in 1994 by her then-husband Kenneth Branagh and in 1997 by her partner Greg Wise; in both cases she had a miscarriage. Thompson and Wise used IVF to conceive Gaia.
- #004
Emma Thompson was originally set to play "God" in Kevin Smith's Dogma (1999). She was unable to perform the role because of her pregnancy.
- #005
Although her character is not seen after being dismissed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), it is her voice that speaks the prophecy Harry obtains at the end of the film.
- #006
After her divorce from Kenneth Branagh was finally settled, Emma was in her trailer during the filming of Primary Colors (1998) when she received a direct call from Donald Trump, who offered her accommodation at Trump Tower in the hope of a dinner date. He had coincidentally just divorced Marla Maples. Prophetic, given that in 2016 she played a character based on Hillary Clinton, Trump's rival in the presidential race.
- #007
She was paid without being credited for rewriting the screenplay of Pride and Prejudice.
- #008
She returned to work to begin filming Wit (2001) eight months after giving birth to her daughter Gaia.
- #009
As a joke, she called her daughter Gaia "jane. Com."
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #010
She won both of her Oscars with films that also featured actors she would later work with again on the Harry Potter films. Helena Bonham Carter, who appeared in Howards End (1992), also played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). Alan Rickman, who appeared in Sense and Sensibility (1995), played Professor Severus Snape in eight Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #011
Emma Thompson was originally cast in the lead role in Basic Instinct (1992) but later turned it down. Of Sharon Stone's appearance, she said: "From what I could see of Sharon Stone's love scene in Basic Instinct (1992), they sculpted her body out of hard dough. She was fucking Michael Douglas like a donkey and didn't move an inch. If it had been me, there would have been things flying around and catching my eye."
- #012
She shares her birthday (15 April) with Harry Potter lead actress Emma Watson.
- #013
She was the first choice for the female lead in Mutlu Aileler (1985). However, she was unavailable because she had won the lead role in the musical "Me and My Girl."
Career & Awards (6)
- #014
While working on the Oscar-winning screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995), Emma Thompson had a serious problem with her computer and could not find the file. She took the computer to Stephen Fry, who finally managed to retrieve the screenplay after seven hours.
- #015
On 7 August 2010, Emma Thompson was honored with a Star (#2416) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, just outside the Pig'n Whistle, an iconic British bar in Hollywood. Her longtime friend Hugh Laurie, who was also her boyfriend when she was an undergraduate at Cambridge University, was there to deliver a loving tribute.
- #016
Emma Thompson used to keep her Oscar statuettes in her bathroom, but she had to move them to make room for her daughter Gaia's artwork. She now keeps them in her office.
- #017
Thompson's first experience of Los Angeles came in 1973, at age 14, when she accompanied her father, Eric Thompson, who was set to direct a stage production of Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquests" at the Ahmanson Theatre. Coincidentally, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (adjacent to the Ahmanson) would be the venue where, 20 years later, Thompson received her first Best Actress Oscar in 1993 for Howards End (1992).
- #018
When she won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Howards End (1992), she received it from her co-star in that film, Sir Anthony Hopkins. The following year, she presented the Best Actor Oscar to Tom Hanks for his performance in Philadelphia (1993). The two would later appear together in Saving Mr. Banks (2013).
- #019
She became the 105th actor to win an Oscar, taking the Best Actress Oscar for Howards End (1992) at the 65th Annual Academy Awards (1993) on 29 March 1993.
Life & Family (5)
- #020
According to a 2012 Guardian profile of Emma Thompson, in 2003 she and Greg Wise (who already had their daughter Gaia) informally adopted a young boy. Their son, Tindyebwa ("Tindy") Agaba, was a former child soldier from Rwanda whom Thompson first met at a party for the Refugee Council charity when he was 16. Tindy's family had died before or during the Rwandan genocide, and after escaping forced child soldiering he lived on the streets of London before receiving help from the Refugee Council.
- #021
Both Emma Thompson and her younger sister Sophie Thompson met their future husbands, Greg Wise and Richard Lumsden, on the set of Sense and Sensibility (1995).
- #022
In 2003, Emma Thompson and her husband Greg Wise informally adopted Tindyebwa Agaba, a Rwandan orphan and former child soldier. They met at a Refugee Council event when he was 16, and she invited him to spend Christmas at their home. "Slowly," Thompson remarked, "he became a sort of permanent fixture, came on holiday to Scotland with us, became part of the family." Agaba became a British citizen in 2009.
- #023
Thompson co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed "Woman's Hour" (1983), the first all-female revue at Cambridge University.
- #024
She is the older sister of Sophie Thompson.
Related pages
- Pride & Prejudice — Emma Thompson comes up in the facts on that page
- Clash of the Titans — Emma Thompson comes up in the facts on that page
- Treasure Planet — Emma Thompson comes up in the facts on that page
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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