Emma Thompson. Date unknown.
 
Emma Thompson on Wikipedia
Emma Thompson on the Internet Movie Database
 
 
 
 
 
 
Emma Thompson
Forecourt Ceremony held on Thursday, November 7, 2013
 
Born: April 15, 1959, in Paddington, London, England
Age at the time of the ceremony: 54
 
Emma Thompson has to be considered one of the greatest of British exports. She illiminates every film she is in, and she has been in a lot of them.

Both of Emma's parents were showbiz figures; her mother is the Scottish actor Phyllida Law, while her father Eric was a theatreman, best-known for the children's programme The Magic Roundabout. The family lived in West Hampstead, where Emma was enrolled at the Camden School for Girls.

A very good student with a love of language, Thompson read for an English degree at Newnham College Cambridge in 1977. Reading about the difficulties facing women writers in the England of the Romantic Period turned her into a self-described punk-rocker with a scooter and red hair; she wanted to be a comic.

At Cambridge, she became the first (!) female member of the comedy troupe called the Footlights, where she proceed to stage the first all-female edition of the Footlights, winning prizes along the way. Father Eric passed away horribly young at the age of 52 in 1982. His passing impacted the family terribly.

Beginning that year, Thompson toured in a show called Not the Nine O'Clock News, which led to a great deal of work in television, beginning with the sketch show There's Nothing to Worry About with fellow Footlighter Hugh Laurie, aired over Grenada Television in June 1982. The show was re-worked into 13 episodes of Alfresco also with Hugh Laurie, aired over Grenada Television in April 1984.

For much of 1985, Thompson appeared as Sally Smith in a West End revival of For Me and My Gal. Thompson took the role of Suzie Kettles, who threatens Scotland's "Kings of Rock" The Majestics, in the mini series Tutti Frutti with Robbie Coltrane, aired over the BBC in March 1987.

After getting married to Kenneth Branagh in 1989, she co-starred with him in six episodes of Thompson aired over the BBC in July 1990, but the show met with mixed reviews. In the comedy The Tall Guy (released in September 1989), she played a doctor trying to help a struggling actor played by Jeff Goldblum.

With Branagh taking on the title role, adapting and directing, Thompsons took the role of Princess Katherine de Valois in Shakespeare's Henry V (released in October 1989) with Paul Scofield. She also appeared in the stage productions of Branagh's A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear.

For director James Lapine's film directing debut, she played the Dutchess D'Antan in Impromptu (released in April 1991) with Hugh Grant as Frederic Chopin, then accompanied Branagh as he scaled the Hollywood walls with the mystery/thriller Dead Again (which played the Chinese in August 1991).

Thompson lobbied hard to play Margaret Schlegel for the Merchant / Ivory film of
Howards End (released in February 1992) with Anthony Hopkins, and for which, she received the Oscar for Best Actress. Her perfomance made her an international star overnight.

Thompson starred as Beatrice to director Branagh's Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (released in July 1993), which was followed with another Merchant / Ivory masterpeice. She played Miss Kenton in their apaptation of The Remains of the Day (released in October 1993) with Anthony Hopkins as "Mr. Stevens."

In a supporting role, she appeared as a defender in In the Name of the Father (released in February 1994) with Daniel Day-Lewis. Around this time, her marriage to Branagh was fizzling out, and Thompson began seriously to work on her long-held ambition: she starred as Elinor Dashwood and wrote the script (and getting an Oscar for doing so) for her adaptation of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility (released in December 1995) with Kate Winslet. John Willoughby, the character who brings so much misery to Kate Winslet's Marianne, was played by Greg Wise. Wise and Thompson would wed in 2003.

In Primary Colors (released in March 1998), Thompson played a Hilary Clinton-like wife of a president, a Bill Clinton-like John Travolta. Thompson and Wise had a child in 1999, with mom deciding to step back from a busy work schedule.

Thompson provided the voice for Captain Amelia in the Disney animated film Treasure Planet (released in November 2002). A gives a powerhouse performance as the wife of Alan Rickman in the crowd-pleasing holiday film Love Actually (released in November 2003). It is the only Chritmas perennial we know of with four-letter words and nude scenes! Hail, Britannia!

Thompson played a number of roles in Angels in America with Al Pacino, aired over HBO in December 2003. The next summer, Thompson began her three film tenture as Professor Sybil Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (which played the Chinese in June 2004) with Daniel Radcliffe. Staying in the realm of children's fantasy, Thompson wrote the script and played the title role in her adaptation of the "Nurse Matilda" books, Nanny McPhee (released in October 2005) with Colin Firth.

In Stranger Than Fiction (released in November 2006) she played an author whose character is a real person, played by Will Farrell. It's a head-scratcher, but really good. She played Lady Marchmain in a new vesion of Brideshead Revisited (released in July 2008) with Matthew Goode. The film got drubbed.

Just in time for the US Premiere of her lastest film, she was invited down to the Chinese to make her imprints in the Forecourt; later that evening saw a showing of Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney to Thompson's playing P.L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins, on Thursday, November 7, 2013.

Thompson played an obstetrician to Bridget Jones's Baby (released in September 2016) with Renée Zellweger, and she played Mrs. Potts in the live action (sort of) version of Beauty and the Beast (released in March 2017) with Emma Watson.

In The Children Act (released in September 2018) with Stanley Tucci, Thompson plays a mother refusing cancer treatment for her son on religious grounds. She plays Goneril in an updated King Lear (streaming over Amazon Prime beginning in September 2018) with Anthony Hopkins in the title role. She plays a talk show host in fear of losing her gig in Late Night (released in June 2019) with Mindy Kaling.

Following the lead of Judi Dench, Thompson played "Agent Q" in Men in Black: International (which played the Chinese in June 2019) with Chris Hemsworth, and she co-wrote the story and co-wrote the script and has a role in Paul Fieg's apparent misfire Last Christmas (released in November 2019) with Madison Ingoldsby. Returning to Disney territory, she played the heavy in Cruella with Emma Stone (released in May 2021).

Thompson does fine work in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande with (released in January 2022). She's in What's Love Got to Do with It? with Lily James (released in September 2022), and is Agatha Trunchbull in Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical with Alisha Weir (released in October 2022).
 
 
TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®, Hollywood, California. Emma Thompson Forecourt block. Executed by unknown, Thursday, November 7, 2013. 36 x 24 inches.
TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®, Hollywood, California. Emma Thompson Forecourt ceremony, Thursday, November 7, 2013. Emma Thompkins, flanked by her husband, Greg Wise and her Saving Mr. Banks co-star Tom Hanks, pose after Thompkins has finished her handiwork.
 
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