Emma Thompson (b.1959) is an Oscar-winning British actress, screenwriter, author, and activist. She is celebrated not only for her versatile, sophisticated, and witty performances but also for her award-winning scripts.
Born in Paddington, London, Thompson is the daughter of actors Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law; she grew up in a theatrical household. In 1992, Thompson starred in the screen adaptation of E. M. Forster’s Howards End, and won both an Academy Award and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for best actress.
In 1995, Thompson wrote the screenplay and starred in Sense and Sensibility, based on the Jane Austen novel. Thompson won an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay and a BAFTA Award for best actress.
Other significant films include Remains of the Day (1993,) Love Actually (2003,) and Saving Mr. Banks (2013.) Thompson also wrote the script and performed in the title role in the family comedy fantasy film Nanny McPhee (2005.)
Thompson is active in human rights work—she informally adopted a Rwandan orphan and former child soldier named Tindyebwa Agaba. Also an environmentalist, Thompson is a well-known supporter of Greenpeace.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Emma Thompson
I place a high moral value on the way people behave. I find it repellent to have a lot, and to behave with anything other than courtesy in the old sense of the word—politeness of the heart, a gentleness of the spirit.
—Emma Thompson
Topics: Behavior, Manners
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