Emma Thompson

Thompson married actor-director Kenneth Branagh in 1989. However, the couple got separated in 1995

She married actor Greg Wise in 2003 and had a daughter Gaia through IVF treatment and also adopted a Rwandan orphan Tindyebwa.

A supporter of ‘Greenpeace’, in 2009, she purchased a land near the village of Sipson with 3 others, to obstruct a proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport.

Thompson was born to Phyllida Law, a Scottish actress, and Eric Thompson, of the popular children's television series, ‘The Magic Roundabout’ fame, in Paddington, London.

Thompson attended the Camden School for Girls and in 1977 she was enrolled to the ‘Newnham College’, at Cambridge. After reading, ‘The Madwoman in the Attic’, she wanted to be a comedian like Lily Tomlin.

In 1980, she became the Vice President of Footlights, the university's sketch comedy troupe and also co-directed the troupe's first all-female revue, ‘Women's Hour’. Her team was awarded the Perrier Award for ‘The Cellar Tapes’.

After a minor role in the 1982 play, ‘Not the Nine O'Clock News’, Thompson worked for television with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in ‘There's Nothing To Worry About!’ and the ‘Alfresco’.

She came to limelight in 1985, with the ‘West End’ revival of the musical, ‘Me and My Girl’. Two years later, she played lead roles in two television miniseries, ‘Fortunes of War’ and ‘Tutti Frutti’.

She made her film debut with the 1989 romantic comedy ‘The Tall Guy’, a box-office disappointment. Starring Jeff Goldblum, she played a nurse with whom he falls in love.

She portrayed Princess Katherine in Branagh's screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Henry V’, in 1989 and the following year acted alongside Branagh in his stage productions of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ and ‘King Lear’.

She received great critical acclaim for her supporting role as Duchess D'Antan in the 1991 film, ‘Impromptu’, depicting the life of novelist George Sand. She was cast alongside Judy Davis and Hugh Grant in the film.

Thompson was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave in the 1992 Merchant Ivory film, ‘Howards End’, based on E. M. Forster’ novel. The film received massive critical acclaim and won her many accolades.

She wrote the screen-play of the 1995 Ang Lee directed film, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, and acted alongside Kate Winslet. One of the highest-grossing films of her career, it amassed $134,993,774 at the box-office.