Emma Thompson

1959 - Yes, date unknown    Has 2 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.

• Name	Emma Thompson
  Birth	15 Apr 1959	London, Middlesex, England
  Gender	Female
  Death	Yes, date unknown
  Siblings	1 Sibling
  + 1. Emma Thompson,   b. 15 Apr 1959, London, Middlesex, England d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Kenneth Branagh,  m. 20 Aug 1989 ;   Greg Wise,  m. 29 Jul 2003 + 2. Sophie Thompson,   b. 1962   d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Richard Lumsden
  Person ID	I212612	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	10 Sep 2006

  
  

  Father	Eric Thompson,   b. 9 Nov 1929, Sleaford, England d. 1 Dec 1982, London, Middlesex, England (Age 53 years)
  Mother	Phyllida Law,   b. 8 May 1932, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F86908	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Kenneth Branagh,   b. 10 Dec 1960   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	20 Aug 1989
  Divorce	Oct 1995
  Family ID	F86907	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Sep 2006

  
  

  Family 2	Greg Wise,   b. 15 May 1966   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	29 Jul 2003
  Children	1. Gaia Romilly Wise   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F86909	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Sep 2006

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Birth - 15 Apr 1959 - London, Middlesex, England  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  Thompson's wit was earlier cultivated by a cheerful, clever, creative family atmosphere, and she was a popular and successful student. She attended Cambridge University, studying English Literature, and was part of the university's Footlights Group, the famous group where, previously, many of the Monty Python members had first met. Thompson graduated in 1980 and embarked on her career in entertainment, beginning with stints on BBC radio and touring with comedy shows. She soon got her first major break in television, on the comedy skit program "Alfresco" (1983), writing and performing along with her fellow Footlights Group alums Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie . She also worked on other TV comedy review programs in the mid-1980s, occasionally with some of her fellow Footlights alums, and often with actor Robbie Coltrane . Thompson found herself collaborating again with Fry in 1985, this time in his stage adaptation of the play "Me and My Girl" in London's West End, in which she had a leading role, playing Sally Smith. The show was a success and she received favorable reviews, and the strength of her performance led to her casting as the lead in the BBC television miniseries "Fortunes of War" (1987) (mini), in which Thompson and her co-star, Kenneth Branagh , play an English ex-patriate couple living in Eastern Europe as the Second World War erupts. Thompson won a BAFTA award for her work on the program. She married Branagh in 1989, continued to work with him professionally, and formed a production company with him. In the late 80s and early 90s, she starred in a string of well-received and successful television and film productions, most notably her lead role in the Merchant-Ivory production of Howards End (1992), which confirmed her ability to carry a movie on both sides of the Atlantic and appropriately showered her with trans-Atlantic honors - both an Oscar and a BAFTA award . Since then, Thompson has continued to move effortlessly between the art film world and mainstream Hollywood, though even her Hollywood roles tend to be in more up-market productions. She continues to work on television as well, but is generally very selective about which roles she takes. She writes for the screen as well, such as the screenplay for Ang Lee 's Sense and Sensibility (1995), in which she also starred as Elinor Dashwood, and the teleplay adaptation of Margaret Edson 's acclaimed play Wit (2001) (TV), in which she also starred. Thompson is known for her sophisticated, skillful, though her critics say somewhat mannered, performances, and of course for her arch wit, which she is unafraid to point at herself - she is a fearless self-satirist.