Emma Thompson Wiki: 5 Facts To Know About The 'Beauty and the Beast' Actress

You got to give Emma Thompson some credit for her portrayals of phenomenonal women in period dramas and adaptations as well as playing the characters with a sense of wit. Thompson is a British actress and screenwriter and she’s among the most acclaimed actresses in Britain. She has landed numerous roles and won several awards for her incredible talent. However, just like regular humans, she has suffered a heartbreak which came to inspire her performance in a movie known as 'Love Actually.' Apart from performing in some of the top-grossing films of their time, she has worked on others writing the scripts and supporting the filmmakers in making TV shows and movies. Emma Thompson is a talented actress who if she hadn't been discovered, the world would be a little boring. So what about her before she was discovered? 58-year-old Emma Thompson was born in a part of London known as Paddington. Her mother is a Scottish actress known as Phyllida Law and Thompson’s father is Eric Thompson and he is English. Mr. Thompson was involved in theatre and was also the writer and narrator of 'The Magic Roundabout,' a popular children’s television series. Thompson’s godfather, Ronald Eyre, was a director and writer. She has one sibling, a sister called Sophie Thompson who is also an actress. It’s evident that the family life revolves all around showbiz and entertainment. Thompson lived her parents and sister in West Hampstead, North London and she studied at Camden School for Girls. The actress used to visit Scotland during her childhood especially the town of Ardentinny where her grandparents and uncle used to live. Just after she became a teenager, Thompson was intrigued by the power of language and literature as she saw her father work on that and use her ideas. In 1977, Thompson joined the Newham College University of Cambridge where she studied and graduated with a degree in English. Thompson knew that she would end up as an actress no matter what because she was surrounded by what she described as creative people. While in college, Emma Thompson had ‘seminal moment’ that did not only turn her to feminism but also inspired her to take up performing. That was after Thompson came across a book known as “Madwoman in the Attic” which was about Victorian female writers disguising themselves to express what they wanted to pass across and it changed her life completely.

Emma Thompson got her debut in 1982 performing on a stage version of 'Not the Nine O’Clock News' before she diverted her attention to television where most of her work can be seen. By 1993, she was considered the leading British actress and had landed several main roles and supporting roles in most of the miniseries by then. However, she made her debut on Hollywood soil in 1994 when she landed a role to play a goofy doctor in Arnold Schwarzenegger's blockbuster, 'Junior.' The actress was inactive in 1995, but then she became active again the following year. Thompson became a mother in 1999 and decided that in the 2000's she would take smaller roles. She decided to minimize her work to focus on her maternal duties. In 2001, Thompson took the lead role of “Wit’ happily and she has been shining since then. She has starred in movies like 'Nanny McPhee,' 'Love Actually,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Sense and Sensibility,' 'Saving Mr. Banks,' and 'Fortunes of War,' With all the movies and TV shows that she has starred on, Thompson has made quite a decent net worth.

The movie, 'Love Actually' has been hitting our screens in every Christmas season for about 15 years now but there are some unexplored hidden depths in the film. Thompson was at a fundraiser for the Tricycle Theater in London where she revealed that one of her popular scenes was inspired by a heartbreak she went through her life. That particular scene is of her standing at the side of the bed crying, and she said that it’s known because everyone has gone through it. It is after Karen(Emmy Thompson) discovers that her husband(Alan Rickman) is seeing another woman behind her back. Thompson took the opportunity to speak and elaborate on her experience with infidelity that caused her a heartbreak. The actress referred to her now ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh who allegedly had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter when he was still married to Thompson. Sher told those who had attended the fundraiser that ken caused her a heartbreak and so she knew how to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for her, meaning she knew how to play that role in the movie because she had been through it. Thompson divorced ken in 1995 and has been married to Greg Wise since 2003.

Emma Thompson’s mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and she was taking care of her while her husband, Greg wise was taking care of her sister Clare, who, unfortunately, died of cancer in 2016. All that was a sign of love and it has been the same feeling between them since 2003. However, in the first phase of love there are only flowers and few responsibilities and therefore much easier. At that time one also focuses on their wants and needs. That’s precisely what Mr. Branagh did. He focused on his affair with Helena, and his actions caused his ex-wife, Thompson a heartbreak. In case one meets a partner who is different from Branagh, and he intends to steer a marriage, a couple moves to a challenging phase of “sandwich generation” which is characterized by needs of the children and aging parents. That phase is frustrating, exhausting, and puts your marriage to test on how strong it is, something that is happening to Emma Thompson and her husband, Greg Wise. However, despite that, their love is still going strong and even Wise admitted that sometimes he becomes a ‘grumpy old arse’ who is disorganized and fond of beer, but after he came home he found that Thompson had replaced it in the fridge with salad. So for those who have gone through heartbreaks, you can learn from 'Nanny McPhee,' 'Love Actually,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Sense and Sensibility,' 'Saving Mr. Banks,' and 'Fortunes of War' actress’s story.

The script of 'Harrow Alley' is one of Hollywood’s long-lost scripts and after Thompson’s intervention, the script could see the light after she partnered with Bad Wolf to develop the miniseries for the small screen and the project is already set up at HBO. The original script was done by Walter Newman who had three Oscar nominations but never managed to make 'Harrow Alley' hit the screens. The reason why he failed was because of its dark subject and budget requirements which seemed way overboard. Thompson has been helping out in pushing the script since the early 2000s and managed to park it at the production company, Bad Wolf. The company is backed by HBO and UK’s Sky as well as Len Blavatnik’s Access Entertainment and it’s now in the very early stages of development. The miniseries is based on the black plague that happened in the 17th century and narrates the story of an English town as it deteriorates. It follows the story of two fortunate men who are admirable, but lawless rogue and they are trying to survive the dangers of the time. Newman described 'Harrow Alley as the highest point of his professional life and a creative frenzy which lasted for 12 months. The script is written on 172 pages and has been circulated online and used to teach film students.

'Nanny McPhee,' 'Love Actually,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Sense and Sensibility,' 'Saving Mr. Banks,' and 'Fortunes of War' actress, Emma Thompson, studied at Cambridge and she was invited as the first woman to join Footlights which was a well-known theatrical group. The group was formed by famous actors such as Sacha Baron Cohen, John Cleese, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Emmy Thompson served as the troupe’s vice president and even co-directed their first female revue which was titled Women’s Hour and she was awarded the Perrier award for a sketch show that they had created known as “The Cellar Tapes.”

Emma Thompson’s father took his last breath on November 30, 1982, in a London hospital. The cause of his death was some circulatory problems three weeks after he turned 53. Talking about her father’s demise, Thompson said that the sudden death tore her family to pieces. The actress still regrets that he is not around, but she also said that if he had been alive, she wouldn’t have had the courage to inherit his courage and power. Thompson had a very close connection with her father.

Early in her career, Emmy Thompson used to perform stand up. With her feminist agenda motivating and fueling her guts, the actress used to have fun the insult caused by her routine which was STD related. Thompson told a vanity fair that she didn’t know about the current time, but in the old golden days, when she got candida, she could treat it with natural yogurt, sometimes! One of the jokes was sending his boyfriend out to get her yogurt for the disease he had infected her with and he would instead come with tropical-fruit-and-nut flavor which wasn’t exactly what she needed then they would laugh.

Emma Thompson has a net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The actress has made her net worth from her performance in films and TV shows, among them, being 'Nanny McPhee,' 'Love Actually,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Sense and Sensibility,' 'Saving Mr. Banks,' and 'Fortunes of War.'

It’s very heartwarming to see someone who was once heartbroken end up with someone more caring. Emma Thompson is an inspiration to women who have been through rocky relationships and a sign that there is always a better life afterward.