Line #5 Creator/EmmaThompson


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/et_4.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Children are the most wonderful audiences. What's struck me most is that that they watch it so silently, until the end when they shriek and shout and clap."''
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5	Dame Emma Thompson, DBE (born April 15, 1959 in Paddington, London), is a distinguished British actress and screenwriter.
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7	The daughter of English actor Eric Norman Thompson and Scottish actress Phyllida Law, she is best known for a lot of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Ivory_Productions Merchant Ivory]] movies, as well as ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'', ''Film/DeadAgain'', ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'', ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', and ''Film/SavingMrBanks''.
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9	She introduced [[Creator/StephenFry Fry]] to [[Creator/HughLaurie Laurie]], thus making her responsible for [[Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie a veritable English institution]], and has a very vitriolic friendship with Fry, who has seen her naked more than once.[[note]]She says that Fry finds the naked female body overwhelming and that one of her favorite pranks to play on him when they were younger was to lock all the doors and then sashay toward him in the nude knowing he'd have trouble opening all the locks in his terror.[[/note]] She also almost played [[Film/{{Dogma}} God]] (it was decided that Music/AlanisMorissette would be [[RuleOfFunny funnier]]), and was, before his death, a very good friend of Creator/AlanRickman.[[note]]You can hear her talk about him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bo9b0rLQYUc here]].[[/note]]
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11	Thompson is also the only person who's won UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s in both screenwriting (''Film/SenseAndSensibility'') and acting (''Film/HowardsEnd'').
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13	Compare with Creator/BarbraStreisand, Creator/LaurenceOlivier, Creator/GeorgeClooney, and Creator/MichaelDouglas, who also have unusual Oscar combinations.
14	----
15	!!Selected Filmography:
16	* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' (s2e1 ''Bambi'', cameo)
17	* ''Film/{{Henry V\|1989}}'' (Creator/KennethBranagh version) as Princess Catherine of Valois
18	* ''Film/PetersFriends''
19	* ''Film/{{Impromptu}}''
20	* ''Film/HowardsEnd''
21	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' (one [[Recap/CheersS10E16 memorable episode]] in which she plays Frasier Crane's first wife)
22	* ''[[Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing1993 Much Ado About Nothing]]'' (Creator/KennethBranagh version) as Beatrice
23	* ''Film/TheRemainsOfTheDay'' as Miss Kenton
24	* ''Film/InTheNameOfTheFather''
25	* ''Film/{{Junior}}''
26	* ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'' as Elinor Dashwood
27	* ''Film/PrimaryColors''
28	* ''Film/JudasKiss'' as FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins
29	* ''Theatre/{{Wit}}'' (TV movie based upon the play)
30	* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' as Captain Amelia (voice only).
31	* ''Theatre/AngelsInAmerica''
32	* ''Film/LoveActually'' as Karen
33	* ''Film/HarryPotter'' as Sybill Trelawney
34	** ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''
35	** ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''
36	** ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''
37	* ''Film/NannyMcPhee'' as Nanny [=McPhee=].
38	* ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''
39	* ''Film/IAmLegend''
40	* ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited''
41	* ''Film/LastChanceHarvey'' as Kate
42	* ''Film/AnEducation''
43	* ''Film/TheBoatThatRocked''
44	* ''Franchise/MenInBlack'' (2012 -- present) as Agent O:
45	** ''Film/MenInBlack3'' (2012)
46	** ''Film/MenInBlackInternational'' (2019)
47	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' as Queen Elinor (voice only).
48	* ''Film/BeautifulCreatures''
49	* ''Film/SavingMrBanks'' as P.L. Travers.
50	* ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' as Mrs. Potts
51	* ''Series/YearsAndYears'' as Viv Rook
52	* ''Film/LateNight2019''
53	* ''Film/LastChristmas''
54	* ''Film/{{Dolittle}}''
55	* ''Film/{{Cruella}}'' as Baroness von Hellman
56	* ''Film/GoodLuckToYouLeoGrande'' as Nancy Stokes
57	* ''Film/RoaldDahlsMatildaTheMusical'' as Ms. Trunchbull
58	* ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt2022'' as Cath
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60	!!Tropes:
61	* AbilityOverAppearance:
62	** ''Literature/TreasureIsland'' has the captain as a male. ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' changes it to a woman to accommodate Thompson. [[invoked]]
63	** She was, at 36, by all rights far too old to play 19-year-old Elinor Dashwood (aged to 25) in ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'' -- something about which nobody cared one jot after seeing even a fraction of her excellent performance in the film.
64	* ActingForTwo: For the TV adaptation of ''Theatre/AngelsInAmerica'' she plays an angel, a homeless woman and Nurse Emily.
65	* AdamWesting: In ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' she's caught making out with a woman, and encouraged to come out to the public...then gets cold feet about whether it could lead to the discovery of her even greater shame of being ''American''. She won an Emmy for the performance, which included a perfect Midwestern accent.
66	* BeautyInversion: In ''Film/NannyMcPhee'' where she appears under old age prosthetics - and Nanny becomes more beautiful as the story goes on. Thompson joked it took more make-up to have her appear beautiful.
67	* TheCameo: As the Headmistress in ''Film/AnEducation''.
68	* CastTheExpert: Very appropriate that she be chosen to play a writer in ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''. [[invoked]]
69	* CastingGag:
70	** She plays Hugh Grant's sister in ''Film/LoveActually'', when they had played lovers in ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility''.
71	** She also plays the author of ''Literature/MaryPoppins'' in ''Film/SavingMrBanks'', having played a Mary Poppins CaptainErsatz in ''Film/NannyMcPhee''.
72	* DawsonCasting: At 36 she played Elinor Dashwood who is around 19. [[invoked]]
73	** The 1995 film version of Elinor Dashwood was aged up from 19 to 27, to partly alleviate this.
74	* DeadpanSnarker: It's rare to find a role where she isn't playing one. She's also very much one in real life.
75	* DyeingForYourArt: She gained thirty pounds for ''Film/LoveActually''. [[invoked]]
76	* EnforcedMethodActing: [[invoked]]
77	** For ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'' she fed lines to Will Ferrell through an earpiece, so that his reaction to words other people can't hear would be more natural.
78	** She and Kate Winslet lived together while filming ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'' in order to develop a natural sisterly chemistry.
79	* FakeNationality: Sort of. She plays the Australian PL Travers in ''Film/SavingMrBanks'', but Travers had lost her accent and spoke with an English one at the time Thompson played her. [[invoked]]
80	* FakeScot: Voiced Scottish Queen Elinor in ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}''. Thompson's Scottish accent is quite accurate, helped no doubt by having Scottish family members. [[invoked]]
81	* RealLifeRelative: Her sister Sophie Thompson stars in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', though she appears in Part 1 and Emma in Part 2.
82	* RomanceOnTheSet: She met and fell in love with her current husband, Greg Wise, on the set of ''Film/SenseAndSensibility''. Somewhat ironically, he was playing notorious cad John Willoughby.
83	* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: She has a bit of this. In her home in Scotland, there's a field which has a sauna and a pond which can be used by anyone using the sauna. She doesn't bother to wear clothes when travelling to and from the house to the sauna, and one night there was a knock on the door and a policeman informed her that an intruder had been seen on her property. She was alarmed, until the policeman told her that a woman walking her dog had seen a "naked 52-year-old man" walking through the field that afternoon.
84	-->'''Emma Thompson''': At which point I thought, Okay, something has happened, '''or''', my boobs have dropped so low that, from a distance, they're really just testicles.
85	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: She took the role of Professor Trelawney to impress her daughter. [[invoked]]
86	* ThoseTwoActors: With Creator/KellyMacdonald in ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'' and ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. [[invoked]]
87	* ThrowItIn: In ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'' she ad-libbed Elinor's line "there'll be fire and sword if it's not set right." [[invoked]]
88	* VitriolicBestBuds: She and Stephen Fry are the best of friends. Neither is afraid to ''mock the other senseless'' if the situation calls for it. Such as this conversation, for example:
89	-->'''Emma:''' You know the word "luvvie"?\
90	'''Stephen:''' Yeah?\
91	'''Emma:''' What do you all feel about it?\
92	'''Stephen:''' ''[sigh]'' I mean, I'm not going to get as upset as ''some'' actors do - some actors say, "We do a bloody hard job of work, we're serious people, you know, it's a coal face, doing a play! How dare they call us luvvies!" I think that's a bit overdone. On the ''other'' hand, it's a bit tedious when the ''Daily Mail'' says "luvvie couple XYZ," or something -\
93	'''Emma:''' Do you know what the first citation of it is in the OED?\
94	'''Stephen:''' No.\
95	'''Emma:''' [[TomatoInTheMirror It's you.]]\
96	''[cue MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction from Stephen; eventually the previously-retired Luvvie Alarm goes off in reaction to the discussion]''
97	* WagTheDirector: On behalf of a fellow actor. For ''Brideshead Revisited'', the studio wanted to force Creator/HayleyAtwell to [[HollywoodPudgy lose weight]] for the role of Lady Julia. Emma hit the roof and threatened to walk if they insisted. This being ''Emma Thompson'', aka one of the most (if not ''the'' most) bankable English actresses of her generation, she won the argument.
98	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]
99	** She was nearly cast as Catherine Tromell in ''Film/BasicInstinct'' but backed out of the deal.
100	** She also nearly played Emma Peel in ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. The role went to Creator/UmaThurman.
101	** A kiss was filmed between her and Hugh Grant in ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', but cut as it would have been inappropriate for the time the novel was written.
102	** Creator/MerylStreep was interested in Miss Kenton in ''The Remains of the Day''. As it was written with Emma in mind, it remains one of only three parts that Meryl has ever been turned down for.
103	** She quit the Skydance Animation film ''WesternAnimation/{{Luck\|2022}}'' in protest of the studio hiring the disgraced Creator/JohnLasseter.
104	* WrittenByCastMember: An Oscar-winning screenwriter herself, she has contributed to the scripts of many projects she's worked on. [[invoked]]
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Context Creator / EmmaThompson