"Helena Bonham Carter is incapable of uttering a single word without charm, unless she has to for a role."
Helena Bonham Carter, CBE (born May 26, 1966 in Islington, London) is an English actress. Over an extensive filmography of versatile, acclaimed roles in blockbusters and independent works alike dating back to the mid-1980s, she has become known for her eccentric fashion sense, dark aesthetic, and affinity for playing quirky female characters.
For several years, Bonham Carter was Tim Burton's former girlfriend/leading lady in everything. The two met while Burton was directing his remake of Planet of the Apes in 2001, eventually marrying, having two children together, and ultimately announcing their intentions to separate in December 2014. Before that, she was briefly Kenneth Branagh's girlfriend/leading lady, although they only made one film during the relationship (not counting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which was made before they got together).
She is the great-granddaughter of former British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith.
Filmography (in alphabetical order):
- Alice in Wonderland (2010) — Iracebeth, the Red Queen
- Big Fish — The Witch/Jenny
- Cinderella (2015) — The Fairy Godmother
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Mrs. Bucket
- Conversations with Other Women — Woman
- The Crown (2016) — Princess Margaret (Seasons 3 and 4)
- Corpse Bride — Emily
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance — All-Maudra Mayrin
- Enid — Enid Blyton
- Enola Holmes — Eudoria Holmes
- Fight Club — Marla Singer
- Great Expectations — Miss Havisham
- Hamlet (the version directed by Franco Zefirelli) — Ophelia
- Harry Potter series — Bellatrix Lestrange
- The Heart of Me — Dinah
- The House (2022) — Jenn
- Howards End — Helen Schlegel
- The King's Speech — Lady Elizabeth, Duchess of York/Queen Elizabeth, Queen Consort
- Lady Jane — as Lady Jane Grey (her first leading role)
- Les Misérables (2012) — Mme. Thenardier
- Live From Baghdad — Ingrid Formanek
- The Lone Ranger — Red Harrington
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — Elizabeth
- Merlin (1998) — Morgan Le Fay
- Mighty Aphrodite — Amanda
- Dragonheart: Vengeance — Siveth
- Novocaine — Susan
- Ocean's 8 — Rose
- Planet of the Apes (2001) — Ari
- A Room with a View — Lucy Honeychurch
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — Mrs. Lovett
- Subspecies 4 — Serena
- Terminator Salvation — Serena Kogan / Skynet
- Till Human Voices Wake Us — Ruby
- Twelfth Night (the 1996 version directed by Trevor Nunn) — Olivia
- Wallace & Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit — Lady Tottington
- The Wings of the Dove — Kate Croy
- Women Talking Dirty — Cora
Tropes:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Quite a few of the characters she's played have been described/portrayed as unattractive in the source material the films are based on, and then she gets cast as them in the film versions, such as in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Les Miserables.
- Beauty Inversion: For Alice in Wonderland (2010).
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Gets typecast into this role fairly often. See Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Fight Club.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Elegant Gothic Lolita Clothing: Sometimes wears clothes inspired by this style, especially in films where she plays a darker character (Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland (2010)).
- English Rose: Some of her older roles. Still gets these now and then (e.g. as Queen Elizabeth—granted, the Queen Mum was actually Scottish, but she played her as a grown-up English Rose).
- Fake American: In Fight Club, Novocaine, Big Fish, Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: She was pregnant during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This is why she spends parts of those movies hiding behind the furniture, and her costume seems to change size and shape.
- Irony: She won the part of Bellatrix Lestrange in Order of the Phoenix after Helen McCrory had to drop out during pre-production upon discovering she was pregnant. By the time of the next film, Half-Blood Prince, Bonham Carter herself was pregnant and much further along. For further irony, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child implies Bellatrix actually was pregnant at this point in the timeline.
- Large Ham: Whenever she plays a villainess.
- Marla Singer is in a class by herself.
- Messy Hair: In most of her film roles.
- Ms. Fanservice: Interestingly, despite almost never showing herself half dressed or wearing revealing clothes, she's still considered very attractive.
- Typecasting: Once upon a time, she was most famous for playing rosy-cheeked ingénues?note Breaking out of one type (read: Fight Club) led to it becoming her new type!
- With hindsight, her performance as the scheming Kate Croy in 1997's The Wings of the Dove — complete with a healthy dose of Fanservice — was the moment that critics noticed that she was starting to rise above typecasting. Fight Club, two years later, merely sealed the deal, albeit with a resounding slam.
- Her role in the live action version of Cinderella seems to be this. She's playing the Fairy Godmother, without a touch of irony.
- Playing with Character Type: Her portrayal of Elizabeth in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is sort of a merger of her two well-known types (before her second one had been established).
- What Could Have Been:
- Was nearly cast as Sarah in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.
- Was also the first choice for Bess in Breaking the Waves but dropped out due to personal problems with the film's ending.
- She was one of the actresses considered for the lead role in Bridget Jones's Diary, so if she had that role she could've starred in two movies with Colin Firth as her paramour.
- When scheduling conflicts arose between the two films, she chose A Room with a View over playing Princess Irulan in David Lynch's Dune.
