Emma Thompson (born April 15, 1959) is an Academy Award-winning British actress. She is the daughter of actor Eric Thompson (of The Magic Roundabout fame) and actress Phyllida Law. Her sister is actress Sophie Thompson.
Emma Thompson came to fame with a leading role in the BBC drama serial, Fortunes of War (based on the novels of Olivia Manning), in which she played opposite Kenneth Branagh, whom she later married (August 20, 1989). They appeared together in hit films such as Dead Again, Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing, but eventually divorced (October 1995). Thompson left Branagh for actor Greg Wise, by whom she now has a child.
Thompson also starred in romantic comedies such as The Tall Guy, and more serious films such as Howards End, based on the E. M. Forster novel, the sombre The Remains of the Day opposite Anthony Hopkins, and The Winter Guest. However, the pinnacle of her career was winning an Academy Award in 1996 for the screenplay adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, in which she also played the lead, Elinor Dashwood.
Thompson will appear as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) following her divorced husband who played Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
