In real life, Thompson is known for her eccentric, no-nonsense personality in interviews.
It’s hard to imagine Thompson as a hopeful young actress before all of her success.
However, Thompson wasn’t always the confident, self-assured woman we know today.
Here is the stunning transformation of Emma Thompson.
She was raised in a bohemian family in London.
As Thompson recalled toThe Guardian, the arts were always infused into her life.
While her parents were entrenched in London’s artistic world, they weren’t well-known.
“It was just a job,” Thompson said, “Fame is a completely accidental by-product.
I don’t have any feeling of, you’ve got to keep your face up there.”
Instead, she studied English at the prestigious University of Cambridge.
Thompson joined the Footlights, a famous sketch comedy troupe that ended up performing ontelevision.
Among her friends and co-stars in the comedy troupe were fellow actors Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.
As Fry toldTime, Thompson stood out even then.
He recalled “her frankly radiant presence and range of extraordinary skills as a performer.”
This early success in comedy at university led to her first few jobs.
As she toldVulture, “I was doing sketch comedy … and I worked with Robbie Coltrane.
He recommended Thompson, and she was cast.
She added, “Comedy is your best training [for drama] anyway.”
She followed this role with other more dramatic roles.
“I’m not being entirely flippant.”
The role proved to be a turning point in her career.
At the time, Thompson wasn’t particularly well-known.
As the film’s director James Ivory toldIndieWire, it was immediately evident she was right for the part.
I felt unusually convinced I would be able to do it.”
Of course, she was right.
She ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actress that year.
In 2018, Hayley Atwell took on the same role.
“I had my heart very badly broken by Ken,” she said.
“So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me.”
In her characteristic style, Thompson dealt with the heartbreak well.
She turned her focus to her career and ultimately moved on.
As she told The Sunday Times in 2013, “you could’t hold onto anything like that.
As it turns out, Thompson wasn’t intended to be cast in the movie.
Luckily, Winslet and Wise weren’t well-suited for one another.
In 2003, they tied the knot.
As her family grew, Thompson became more and more focused on family.
As she toldThe Guardian, “Family is the center of everything for me.
But family is about connection, not necessarily about blood ties.
It’s about extended family and extending family.”
She also explained that becoming a mother gave her strength.
Gaia was conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and born when Thompson was nearing 40.
“Even now, when things are bad, I go back and I remember the birth process.
After trying IVF again, Thompson eventually realized she wouldn’t be able to have another biological child.
As she told theDaily Record, “When I want calm, I go to Scotland.
I’m half Scottish and every now and then, we retreat up there as a family.”
“We couldn’t not buy it,” he said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the family took refuge in their rural Scottish cottage.
For Thompson, it probably felt like the most natural place to go.
As she once said in an interview for the BBC, Loch Eck has been her lifelong home.
In “Angels in America,” Thompson played the alluring angel (viaIndependent).
In “Love Actually,” she played the middle-aged, quietly broken-hearted wife of Alan Rickman.
In “Harry Potter,” she played the cooky Professor Trelawney.
In “Saving Mr. Banks,” she played the austere P.L.
Travers, the author of “Mary Poppins” (viaIMDb).
The list goes on.
Over the years, her experience on screen and stage has given a kind of fearlessness.
I feel completely fearless.”
To be honest, we would trust her with just about any part, too.
She also wrote a film called “Effie Gray” about a real life woman from the 19th century.
Working as a writer gave her a new perspective on the entertainment industry.
Writers, she said toThe Guardian, are thought of as “the lowest of the low.”
“Most of the screenplays I’ve written have not been made.
I don’t get very well treated as a writer either,” she said (viaIndieWire).
In 2014, she explained toThe Guardianthat entering her 50s wasn’t something she feared.
In fact, she explained thatageismis actually “one of the huge issues of our time.”
She said, “People wanting to be 35 when they’re 50 makes me think: why?
Why don’t you be 50 and be good at that?
And also embody the kinds of choices that are sustainable at that age?”
Of course, aging has made her rethink her approach to her work.
She is now more careful and well “sustainable” about which projects she accepts.
“Especially now,” she said, “when time’s running out.
It’s a different patch of life, your 50s.”
In fact, as Thompson toldInterview, aging has made her less eager to work quite so hard.
“If nobody wants me to act, that’s fine …
In fact, I’m somewhat hibernatory,” she said.
As she explained in an interview withWebMD, these losses have taught her about embracing life.
“It seems like people are dying all the time in my life,” she said.
“My existence feels very hard-won and precious at the moment.
It sounds like 2019 was a year when Thompson took stock and refocused on what really matters.
In another interview withVulture, Thompson explained that aging and loss had taught her to accept her own mortality.
It’s so enjoyable to be alive in this state,” she said.
As she toldThe Guardianin 2016, her platform means she feels obligated to be an activist.
In 2019, she dropped out of a project led by John Lassiter because of allegations of sexual misconduct.
