Emma Thompson Net Worth

What Is Emma Thompson's Net Worth?

Dame Emma Thompson is a British actress, screenwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $40 million. After rising to prominence with her roles in the BBC television miniseries "Tutti Frutti" and "Fortunes of War" in 1987, she went on to appear in such high-profile films as "Henry V," "Howards End," "In the Name of the Father," "The Remains of the Day," "Sense and Sensibility," "Love Actually," "Saving Mr. Banks," and the "Harry Potter" franchise. Thompson has won multiple Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs throughout her career.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959, in London, England. She is the daughter of Scottish actress Phyllida Law and English actor Eric Thompson. Emma has a sister named Sophie, who's also an actress. As a youth, Thompson went to Camden School for Girls. She spent much of her childhood in Scotland and frequently visited her grandparents and uncle in Ardentinny. For her higher education, Emma attended Newnham College in Cambridge to study English. There, she joined the school's famed sketch comedy troupe, the Cambridge Footlights, becoming its first-ever female member. In 1980, she became the group's vice president and co-directed its first all-female revue, "Woman's Hour." The very next year, Thompson and the Footlights won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for their show "The Cellar Tapes."

In 1982, Emma made her professional stage debut in a theatrical production of "Not the Nine O'Clock News." She subsequently transitioned to television, where she often worked with her fellow Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Her credits included "There's Nothing to Worry About!," "The Crystal Cube," and the sketch show "Alfresco," which ran for two seasons between 1983 and 1984.

Thompson had one of her first breakthroughs in 1985 when she played Sally Smith in the West End revival of the musical "Me and My Girl." The same year, she wrote and starred in her own Channel 4 special, "Emma Thompson: Up for Grabs." Emma rose to even greater prominence in 1987 when she starred in two television miniseries: the World War II drama "Fortunes of War" and the dark comedy "Tutti Frutti." She won the BAFTA for Best Actress for both performances.

Film Career, Part 1

Thompson made her feature film debut in 1989, starring in the romantic comedy "The Tall Guy." Later in the year, she starred as Princess Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's acclaimed film adaptation of "Henry V." In 1991, she reunited with Branagh for the neo-noir thriller "Dead Again" and appeared in the period drama "Impromptu."

The next year was a major one for the actress, as she starred in both Kenneth Branagh's comedy "Peter's Friends" and James Ivory's literary adaptation "Howards End." For her performance as Margaret Schlegel in the latter, Emma received her first Academy Award nomination and win. Further success came in 1993, when she earned Academy Award nominations for two films: "The Remains of the Day" and "In the Name of the Father." That year, she also starred in Branagh's film adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing."

Following roles in "Junior" and "Carrington," Thompson had another massive success with the 1995 Jane Austen adaptation "Sense and Sensibility," directed by Ang Lee. She both wrote the screenplay and starred in the film as Elinor Dashwood; for her writing, she won her second Academy Award, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay. In the process, Emma became the only actor to win Academy Awards for both acting and writing. Over the remainder of the '90s, she appeared in the films "The Winter Guest," "Primary Colors," and "Judas Kiss."

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Film Career, Part 2

In the early 2000s, Thompson was in such films as "Maybe Baby," "Treasure Planet," "Imagining Argentina," and the smash Christmas romantic comedy "Love Actually." In 2004, she played Professor Sybill Trelawney in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," a role she would reprise in the subsequent "Potter" films. Among her other credits during the decade were the fantasy comedies "Nanny McPhee" and "Stranger than Fiction," the period drama "Brideshead Revisited," the romantic drama "Last Chance Harvey," the coming-of-age drama "An Education," and the comedy "The Boat That Rocked."

Following her roles in "Men in Black 3" and "Brave" in 2012, Emma appeared in three movies in 2013: "Beautiful Creatures," "The Love Punch," and "Saving Mr. Banks." Her performance as "Mary Poppins" author P.L. Travers in the latter film earned her widespread acclaim and numerous award nominations. Thompson went on to appear in such films as "Effie Gray," "A Walk in the Woods," "The Legend of Barney Thomson," "Burnt," "Alone in Berlin," "Bridget Jones's Baby," "Sea Sorrow," "The Meyerowitz Stories," and "The Children Act." Among her later credits are "Late Night," "How to Build a Girl," "Last Christmas," and "Cruella."

Television and Theater

After her breakthroughs in the late '80s, Thompson appeared in the television films "Knuckle," "The Winslow Boy," "The Blue Boy," and "Hospital!" In 2001, she both starred in and wrote the acclaimed television film "Wit," directed by Mike Nichols. Two years later, Thompson appeared in another highly acclaimed Mike Nichols television production, "Angels in America." Her other television credits include "The Song of Lunch," "Walking the Dogs," and the miniseries "Years and Years."

On stage, Emma has starred in "Me and My Girl," "Look Back in Anger," "King Lear," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." From 2014 to 2015, she played Mrs. Lovett in a revival of the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

Personal Life and Charity

In 1989, Emma wed actor and director Kenneth Branagh, whom she had met while they were filming "Fortunes of War." The pair worked together in numerous films and received significant coverage from the media. They divorced in 1995; later, it was discovered that Branagh was having an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Subsequently, Thompson started dating her "Sense and Sensibility" co-star Greg Wise. The two married in 2003, and have a daughter named Gaia and an informally adopted son named Tindyebwa, a former child soldier from Rwanda. Thompson and Wise have residences in West Hampstead, London, and Venice, Italy.

Thompson is heavily involved in human rights advocacy. She is an ambassador for the charity ActionAid and the chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Additionally, Emma is an active environmental activist, having collaborated with Greenpeace on a number of campaigns against climate change and oil drilling in the Arctic. She is also an ambassador for the British charity Galapagos Conservation Trust.

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