Emma Thompson turns 50 today and is looking bloody gorgeous!
For younger audiences, she is likely to be associated with her role as divinations teacher Professor Sybil Trelawney in the Harry Potter films. (She actually shares her birthday with co-star Emma Watson, who turns 19 today.)
Others may remember her Oscar-winning turn in Howards End or as the suffering wife in Love Actually. For me, she will always be Beatrice in one of my all-time favourite films – Much Ado About Nothing. Her verbal duels with Kenneth Branagh’s Benedick make me laugh out loud every time.
And if you loved her most as magical governess Nanny McPhee, you’ll be ‘blithe and bonny’ to hear that Emma is to star, produce and write the screenplay for the sequel – Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang – which will also feature Dame Maggie Smith, Rhys Ifans and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The plot will follow a group of city children who must move to a farm during wartime.
What about Emma as Elinor in Sense and Sensibility? Who can forget that noise she makes when she discovers that Edward Ferrars isn’t married after all (brilliantly mocked in the Vicar of Dibley)? That and the Joni Mitchell bedroom break-down scene in Love Actually are two perfect examples of acting brilliance. I think Emma Thompson is possibly my favourite actress.