Once upon a time there was Emma Thompson. This is her story.

Books about Emma:
Emma: The Many Facets of Emma Thompson
Ken & Em: A Biography of Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson

15 April 1959
Emma Thompson was born in Paddington, West London.

"He taught us the importance of laughter."

Her father, Eric Thompson, was a successful actor who lifted his family up from a working-class background. He did quite a bit of stage and television work before creating (and serving as stage director for) the children's TV show The Magic Roundabout.

Emma's mother, Phyllida Law, was also from a working-class background, and also an accomplished actor. She has in fact appeared in various movies with Emma, such as Much Ado About Nothing and Peter's Friends.

1962
Emma's sister Sophie was born. She too would go into acting, in this remarkable acting family.

"I don't know whether I would have liked myself as a child. I always feel I was deeply punchable, overweight with a plait."

1960s
Emma was somewhat of an outsider at the local primary school in West Hampstead, or at least felt like she was. In this respectable London neighborhood, her eccentric family stood out. Although Emma took some acting classes when she was 9, she didn't seem very interested in it. Instead, she loved to read.

1970
She started at Camden School for Girls. Emma gained a reputation as a good girl, a popular, intelligent academic who was liked by everyone. She acted in a few plays, but usually it was her sister's acting that everyone remembered. Although later she claimed her life around age 15 was rebellious and sexually active, other girls in her class deny it. Only Emma knows the truth.

"I was brought up by people who tended to giggle at funerals."

1970s
Emma fell in love with Monty Python. How could she not? Laughing with her family (especially with her father) was one of her greatest pleasures. She and friends would rehearse and reenact scenes constantly. She also started to write her own material. Her love of comedy bloomed. Her career was born.

She met Martin Bergman, an actor who was just starting at Cambridge and who introduced her to the theatrical group he was involved in. She travelled to Paris in 1975 and, as they say, got the acting bug at last. Back home, she worked as part of a stage crew during school vacations, and generally absorbed the life of the theatre.

"I went faintly radically feminist - which I still am!"

1978
After proving herself once again in academic tests and interviews, she was accepted by Newnham College at Cambridge. University life was a bit overwhelming, but soon she adapted and discovered more about herself. Her politics awakened to the left.

"The thing I wanted to be was that kind of woman who could be strong and independent and jolly, but make people laugh."

Martin Bergman started to persuade Emma to join the Footlights comedy troupe, of which he was president, and it didn't take too long to convince her. She landed the title role in Aladdin, that year's pantomime, and the reviews were very kind. Though she also did some "serious" acting, she focused mainly on comedies.

In a spring performance, she impressed Richard Armitage, who soon signed on as Emma's agent, even though she would be at school for two more years. Emma didn't slack off at her studies, but managed to keep both academics and acting going at once.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck just as Emma was joining an acting road company. Her father had a stroke and could no longer speak. Soon after that, her grandmother and uncle died. Emma returned home to West Hampstead and took on the task of helping her father to speak again. Months later, he could, though never as well as before the stroke.

1979
Emma returned to Cambridge in the fall more focused and somewhat changed, some say. She lived off campus wth her new boyfriend, Simon McBurney. One day she and Simon shaved each other's heads on an impulse (or as the result of too much drinking). Throughout the year, she gained more and more noteriety as a comedienne.

1980
Her last year at the university was a busy one. She was involved in almost every Footlights production, and also maintained her excellent academic work. She wrote her thesis on the female characters of George Eliot. Footlights' annual revue comedy, The Cellar Tapes, was lauded as the best one in years. Following its success, she and others in Footlights extended it with Beyond the Footlights, a play that enjoyed a short but critically successful run in London. She ended her days as a student with a BA in English, a breakup with Simon, and no clear direction for the future.

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