By Cordillia Marvine
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama.
Born to actors Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law, Thompson was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she became a member of the Footlights troupe, and appeared in the comedy sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984). In 1985, she starred in the West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, which was a breakthrough in her career. In 1987, she came to prominence for her performances in two BBC series, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War, winning the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her work on both series. In the early 1990s, she often collaborated with then-husband, actor and director Kenneth Branagh, in films such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), and Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
For her performance in the Merchant-Ivory period drama Howards End (1992), Thompson won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1993, she received two Academy Award nominations—Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress—for the respective roles of the housekeeper of a grand household in The Remains of the Day and a lawyer in In the Name of the Father, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this feat. Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay—making her the only person in history to win Oscars for both acting and writing—and once again won the BAFTA. Further critical acclaim came for her roles in Primary Colors (1998), Love Actually (2003), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Late Night (2019), and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022).
Other notable film credits include the Harry Potter series (2004–2011), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), An Education (2009), Men in Black 3 (2012) and the spin-off Men in Black: International (2019), Brave (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Cruella (2021), and Matilda the Musical (2022). Her television credits include Wit (2001), Angels in America (2003), The Song of Lunch (2010), King Lear (2018) and Years and Years (2019). She portrayed Mrs. Lovett in a Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim‘s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2014. Authorised by the publishers of Beatrix Potter, Thompson has also written three Peter Rabbit children’s books.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
You have to be careful not to step in a poodle.
Born
- Leonardo da Vinci (artist) –
- Bessie Smith (legendary blues singer) –
- Elizabeth Montgomery (American actress ) –
- Emma Thompson (actress) –
- Luke Evans (actor) –
- Emma Watson (actress) –
Died
- Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. president) –
- Jean-Paul Sartre (writer & philosopher) –
- Greta Garbo (actress) –
- John Curry (figure skater) –
- Byron White (Supreme Court justice) –
Events
- American School for the Deaf founded in Hartford, Connecticut –
- First state entomologist position approved, New York –
- President Lincoln called for 75,000 Union militia volunteers –
- Last day U.S. silver coins allowed to circulate in Canada –
- Canadian thanksgiving day held after Prince of Wales recovered from serious illness –
- General Electric Co. is incorporated –
- R.M.S. Titanic sank in early morning after striking iceberg on April 14th in late evening –
- First Canadian small penny coin released –
- Insulin became available for general use –
- After acquiring franchising rights from the McDonald brothers, Dick and Maurice, Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s chain restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois –
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened, Virginia-Delmarva Peninsula –
- First national lottery drawing in Canada –
Weather
- Tornado in Alabama –
- Boulder, Colorado, received 76 inches of snow in 24 hours –
- Tornadoes strike Arkansas and Texas –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
