Profession: Actress
Contents [hide]
1 Early life and family background
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
5 Ancestry
6 References
7 External links
[edit]Early life and family background
Bonham Carter was born in Golders Green, London. Her mother, Elena (née Propper de Callejón), is a psychotherapist.[1] Her father, Raymond Bonham Carter, was a merchant banker, and served as the alternative British director representing the Bank of England at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s.[1][2][3] He came from a famous British political family, being the son of British Liberal politician Sir Maurice Bonham Carter and renowned politician and orator Violet Bonham Carter, whose father was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, H. H. Asquith (serving 1908–1916). Bonham Carter's maternal grandfather, Spanish diplomat Eduardo Propper de Callejón, saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust during World War II, for which he was recognised as Righteous among the Nations (his own father had been Jewish). He later served as Minister-Counselor at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Bonham Carter's maternal grandmother, Hélène Fould-Springer, was from an upper-class Jewish family; she was the daughter of Baron Eugène Fould-Springer (a French-born banker) and Marie Cecile von Springer (whose father was Austrian-born industrialist Baron Gustav Springer).[1][4][5] Hélène Fould-Springer's sister was the French philanthropist Liliane de Rothschild (1916–2003), the wife of Baron Élie de Rothschild, of the prominent Rothschild family (who had also married within the von Springer family in the 19th century);[6] her other sister, Therese Fould-Springer, was the mother of British writer David Pryce-Jones.[4]
Bonham Carter has two brothers, Edward and Thomas, and is a distant cousin of fellow actor Crispin Bonham-Carter, who played Mr. Bingley in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, and politician Jane Bonham Carter. Bonham Carter is also distantly related to Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels (through marriage), as well as pioneering English nurse Florence Nightingale,[7] and is the grand-niece of Anthony Asquith, legendary English director of such classics as Carrington V.C. and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other distant relatives include Lothian Bonham Carter, who played first-class cricket for Hampshire, and his son, Admiral Sir Stuart Bonham Carter, who served in the Royal Navy in both World Wars and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral.
She was educated at the South Hampstead High School, an independent girls' school in Hampstead, London, and later at Westminster School, a co-educational independent school near the Palace of Westminster. Bonham Carter was denied admission to King's College, Cambridge, because of her grades and her test scores and because school officials were afraid that she would leave mid-term to pursue her acting career.[8]
When Bonham Carter was just five, her mother had a serious nervous breakdown, from which it took her three years to recover. Upon her recovery, her experience in therapy led her to become a psychotherapist herself – Bonham Carter now pays her to read her scripts and deliver her opinion of the characters' psychological motivations.[9] Five years after her mother's recovery, her father was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma. He suffered complications during an operation to remove the tumour which led to a stroke that left him half-paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.[10] With her two older brothers at college, Bonham Carter was left to help her mother cope. She would later study her father's movements and mannerisms for her role in The Theory of Flight,[11] before his death in January 2004.
[edit]Career
Bonham Carter and Colin Firth in the 2010 film The King's Speech
Bonham Carter has not received any formal training in acting.[12] In 1979, she won a national writing contest and used the money to pay for her entry into the actors directory Spotlight. She made her professional acting début at the age of 16 in a television commercial. She also had a part in a minor TV film A Pattern of Roses.
Her first starring film role was as Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane (1986), which was given mixed reviews by critics. The story reflected the tragic life of England's nine-days' Queen from her troubled adolescence and arranged marriage to her ill-fated accession and subsequent execution. Her breakthrough role was Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, which was filmed after Lady Jane, but released beforehand. Bonham Carter also appeared in episodes of Miami Vice as Don Johnson's love interest during the 1986–87 season and then, in 1987 opposite Dirk Bogarde in The Vision and Stewart Granger in A Hazard of Hearts. Bonham Carter was originally cast in the role of Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves, but backed out during production due to, "...the character's painful psychic and physical exposure," according to Roger Ebert.[13] The role went to Emily Watson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role.[14]
These early films led to her to being typecast as a "corset queen", and "English rose", playing pre- and early 20th century characters, particularly in Merchant-Ivory films. She played Olivia in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night in 1996. She has since expanded her range,[12] with her more recent films being Fight Club, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.
Bonham Carter speaks French fluently, starring in a 1996 French film Portraits chinois. In August 2001, she was featured in Maxim. She played her second Queen of England when she was cast as Anne Boleyn in the ITV1 mini-series Henry VIII; however her role was restricted, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time of filming.[15] Bonham Carter was a member of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival jury that unanimously selected The Wind That Shakes the Barley as best film.[16]
Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the 2010–2011 film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bonham Carter received positive reviews as Lestrange, described as a "shining but underused talent".[17][18] She then played Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's (Johnny Depp) amorous accomplice in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film was released on 21 December 2007 in the US[19] and 25 January 2008 in the UK. Directed by Tim Burton, Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance. She won the Best Actress award in the 2007 Evening Standard British Film Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd and Conversations With Other Women, along with another Best Actress award at the 2009 Empire Awards. Bonham Carter also appeared in the fourth Terminator film entitled Terminator Salvation, playing a small but pivotal role.[20]
In May 2006, Bonham Carter launched her own fashion line, "The Pantaloonies", with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victorian style selection of camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies customised jeans, which Bonham Carter describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the bum".[21]
Bonham Carter joined the cast of partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland as The Red Queen.[22] Bonham Carter appears alongside Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman. Bonham Carter's role was an amalgamation of two roles, The Queen of Hearts, and The Red Queen.[23][24][25] In early 2009, Bonham Carter was named one of The Times newspaper's top 10 British Actresses of all time. Bonham Carter appeared on the list with fellow actresses Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Audrey Hepburn.[26]
In 2010, Bonham Carter played Queen Elizabeth in the film The King's Speech. As of January 2011, Bonham Carter had received numerous plaudits for her performance, including nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[27][28] Bonham Carter won her first BAFTA Award but lost the Academy Award to Melissa Leo for The Fighter.
Bonham Carter signed to play author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four television biopic, Enid. It was the first depiction of Blyton's life on the screen, and Bonham Carter starred with Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson.[29] Bonham Carter also received her first Television BAFTA Nomination for Best Actress, for Enid. In 2010, she starred with Freddie Highmore in the Nigel Slater biopic Toast, which was filmed in the West Midlands[30] and received a gala at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival.[31][32]
[edit]Personal life
Tim Burton
In 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton, whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Alice in Wonderland. They live in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway because they felt they could not live in the same residence, despite still being married[33]
They purchased the houses when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Raymond Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintains a close relationship with Johnny Depp, who appears in many of Burton's films. Depp is godfather to both of Burton and Bonham Carter's children, accepting the role after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him.[34] At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London.[35] She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family.[35][36]
In August 2008, four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa,[33] and she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, returning later to complete filming.[37]
In 2008, Bonham Carter and Burton put their American apartments up for sale. The apartments are in the Greenwich Village area, in New York City. The couple sold them for a collective $8.75 million.[38] In early October 2008, it was released that Bonham Carter had become a patron of the charity Action Duchenne, the national charity established to support parents and sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
On 5 January 2011, a photo was released of Bonham Carter and Burton walking on Coombe Hill, the Chilterns, with British Prime Minister David Cameron and his family.[39] It has been suggested that the two couples were introduced through Nick Clegg whom Bonham Carter had performed alongside in a play while attending Westminster School.[40][41]
[edit]Filmography
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1983 A Pattern of Roses Netty Bellinger
1985 A Room with a View Lucy Honeychurch novel by E. M. Forster
1986 Lady Jane Lady Jane Grey
1987 Maurice Lady at Cricket Match (cameo role)
novel by E. M. Forster
1987 A Hazard of Hearts Serena Staverley novel by Barbara Cartland
1988 The Mask Iris
1988 Six Minutes with Ludwig The Star
1989 Francesco Chiara Offreduccio
1989 Getting It Right Lady Minerva Munday
1990 Hamlet Ophelia
1990 The Early Life of Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter
1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Caroline Abbott novel by E. M. Forster
1991 Brown Bear's Wedding White Bear (voice role)
1992 Howards End Helen Schlegel novel by E. M. Forster
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1993 Dancing Queen Pandora/Julie aka Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1994 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald Marina Oswald Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1994 A Dark-Adapted Eye Faith Severn (adult) novel by Barbara Vine
1994 Butter Dorothy
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Amanda Weinrib
1995 Margaret's Museum Margaret MacNeil Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for The Wings of the Dove)
Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actress
1995 Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex Herself (voice role)
1996 Twelfth Night: Or What You Will Olivia
1996 Portraits chinois Ada
1997 The Petticoat Expeditions Narrator (voice role)
1997 Keep the Aspidistra Flying Rosemary novel by George Orwell
1997 The Wings of the Dove Kate Croy novel by Henry James
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for Margaret's Museum)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Merlin Morgan le Fay Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Sweet Revenge Karen Knightly Based on a play by Alan Ayckbourn
1998 The Theory of Flight Jane Thatchard Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1999 Fight Club Marla Singer novel by Chuck Palahniuk
Empire Award for Best British Actress
1999 Women Talking Dirty Cora produced by David Furnish
Elton John (executive producer)
1999 The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Lily
2000 Carnivale Milly (voice role)
2001 Planet of the Apes Ari directed by Tim Burton
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2001 Novocaine Susan Ivey
2001 Football Mum
2002 The Heart of Me Dinah novel by Rosamond Lehmann
Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
2002 Live from Baghdad Ingrid Formanek Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2002 Till Human Voices Wake Us Ruby
2003 Big Fish Jennifer Hill/The Witch directed by Tim Burton
2003 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Zee Cine Award – Critics' Choice Best Actress
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Beatrice Baudelaire Uncredited cameo
2005 Conversations with Other Women Woman Evening Standard British Film Award
Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2005 Magnificent 7 Maggi Jackson
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Lady Tottington (voice role)
Zee Cine Award for Best Voice Actress
Nominated—Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2005 Corpse Bride Emily the Corpse Bride (voice role)
directed by Tim Burton
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mrs. Bucket directed by Tim Burton
2006 Sixty Six Esther Reubens
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Bellatrix Lestrange directed by David Yates
Nominated—Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Scream Queen
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Mrs. Lovett directed by Tim Burton
musical by Stephen Sondheim
Empire Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Actress in a Horror Movie or Show
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix Lestrange directed by David Yates
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Villain
2009 Terminator Salvation Dr. Serena Kogan Nominated—Scream Award for Best Cameo
2009 Enid Enid Blyton International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress
Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
2009 The Gruffalo Mother Squirrel (voice role)
2010 Alice in Wonderland The Red Queen directed by Tim Burton
Nominated—Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Bellatrix Lestrange directed by David Yates
2010 The King's Speech Queen Elizabeth American Film Institute Award – A Year of Excellence Award
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
British Independent Film Award – The Richard Harris Award
Hollywood Award for Best Supporting Actress
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010 Toast Joan Potter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Bellatrix Lestrange directed by David Yates
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Miami Vice Dr. Theresa Lyons 2 Episodes
1987 Screen Two Jo Marriner Episode: "The Vision"
1989 Theatre Night Raina Petkoff Episode: "Arms and the Man"
1991 Jackanory Reader 5 Episodes
1994 Absolutely Fabulous Dream Saffron Episode: "Hospital"
1994 The Good Sex Guide Herself Episode: "Episode #2.1"
1996 The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century Vera Brittain 2 Episodes
Stage and radio
Year Production Role Notes
1985 The Reluctant Debutante Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1987 The Tempest Unknown Performed at Oxford Playhouse
1988 The Woman in White Laura Fairlie Performed at Greenwich Theatre, London
1989 The Happiest of All Princesses Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1989 The Chalk Garden Unknown Performed at Windsor/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba Magdalena Performed at Nottingham Playhouse
1992 The Barber of Seville Rosina Performed at Palace Theatre, Watford
1992 Trelawney of the Wells Imogen Parrot Performed at Comedy Theatre, London
1993 The Secret Garden Narrator by Frances Burnett
1993 The Whales' Song Narrator by Dyan Sheldon
1994 The Seagull Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya Performed on BBC Radio 4
1994 A Dog So Small Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1994 The Way to Sattin Shore Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1995 Song of Love Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1995 Remember Me Narrator
1996 I Capture the Castle Rose Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 A House by the Sea Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 The Diary of Anne Frank Narrator
1998 Lantern Slides Violet Bonham Carter Performed on BBC Radio 4
2000 As You Like It Rosalind Performed on BBC Radio 4
2004 The Rubenstein Kiss Unknown Postponed
2010 Private Lives Amanda Performed on BBC Radio 4[42]
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