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Helena Bonham Carter

Acting

Born May 26, 1966 · Golders Green, London, England, UK

Also known as Helena Bonham-Carter · ヘレナ・ボナム=カーター

Biography

Helena Bonham Carter CBE (born May 26, 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, especially period dramas, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and five Primetime Emmy Awards. Bonham Carter rose to prominence by playing Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985) and the title character in Lady Jane (1986). Her early period roles saw her typecast as a virginal "English rose", a label she was uncomfortable with. She is best known for her eccentric fashion, dark aesthetic, and for often playing quirky women. For her role as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove (1997), Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in The King's Speech (2010), she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other films include Hamlet (1990), Howards End (1992), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Fight Club (1999), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), the Harry Potter series (2007–2011) as Bellatrix Lestrange, Great Expectations (2012) as Miss Havisham, Les Misérables (2012), Cinderella (2015), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Enola Holmes (2020). Her collaborations with director Tim Burton, her former domestic partner, include Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) as Mrs. Lovett, Alice in Wonderland (2010) as the Red Queen, and Dark Shadows (2012). For her role as children's author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four biographical film Enid (2009), she won the 2010 International Emmy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Her other television films include Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald (1993), Live from Baghdad (2002), Toast (2010), and Burton & Taylor (2013). From 2019 to 2020, she portrayed Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in seasons three and four of Netflix's The Crown.

Awards & recognition

  • BAFTA AwardBest Actress in a Supporting Role · 2011
  • Actor Awards
  • Britannia Awards
  • Commander of the Order of the British Empire
  • Genie Awards
Show all 9 awards →
  • Satellite Awards
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 2011 · nominated
  • European Film Award – People's Choice AwardBest European Film · 2011 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1998 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

Butter

1994as Dorothy

Fight Club

1999as Marla Singer

The Crown

2016as Princess Margaret

Tintoretto. A Rebel in Venice

2019as Narrator (voice)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

2011as Bellatrix Lestrange

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero

2018as Margaret Conroy (voice)

A Hazard of Hearts

1987as Serena Staverley

One Life

2023as Babi Winton

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

2019as All-Maudra Mayrin (voice)

Big Fish

2003as Jenny (young & senior) / The Witch

Merchant Ivory

2023as Self

The King's Speech

2010as Queen Elizabeth

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010as Bellatrix Lestrange

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009as Bellatrix Lestrange

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007as Bellatrix Lestrange

Night Will Fall

2014as Narrator (voice)

Corpse Bride

2005as Corpse Bride (voice)

Maurice

1987as Young Lady at Cricket Match (uncredited)

Wild Babies

as Narrator

Absolutely Fabulous

1992as Dream Saffron

Miami Vice

1984as Dr. Theresa Lyons

Enola Holmes 2

2022as Eudoria Holmes

Eden: Untamed Planet

2021as Self - Narrator (voice)

The Gruffalo

2009as Mother Squirrel (voice)

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts

2022as Self

My Grandparents' War

2019as Self

Les Misérables

2012as Madame Thénardier

Enola Holmes

2020as Eudoria Holmes

Suffragette

2015as Edith Ellyn

Life's Too Short

2011as Helena Bonham Carter

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

2007as Mrs. Lovett

The Graham Norton Show

2007as Self

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

2005as Lady Campanula Tottington (voice)

Three Minutes: A Lengthening

2022as Self - Narrator (voice)

The House

2022as Jen (voice)

The Cleaner

2021as Sheila

E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey

2019as Self

Ocean's Eight

2018as Rose Weil

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

2005as Mrs. Bucket

Twelfth Night

1996as Olivia

Howards End

1992as Helen Schlegel

A Room with a View

1986as Lucy Honeychurch

The Velveteen Rabbit

2023as Wise Horse (voice)

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

2013as Dr. Clair

The Gruffalo's Child

2011as Mother Squirrel (voice)

Merlin

1998as Morgan le Fay

Lady Jane

1986as Lady Jane Grey

Dragonheart: Vengeance

2021as Siveth (voice)

Cinderella

2015as Fairy Godmother

A Series of Unfortunate Events

2004as Beatrice Baudelaire (uncredited)