Helena Bonham Carter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Helena Bonham Carter
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Bonham Carter in 2011
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| Born | 26 May 1966 |
| Education |
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1983–present |
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Works
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Full list |
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| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | Edward Bonham Carter (brother) |
| Family | Bonham Carter |
| Awards | Full list |
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is a famous English actress. She is known for her amazing roles in big movies and smaller, independent films. Helena often stars in period dramas, which are movies set in the past. She has won many awards, including a British Academy Film Award and an International Emmy Award. She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards.
Helena became well-known for playing Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985). She also played the main character in Lady Jane (1986). In her early career, she often played characters from the past. Later, she became known for her unique style and for playing interesting, sometimes quirky, women.
For her role as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove (1997), Helena was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech (2010).
Her other popular films include Fight Club (1999), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and the Harry Potter series (2007–2011), where she played the evil Bellatrix Lestrange. She also appeared in Great Expectations (2012) as Miss Havisham, Les Misérables (2012), Cinderella (2015), and Enola Holmes (2020). Helena has worked many times with director Tim Burton, her former partner. Their movies together include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Alice in Wonderland (2010), where she played the Red Queen.
On television, she won an International Emmy Award for Best Actress for playing children's author Enid Blyton in Enid (2009). From 2019 to 2020, she played Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown.
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Early Life and Education
Helena Bonham Carter was born in Islington, London, England. Her father, Raymond Bonham Carter, came from a well-known British political family. He worked as a banker. Her mother, Elena, is a psychotherapist and has Spanish and Jewish family roots. Helena's grandmother was Violet Bonham Carter, a politician and feminist. She was also the daughter of H. H. Asquith, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War I.
Helena has two older brothers, Edward and Thomas. They grew up in Golders Green. Helena went to South Hampstead High School and then Westminster School. She wanted to go to King's College, Cambridge, but she was not accepted.
When Helena was a child, her father became very ill after an operation. He became partly paralyzed and used a wheelchair. Helena helped her mother take care of him. She later used what she learned from watching her father for a role in the movie The Theory of Flight. Her father passed away in 2004.
Helena's Acting Career
Helena Bonham Carter never had formal acting lessons. She started her career by winning a writing contest in 1979. She used the prize money to get her name in an actors' directory. Her first professional acting job was in a TV commercial when she was 16. She also had a small part in a TV film called A Pattern of Roses in 1983.
First Big Roles (1980s–1990s)
Helena's first main movie role was as Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane (1986). Her breakthrough role was as Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985). This movie was filmed after Lady Jane but released earlier. She also appeared in the TV show Miami Vice.
Early in her career, Helena often played characters from the past, sometimes called "corset queens." She did not like this image. In 1996, she acted in a French film called Portraits chinois. That same year, she played Olivia in the film Twelfth Night. A big moment in her early career was playing Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove. This role earned her nominations for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. In 1999, she starred in Fight Club as Marla Singer, winning an Empire Award for Best British Actress.
Worldwide Fame and Blockbuster Movies (2000s–2020s)
In 2005, Helena voiced Lady Tottingham in the animated comedy Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. This was a stop-motion film, meaning characters are moved slightly and photographed frame by frame.
Helena played the evil witch Bellatrix Lestrange in the last four Harry Potter movies (2007–2011). Fans loved her performance as Bellatrix. While filming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, she accidentally hurt Matthew Lewis (who played Neville Longbottom) with her wand.
She also played Mrs. Lovett, who helps Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), in the movie musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This movie was directed by Tim Burton. Helena was nominated for a Golden Globe for this role. She won Best Actress awards at the Evening Standard British Film Awards and the Empire Awards for her work in Sweeney Todd and Conversations With Other Women.
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In 2009, Helena was the narrator for The Gruffalo, a short animated film based on the popular children's book. In 2010, she joined the cast of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland as the Red Queen. This role combined the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen characters. In 2009, The Times newspaper named Helena one of the top-10 British Actresses of all time.
In 2010, Helena played Queen Elizabeth in the movie The King's Speech. She received many awards and praise for her performance, including a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
She also played author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four TV movie Enid. This was the first time Blyton's life was shown on screen. Helena received her first Television BAFTA Nomination for Best Actress for this role. In 2011, she received the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year from BAFTA LA.
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In 2012, she played the unique Miss Havisham in the film Great Expectations, based on the Charles Dickens novel. She also appeared in the music video for Rufus Wainwright's song "Out of the Game." Helena co-starred in the movie version of the musical Les Misérables (2012), playing Madame Thénardier.
In 2013, she was in the movie The Lone Ranger as Red Harrington. She also narrated poetry for "The Love Book App." In 2013, Helena played Elizabeth Taylor in the BBC4 film Burton & Taylor. In 2015, she played the Fairy Godmother in the live-action movie Cinderella.
In 2016, Helena returned as the Red Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass. In 2018, she starred in Ocean's 8 with Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett. From 2019 to 2020, she played an older Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown. Her performance earned her several award nominations. In 2020, Helena starred as Eudoria Holmes in the Netflix film Enola Holmes.
Helena's Personal Life
In August 2008, some of Helena's relatives were in a serious bus crash in South Africa. She took time off from filming Terminator Salvation to be with her family.
Helena is the first patron of Action Duchenne, a charity that helps families dealing with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In 2022, Helena became the first female president of the London Library, a famous library she has been a member of since 1986.
Relationships and Family
Helena Bonham Carter has had several important relationships. From 1994 to 1999, she was with actor Kenneth Branagh. They both later appeared in the Harry Potter series.
In 2001, Helena started a relationship with American director Tim Burton. They met while filming Planet of the Apes. Tim Burton often cast Helena in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland.
Helena and Tim lived in two connected houses in Belsize Park, London. In 2006, they bought the Mill House in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire. This house was once leased by her grandmother, Violet Bonham Carter. Helena and Tim have a son and a daughter together. They separated in 2014.
Since 2018, Helena has been in a relationship with art historian Rye Dag Holmboe.
Awards and Honours
Helena Bonham Carter has won many awards for her acting. These include a BAFTA Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, an International Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards and nine Golden Globe Awards.
In 2012, Helena was made a CBE for her contributions to drama. This is a special honour given by the British Queen. In 2014, she was also appointed to Britain's new national Holocaust Commission.
See also
In Spanish: Helena Bonham Carter para niños
- List of British actors
- List of British Academy Award nominees and winners
- List of Jewish Academy Award winners and nominees
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
