Name: Helena Bonham Carter
Overview
Date of Birth: 26 May
1966, Golders
Green, London, England, UK
Height: 5' 2" (1.57 m)
Trade Mark: Often works with director Tim Burton, Timothy Spall and Johnny Depp
Often plays eccentric characters
Often plays pre-20th century characters
Curvaceous figure
Wild messy hair and dark makeup
Unique offbeat style of dress with lots of black clothing
Bio Data:
Helena Bonham Carter, the youngest of three children of Raymond Bonham
Carter, a merchant banker, and Elena Bonham Carter (née Propper de Callejón), a
psychotherapist, was born in Golders Green, London, England on May 26, 1966.
She is the great-granddaughter of former Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith and
her blue-blooded family tree also contains Barons and Baronesses, diplomats,
and a director, Bonham Carter's great-uncle Anthony Asquith,
who made Pygmalion
(1938) and The
Importance of Being Earnest (1952), among others. Cousin Crispin Bonham-Carter
is also an actor. Her maternal grandfather, Eduardo Propper de Callejón, was a
Spanish diplomat who was awarded the honorific Righteous Among the Nations, by
Israel, for helping save Jews during World War II (Eduardo's father was a Czech
Jew). Her maternal grandmother, Hélène Fould-Springer, was from an upper-class
Jewish family from France, Austria, and Germany, and later converted to her
husband's Catholic faith.After experiencing family dramas that included her father's stroke-which left him wheelchair-bound-and attending South Hampstead High School and Westminster School in London, Bonham Carter devoted herself to an acting career. That trajectory actually began in 1979 when, at age 13, she entered a national poetry writing competition and used her second place winnings to place her photo in the casting directory "Spotlight." She soon had her first agent and her first acting job, in a commercial, at age 16. She then landed a role in the made-for-TV movie A Pattern of Roses (1983), which subsequently led to her casting in the Merchant Ivory films A Room with a View (1985) and Lady Jane (1986), which was her first leading role.
Often referred to as the "corset queen" or "English rose" because of her early work, Bonham Carter has continued to surprise audiences with magnificent performances in a variety of roles from her more traditional corset-clad character in The Wings of the Dove (1997) and Shakespearian damsels to the dark and neurotic anti-heroines of Fight Club (1999) and many of Tim Burton's films. Though consistently a versatile and engaging actress, Bonham Carter has never won a major American film award. However, she has received a number of critical awards and has been nominated for five Golden Globes, an Oscar, a SAG Award, and two Emmys.
Bonham Carter was nominated for a Golden Globe for the fifth time for her role in partner Tim Burton's film adaptation of the Steven Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), for which Burton and co-star Johnny Depp were also nominated. Since their meeting while filming Planet of the Apes (2001), Bonham Carter and Burton have made four movies together. They live in adjoining residences in London, sharing a connecting hallway, and have two children: Billy Ray Burton, 4, and Nell Burton, who was born December 15, 2007. Ironically, a mutual love of Sweeney Todd was part of the initial attraction for the pair. Despite that, Bonham Carter has said in numerous interviews that her audition process for the role of Mrs. Lovett was the most grueling of her career and that, ultimately, it was Sondheim who she had to convince that she was right for the role.
Most recently, she has starred in Sweeney Todd as Mrs Lovett alongside Johnny Depp for which she was awarded Best Actress at the Evening Standard British Film Awards 2008. Other recent work includes Conversations with Other Women opposite Aaron Eckhart, as Mrs Bucket in Tim Burton's massive hit Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and provided the voices for the aristocratic Lady Campanula Tottington in Wallace & Gromit - Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and the eponymous dead heroine in Tim Burton's spooky Corpse Bride.
Her acclaimed performance in The Wings of the Dove in 1997 won her a Best Actress Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination, a BAFTA Best Actress nomination, and a SAG Awards Best Actress nomination. It also won her a Best Actress Award from the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics, the Boston Society Film Critics, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Texas Society of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association.
Other notable credits which followed include her appearance with Steve Martin in Novacaine, her memorable performance as Marla Singer in David Fincher's neo-classic Fight Club opposite Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, in which she played an ape, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's The Heart of Me, opposite Paul Bettany, and Big Fish, her second effort with Tim Burton in which she appeared as a witch.
Helena achieved success in films early on in her career. Before she was 20 years old, she had scored her first lead in director James Ivory's tasteful adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel A Room With a View (1985), only her second film after playing the leading role in Trevor Nunn's Lady Jane. Helena went on to make three more films under the Merchant-Ivory banner - Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991) and Howards End (1992) - and an earlier uncredited appearance in Maurice (1987).
Helena has also starred in Mick Jackson's Live From Baghdad, alongside Michael Keaton, receiving a nomination for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe; Paul Greengrass' The Theory of Flight, in which she played a victim of motor neurone disease; Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night, in which she played Olivia, opposite Woody Allen in his Mighty Aphrodite, Mort Ransen's Margaret's Museum, Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein, and Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet.
In between her many films Helena has also managed a few television appearances which include most recently her portrayal of Jacqui Jackson in Magnificent Seven, the tale of a mother struggling to raise seven children - three daughters and four autistic boys; as Anne Boleyn in the two parter biopic of Henry VIII starring Ray Winstone; and as Morgan Le Fey alongside Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson in Merlin. Earlier television appearances include Michael Mann's Miami Vice as Don Johnson's junkie fiancée, and as a stripper who wins Rik Mayall's heart in Dancing Queen.
Helena has also appeared on stage in productions of Trelawney of the Wells, The Barber of Seville, House of Bernarda Alba, The Chalk Garden, and Woman in White.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Kathryn Oliver
In the late 1990s, Helena Bonham Carter seemed poised to embark on the next phase of her career, moving from capable actress to compelling star. Audiences and critics had long been enchanted by her delicate beauty, evocative of another time and place; in 1997, she showed that she was more than a pretty face and a skilled line-reader, with her performance in "The Wings of the Dove," for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Born in Golders Green, London, on May 26, 1966, Bonham Carter achieved early success in films. In the first part of her career, she became a staple in what can be seen as an offshoot of the British Heritage industry, starring in well-received adaptations of British or Anglo-American novels. At 19, she scored her first lead, in director James Ivory's tasteful adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel "A Room With a View" (1985), only her second film. She followed this with a strong performance as the uncrowned Queen of England in "Lady Jane."
She appeared in three other productions under the Merchant-Ivory banner (director Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala; "Howards End" (1992) was the last film she made with them. Some have suggested that her success in those period pieces was partly the result of her pedigreed background: She is descended from British Prime Minister H.H. Asquith.
Although Bonham Carter hasn't catapulted to superstardom, she has given many memorable performances, most of which have taken her far from her Merchant-Ivory roots, such as Marla in "Fight Club," or have expanded on them tremendously (for example, in "Wings," she appears what is arguably the most explicit nude scene ever shared by an Oscar-nominated actress). Bonham Carter has proved herself to be a gifted and imaginative actress.
Trivia:
(1994 - September 1999) Lived with Kenneth Branagh.
Carter is descended from a very distinguished family. She is
the great-granddaughter of H.H. Asquith,
British Prime Minister (1908-1916) and her great-grandmother is Violet Bonham Carter,
a British activist who was, at one time, engaged to one of her father's
protégées, Winston
Churchill. When Churchill decided to marry his ultimate wife Clemintine,
Violet was involved in a fall off a cliff, the circumstances of which have been
questioned for a century. However, she did survive and went on to a
distinguished political career, including advisor to Churchill. Carter is also
the grand-niece of distinguished British director Anthony Asquith.
She is a first cousin of Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter,
and only a distant cousin of Crispin
Bonham-Carter: Crispin's father, Peter Malcolm Bonham-Carter, is a third
cousin of Helena Bonham Carter. The first ancestors that Crispin and Helena
have in common, are John Bonham-Carter (1788-1838) and his wife Joanna Maria
Smith (1791-1884).
Her father was severely paralyzed by botched brain surgery
in the 1980s.
Speaks French fluently.
She was denied admission to King's College, Cambridge
University, not because of her grades or her test scores but because school
officials were afraid that she would leave mid-term to pursue her acting
career. Because of Cambridge's rejection, Helena decided to concentrate fully
on acting.
She is the granddaughter of Violet Bonham Carter,
a Life Peeress in her own right, and the niece of Mark Bonham-Carter,
who was created a Life Peer in his own right as well. Her half-Spanish mother
'Elena Propper de Callejon' is niece of Baroness Liliane de Rothschild, née
Fould-Springer.
Planned to return to the West End with an appearance in
"Rubenstein's Kiss"; however, the play was delayed because of her
busy schedule. The production, also set to star Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet
fame, was due to open in November 2004 but has now been postponed.
In 2005, her voice appeared in two stop-motion animated
films. They were Corpse
Bride (2005) and The Curse of the
Were-Rabbit (2005). Both films were nominated for the Academy award for
best animated film. The award went to Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the
Were-Rabbit.
In May 2006, she launched her own fashion line, "The
Pantaloonies," with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first
collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victoriana style selection of
camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies
customized jeans which Helena describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the
bum.".
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.
Turned down the role of Bess in Breaking the Waves
(1996) due to the sexual content. The role went to Emily Watson
who was nominated for an Oscar for that role.
She is the daughter of a prominent British banker and the
great-granddaughter of Asquith, the Liberal prime minister.
Her brother Edward is married to TV presenter Victoria Studd.
Is close friends with Johnny Depp,
who often works with her fiancé, Tim Burton. In
fact, Depp is the godfather of her child with Burton, Billy Ray.
Was cast as Bellatrix Lestrange after Helen McCrory
became pregnant, and would have been nearly full-term when her scenes were
shot. She returned to the role for one scene in Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince (2009), opposite McCrory as her sister Narcissa
Malfoy. Ironically, Carter was able to be in this scene because it was
scheduled to be filmed after she gave birth to her own child.
Ranked #99 on the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most
powerful people in British culture".
Given indefinite leave from the set of Terminator Salvation
in New Mexico after her relatives were on a South African safari holiday on
Wednesday, 20 August, 2008, when the minibus they were travelling in spun out
of control and flipped after a tyre burst. Helena's cousin, Fiona Bonham
Carter, 51, escaped with a broken shoulder but Fiona's son Marcus
Egerton-Warburton, 14; mother Brenda, 74; stepfather Francis Kirkwood, 75; and
sister-in-law Kay Boardman, 54, all died.
Tested for the role of Nancy Spungen
in Sid and
Nancy (1986).
She based her performance of Marla Singer in Fight Club
(1999) on Judy Garland in the later stages of her life. To help her get into
the mindset, director David Fincher
would often call her Judy on-set.
A fight between her and Gary Oldman in Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix (2007) was cut from the final film. She had been
training for three weeks for the fight.
Describes her character in the Harry Potter films, Bellatrix
Lestrange, as a sadist and a racist, obsessed with blood purity.
Wears fake teeth in 9 of her films - Planet of the Apes
(2001), Big
Fish (2003), Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Cinderella
(2015) and the four Harry Potter films.
Underwent extensive vocal lessons and studied baking in
preparation for her role in Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).
Was originally going to appear as a cyborg in Terminator
Salvation (2009) which would match her former choices of eccentric
characters. However, the script was leaked online and her character got
rewritten and her screen time significantly cut down, and her character
changed.
Returned to work two months after giving birth to her
daughter Nell in order to begin filming Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince (2009).
Returned to work eight months after giving birth to her son
Billy Ray in order to begin filming Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory (2005).
Became romantically involved with her director Tim Burton
after their Planet
of the Apes (2001) wrapped. Instead of moving in with her in her Hampstead
home in London, Burton bought two next-door houses which the couple both share
today (2010).
In 1992, she was starring in "Trelawny of the
Wells" on stage, when the Independent theatre critic Paul Taylor said that
he would have been able to have appreciated her performance more from a
restricted-viewing seat. Bonham Carter calmly wrote him a letter suggesting
that the next time he came to see her he ought to let her know, so she might
ensure that was the case.
In 2009, The Times named her one of the Top 10 British
Actresses of all-time.
Close friends with Liberal Democrat leader and politician Nick Clegg
since their days at Westminster School, London, England.
Spent 2010/11 New Year's Eve with her husband Tim Burton at
England's Premier David
Cameron home Chequers, the official country residence of British Prime
Ministers since 1921.
Was two months pregnant with her daughter Nell when she
completed filming on Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).
Helena's father was of English ancestry. Helena's maternal
grandfather, Eduardo Propper de Callejon, was a half-Jewish/half-Catholic
Spanish diplomat who helped thousands of Jews to escape Nazi-occupied France
during World War II (Eduardo's maternal grandmother, who was from New Orleans,
had Irish and French ancestry). Helena's maternal grandmother, Hélène
Fould-Springer, was from a Jewish family (from Germany, Austria, France,
Bohemia, and Ukraine).
Was a potential candidate for the role of Sarah in Labyrinth
(1986) before the role went to Jennifer Connelly.
Her grandmother, Violet Bonham Carter, was friends with
Prime Minister Winston
Churchill. In The King's Speech
(2010), Helena acts opposite Churchill, as played by Timothy Spall.
Became the fifth actor to appear in 2 films to gross $1
billion with Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Harry Potter and The Deathly
Hallows Part 2 (2011). She is the first woman to achieve this feat.
Was in a relationship with Tim Burton from
2001 to 2014. They have 2 children.
Gave birth to her first child at age 37, a son Billy Raymond
Burton on October 4, 2003. Child's father is her now ex-boyfriend, Tim Burton.
Gave birth to her second child at age 41, a daughter Nell
Burton on December 15, 2007. Child's father is her now ex-boyfriend, Tim Burton.
She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the
British Empire) in the 2012 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to
drama.
A distant cousin of Catherine Duchess
of Cambridge.
She lived with her parents in the family home until her
early thirties. She claimed it was simply because she had a very good
relationship with them.
She and her partner Tim Burton were
amazed at the ability for football their son Billy displayed at a very young
age as neither of them is particularly athletic.
She has played the mothers of both England's Queen Elizabeths.
She played Anne Boleyn in the TV production of "Henry VIII" and then
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, in the 2010 film "The King's
Speech". British actress Natalie Dormer also played both these parts in
different productions.
She has played two Tudor queens who were decapitated for
treason. Lady Jane Grey in Trevor Nunn's film about the tragic nine day queen,
"Lady Jane" and later Anne Boleyn, in the TV production of
"Henry VIII" in 2003.
Hampstead, London, England [December 2011]
Attended school at Westminster.
As of 2014, she has appeared in 19 movies that have all
received at least one Academy Award nomination.
She has made six films with Johnny Depp: Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride
(2005), Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in
Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows
(2012) and The
Lone Ranger (2013).
Personal
Quotes: I hate this image of me as a prim Edwardian. I want to shock
everyone.
I should get a few ribs taken out, because I'll be in a
corset for the rest of my life.
[on breast-feeding her baby]: People say, "You're still
breast-feeding, that's so generous". Generous, no! It gives me boobs and
it takes my thighs away! It's sort of like natural liposuction. I'd carry on
breast-feeding for the rest of my life if I could.
He's very cool. Whatever Johnny does, there's something cool
about it. He's very hip. It's emotional and vulnerable, too, which makes it
touching. - on her friend and colleague Johnny Depp.
I'm drawn to emotionally damaged characters because there is
more to unlock.
[on being awarded the CBE] I am thrilled though not sure
that I deserve it. I always thought my father deserved a medal for facing 25
years of chronic disability with quiet daily heroism so I am delighted to
accept such a wonderful honor in his memory.
[on witnessing your completed performance] You think you've
transformed and then you see the bloody thing and you go, 'It's so me'. You
think you've taken a holiday away from yourself and of course you haven't
traveled an inch. It's painful, it's absolutely painful. But I've gotten better
at recognizing those feelings and not getting involved in them. The first time
you see your own film you want to slit your wrists.
Elzabeth was about dress-up. She loved her jewels. There's
part of her that didn't grow up much. I love people who are still in touch with
delight. I got to wear the jewels. The problem about it was that they weren't
real..I did insist on having friends of mine do the wigs and the makeup because
i didn't want to look like a man in drag.
[on playing opposite Dominic West as Richard Burton] He was
so good. You really have to suspend your disbelief as an actor. They always
talk about suspension of disbelief for the audience. How are you going to go,
'Am I really Elizabeth Taylor?' Who gives a fuck. If the person opposite you is
doing such a good job as Burton, then you go, yeah I can do Elizabeth Taylor.
It was like holding someone's hand and jumping off a cliff. We were terrified
and both thought it could be a stupid decision. Bit it was really fun. She
still hasn't gone. The voice comes back and it drives my family up the wall.
It's the drawwwwwl. Sometimes I'm like, 'Am I channeling Elizabeth or Rufus
Wainwright?'
Very early on you figure out that you put your self-esteem
in the hands of strangers. There's a different commodity. There's the Helena
Bonham Carter that everyone thinks they know, who really has nothing to do with
me. But you just have to let that go.
[on undertaking the role of Elizabeth Taylor] My mother
said, 'Don't do it. You're trespassing on other people's dreams'. And I said,
'Well, I know mom but the script's so good'. Good writing is very rare. And
there are so many facets to her, that I couldn't say no to her personality.
There was a hell of a lot to it. I had a massive file. Tim Burton was like,
'Jesus, it looks as if you're writing a book. I said, 'Well, I have a lot of
responsibility'. I read so many books, I'm sure I could pass an exam on her.
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