Among the most prestigious British actresses who have made a significant impact globally, Emma Thompson certainly occupies a prominent place. Born in London in 1959, the daughter of actor Eric Thompson, the star has elevated her country's reputation on the international stage, earning a long list of accolades over a career spanning over forty years, including two Golden Globes, two BAFTAs, an Emmy, and two David di Donatello Awards.
But it was with her Oscar for Best Actress in 1993 for “Howard's End” and the one for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1996 for “Sense and Sensibility” that the star launched an enormously prolific artistic journey, studded with performances that are still imprinted in the collective imagination today . Ranging from her participation in the dramatic miniseries “Angels in America” by Mike Nichols to the irresistible comedy “Love Actually” by Richard Curtis, Thompson is also associated with the character of Sybill Trelawney in the “Harry Potter” film saga: the Hogwarts School of Divination professor, who appeared in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and in the finale “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.”
A guest at the Locarno Film Festival, the actress accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award and presented her latest film, "The Dead of Winter," an action thriller in which she will be involved in numerous on-screen stunts, from shootings to driving pickup trucks through the snow. At the event, she explained in a press conference the reasons that led her to shoot such a film at the age of sixty-six: "Why shoot an action movie at 66? It's a stupid thing to do. I prepared as best I could in London and then spent a month in Finland. It's a wonderful country, but the cold was so intense... it was like an ice grip. We all bathed in freezing water, including the director and screenwriters, to get used to the conditions on set in Minnesota. The thing that scared me the most wasn't the pain in all my muscles, but holding my breath underwater. So Judy Greeg and I did special training with an expert. At the end of the underwater sequence I was so prepared that I received compliments from the professional divers."
