While she may seemingly be typecast in period films, Helena Bonham Carter has proven her range and ability in a variety of roles in her relatively short career. As a teenager, the pale-skinned, dark-haired beauty won a writing contest and used the proceeds to buy an advertisement in a British casting guide. The great-granddaughter of British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, Bonham Carter has often been cast in solemn aristocratic roles. To some, she has become the quintessential Edwardian heroine, particularly after her successful turns in several adaptations of E M Forster novels.
Her dark looks and heart-shaped face made Bonham Carter a perfect choice for her first film lead in Trevor Nunn’s film version of the life of the doomed Tudor monarch “Lady Jane” (1986). Despite her relative youth, she was also able to project the requisite mix of hauteur and innocence required for the role. Her second film, the Merchant-Ivory production of Forster’s “A Room With a View” (1986), firmly established her as a screen presence. As Lucy Honeychurch, Bonham Carter perfectly essayed a young woman swept up in passion. She further solidified her stereotyping as a “period player” with her dead-on mad Ophelia to Mel Gibson’s “Hamlet” (1990), by playing the impulsive younger sister of Emma Thompson in Merchant-Ivory’s meticulous rendering of “Howards End” (1992) and her turn as the delicate love interest of scientist Kenneth Branagh in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (1994).
Breaking free from her usual fare, Bonham Carter delivered a fine portrayal of a drug addict engaged to Don Johnson’s detective on NBC’s “Miami Vice” in 1987. She won applause as a working-class stripper in the British TV-movie “Dancing Queen” and was superb as Marina Oswald in the NBC telefilm “Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald” (both 1993). As Woody Allen’s unhappy spouse contemplating an affair in “Might Aphrodite” (1995), Bonham Carter seemed to be eerily channeling Mia Farrow, especially in her vocal cadences. The role of the foul-mouthed, married coal miner’s daughter in the Canadian-made “Margaret’s Museum” (also 1995) earned her fine notices (and a Genie Award) but the film was little seen.
Returning to the bread-and-butter roles in period garb, Trevor Nunn tapped her for Olivia in his filming of “Twelfth Night” (1996). For personal reasons, Bonham Carter turned down the role of Bess in Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” (1996) and watched Emily Watson receive critical bouquets and accolades. In 1997, it was her turn in what many felt was the best role of her career to date. As the manipulative Kate Croy, a role that in another era may have been played by Bette Davis, in Iain Softley’s “The Wings of the Dove”, Bonham Carter finely walked a line between desperation and hedonism (and also performed her first nude scenes). Her imaginative and finely calibrated performance earned her a number of year-end critics’ awards and spawned talk of an Oscar nomination. After a turn as a dowdy spinster in “Keep the Aspidistra Flying”, she and Branagh reunited for the modern romance “Theory of Flight” (both 1998), in which she essayed a victim of motor neuron disease. And not forsaking period roles, Bonham Carter was the bewitching Morgan Le Fey opposite Sam Neill’s “Merlin” (NBC, 1998).
In 1999, she once again left behind the petticoats and pretty frocks to essay a contemporary neurotic, a woman who attends various self-help groups just for a kick, opposite Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in the intriguing if not wholly satisfying “Fight Club”. Bonham Carter easily made Marla a complex yet sexily engaging character and the change of pace made audiences and critics recognize anew her prodigious gifts. For her next high profile role — that of the sympathetic Ari in the new adaptation of “Planet of the Apes” (2001) for director Tim Burton, the actress’ pretty features were covered with simian makeup. Still, her expressive eyes and plummy voice made her recognizable and she once again offered a fine turn. Later that year, Bonham Carter once again played an alluring siren as a patient who drives her dentist (Steve Martin) into a world of sex, drugs and murder in the thriller “Novocaine” (2001).
In 2003, Bonham Carter was cast in Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s “The Heart of Me”. That same year, she lured Guy Pearce into a supernatural mystery as the enigmatic amnesiac, Ruby, in the haunting tale, “Till Human Voices Wake Us.” Her personal relationship with
* Also Credited As:Helena Bonham-Carter
* Born:on 05/26/66 in
* Job Titles:Actor, Model
Family
* Brother: Edward Bonham Carter. older
* Brother: Thomas Bonham Carter. served in the Irish Guards; older
* Father: Raymond Bonham Carter. was alternate UK director representing the Bank of England at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC for two years in the 1960s; became ill when Bonham Carter was around 10 years old; suffered a stroke while undergoing an operation to remove a benign brain tumor; subsequently confined to a wheelchair
* Grandmother: Violet Bonham Carter.
* Great-grandfather: Herbert Henry Asquith. was Liberal Party prime minister in
* Great-uncle: Anthony Asquith. made such famous and acclaimed English features as “Pygmalion” (1938), “Quiet Wedding” (1940), “The Browning Version” (1950) and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1952)
* Mother: Elena Bonham Carter. half-Spanish, half-French; reportedly had a nervous breakdown when Bonham Carter was five years old
Significant Others
* Companion: Kenneth Branagh. together from c. 1994 to summer 1999; co-starred together in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (1994) and “Theory of Flight” (1998)
* Companion: Tim Burton. born in 1958; directed her in “Planet of the Apes” (2001); reportedly began relationship in October 2001
Education
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Milestones
* 1979 At age 13, entered national writing contest; used money won in poetry competition to pay for her entry into the actor’s directory, “Spotlight”
* 1982 Professional acting debut, a commercial at age 16
* 1983 Acting debut in British telefilm, “A Pattern of Roses”
* 1985 Feature film debut, “Lady Jane”, directed by Trevor Nunn
* 1986 First collaboration with director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, “A Room with a View”, which brought her to international attention
* 1987 Played Don Johnson’s girlfriend in two episodes of “Miami Vice”
* 1987 US TV-movie debut in “A Hazard of Hearts” (CBS)
* 1988
* 1990 Co-starred as Ophelia to Mel Gibson’s “Hamlet”, directed by Franco Zeffirelli
* 1992 Cast as Emma Thompson’s sister in the Merchant-Ivory production “Howards End”
* 1993 Played Marina Oswald in the NBC TV-movie “Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald”
* 1994 Did a comic cameo as a dream version of Julia Sawalha’s Saffron on the comedy “Absolutely Fabulous”
* 1994 Portrayed Elizabeth, Victor Frankenstein’s lover, in Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”
* 1995 Appeared as Woody Allen’s American wife in “Mighty Aphrodite”
* 1995 Played a foul-mouthed miner’s daughter in the Canadian film “Margaret’s Museum”
* 1996 Returned to Shakespeare to play Olivia in Trevor Nunn’s “Twelfth Night”
* 1997 Garnered critical attention and accolades for her performance as the manipulative Kate Croy in “The Wings of the Dove”; nominated for a Best Actress Oscar
* 1998 Cast as Morgan Le Fey in the NBC miniseries “Merlin”
* 1998 Played a wheelchair-bound woman in “Theory of Flight”
* 1999 Co-starred in “Women Talking Dirty”; screened at the Toronto Film Festival
* 1999 Was the female lead opposite Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in “Fight Club”
* 2001 Played Ari, the ape daughter of a powerful politician, in Tim Burton’s adaptation of “Planet of the Apes”
* 2001 Starred opposite Steve Martin in the thriller “Novocaine”
* 2002 Co-starred in the feature drama “Live From
* 2003 Co-starred in the 1930′s based-on-a-novel feature “The Heart of Me”
* 2003 Co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman in “Big Fish”
* 2003 Received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Moviefor her role in “Live From Baghdad”
* 2003 Starred opposite Guy Pearce in the supernatural thriller “Till Human Voices Wake Us”
* 2005 Cast as Charlie’s mother in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
* 2005 Voiced the title role in Tim Burton’s animated feature “Corpse Bride”
