Editing Emma Thompson (section)

==Early life and education==
Thompson was born in London on 15 April 1959.<ref name="Porges">{{cite book |last1=Jepson |first1=Tim |last2=Porges |first2=Larry |title=National Geographic London Book of Lists: The City's Best, Worst, Oldest, Greatest, and Quirkiest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-z-OAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 |date=4 November 2014 |publisher=National Geographic Society |isbn=978-1-4262-1385-4 |page=15}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news |title=Emma Thompson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/70692/Emma-Thompson/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016063025/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/70692/Emma-Thompson/biography |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 October 2013 |author=Rebecca Flint Marx |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2013 |access-date=12 October 2013}}</ref> Her mother is Scottish actress [[Phyllida Law]], while her English father, [[Eric Thompson]], was an actor best known as the writer of the popular children's television series ''[[The Magic Roundabout]]''.<ref name="mum">{{cite news |last=Grice |first=Elizabeth |title=Phyllida Law: my mother's dementia had its funny side |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9884892/Phyllida-Law-my-mothers-dementia-had-its-funny-side.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=23 February 2013 |access-date=14 September 2013 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113025734/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9884892/Phyllida-Law-my-mothers-dementia-had-its-funny-side.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="family">{{cite news |first=Joanna |last=Moorhead |title=Emma Thompson: 'Family is about connection' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/20/emma-thompson-nanny-mcphee-2 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=20 March 2010 |access-date=14 September 2013 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111221245/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/20/emma-thompson-nanny-mcphee-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her godfather was the director and writer [[Ronald Eyre]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3646596/Beneath-the-skin.html |title=Beneath the skin |work=The Telegraph |date=19 September 2005 |access-date=5 March 2014 |first=Emma |last=Thompson |archive-date=29 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629155241/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3646596/Beneath-the-skin.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bafta interview"/> She has a younger sister, [[Sophie Thompson|Sophie]], who is also an actress.<ref name="mum"/> The family lived in the [[West Hampstead]] district of London,<ref name="family"/> and Thompson was educated at [[Camden School for Girls]].<ref name="kellaway" /> She spent much time in Scotland during her childhood and often visited [[Ardentinny]], where her grandparents and uncle lived.<ref name="DR"/>

[[File:ADC Theatre Cambridge.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|[[ADC Theatre]], [[University of Cambridge]], where Thompson began performing with [[Footlights]]]]

In her youth, Thompson was intrigued by language and literature, a trait she attributes to her father, who shared her love of words.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72845220.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611100659/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72845220.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 June 2014 |title=Emma Thompson Displays Sense And Sensibility. (Timeout) |newspaper=The Cincinnati Post |date=18 January 1996 |access-date=27 March 2014}}</ref> After successfully taking [[A levels]] in English, French and Latin,{{sfn|Nickson|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/emmamanyfacetsof0000nick/page/13 13]}} and securing a scholarship,{{sfn|Nickson|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/emmamanyfacetsof0000nick/page/201 201]}} she began studying for an English degree at [[Newnham College, Cambridge]],<ref name="protest"/> arriving in 1977. Thompson believes that it was inevitable she would become an actor, remarking that she was "surrounded by creative people and I don't think it would ever have gone any other way, really".<ref name="bafta interview"/> While there, she had a "seminal moment" that turned her to feminism and inspired her to take up performing. She explained in a 2007 interview how she discovered the book ''[[The Madwoman in the Attic]]'', "which is about [[Victorian era|Victorian]] female writers and the disguises they took on in order to express what they wanted to express. That completely changed my life."<ref name="nymag">{{cite news |first=Logan |last=Hill |title=Influences: Emma Thompson |url=https://nymag.com/movies/profiles/23775/ |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=25 October 2007 |access-date=14 September 2013 |archive-date=25 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025075730/http://nymag.com/movies/profiles/23775/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She became a self-professed "punk rocker",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saga.co.uk/lifestyle/people/celebrities/brideshead-revisited-emma-thompson.aspx |title=Brideshead Revisited&nbsp;— an interview with Emma Thompson |last=Davey |first=Neil |website=Saga.co.uk |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130915134935/http://www.saga.co.uk/lifestyle/people/celebrities/brideshead-revisited-emma-thompson.aspx |archive-date=15 September 2013 }}</ref> with short red hair and a motorbike, and aspired to be a comedian like [[Lily Tomlin]].<ref name="nymag"/>

At Cambridge, Thompson was invited into the Cambridge [[Footlights]], the university's prestigious [[sketch comedy]] troupe, by its president, [[Martin Bergman]],<ref name="foot">{{cite news |first=Logan |last=Hill |title=The Cambridge Footlights: First steps in comedy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/the-cambridge-footlights-first-steps-in-comedy-1517691.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=28 January 2009 |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-date=7 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107180952/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/the-cambridge-footlights-first-steps-in-comedy-1517691.html |url-status=live }}</ref> becoming its first female member.<ref name="Bulman2008">{{cite book |editor-last=Bulman |editor-first=James C. |title=Shakespeare Re-dressed: Cross-gender Casting in Contemporary Performance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joOqyvocRE0C&pg=PA152 |date=January 2008 |publisher=Associated University Presses |isbn=978-0-8386-4114-9 |page=152 |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-date=3 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703065220/http://books.google.com/books?id=joOqyvocRE0C&pg=PA152 |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in the troupe were fellow actors [[Stephen Fry]] and [[Hugh Laurie]], and she had a romantic relationship with the latter.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Tim |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/4224331/Hugh-Lauries-elemental-about-Emma-Thompson.html |title=Hugh Laurie's elemental about Emma Thompson |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=12 January 2009 |access-date=3 May 2011 |archive-date=9 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609143401/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/4224331/Hugh-Lauries-elemental-about-Emma-Thompson.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fry recalled that "there was no doubt that Emma was going the distance. Our nickname for her was Emma Talented."<ref name="Thorpe"/>
In 1980, Thompson served as the Vice President of Footlights,<ref>{{cite web |title=1980–1989 {{!}} Cambridge Footlights |url=http://www.footlights.org/alumni-archive?name=1980-1989 |website=Footlights.org |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909142743/http://footlights.org/alumni-archive?name=1980-1989 |archive-date=9 September 2013 }}</ref> and co-directed the troupe's first all-female revue, ''Woman's Hour''.<ref name="foot"/> The following year, she and her Footlights team won the [[Perrier Award]] at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] for their sketch show ''[[Cambridge Footlights Revue#"The Cellar Tapes"|The Cellar Tapes]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=History {{!}} Cambridge Footlights |url=http://footlights.org/history |website=Footlights.org |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922122310/http://footlights.org/history |archive-date=22 September 2013 }}</ref> She graduated with [[upper second-class honours]].{{sfn|Nickson|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/emmamanyfacetsof0000nick/page/35 35]}}

Thompson's father died in 1982, aged 52.<ref name="mum"/> She has stated that this "tore [the family] to pieces",<ref name="voices">{{cite news |first=Vanessa |last=Thorpe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/28/emma-thompson-kenneth-branagh |title=Emma Thompson tells of her battle with 'voices in my head' |newspaper=The Observer |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=15 September 2013 |archive-date=23 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323233702/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/28/emma-thompson-kenneth-branagh |url-status=live }}</ref> and "I can't begin to tell you how much I regret his not being around".<ref name="sensibly">{{cite news |first=Jan |last=Stuart |title=Emma Thompson, Sensibly |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-10-ca-12297-story.html |newspaper=New York |date=10 December 1995 |access-date=14 September 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053740/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-10/entertainment/ca-12297_1_emma-thompson |url-status=live }}</ref> She added, "At the same time, it's possible that were he still alive I might never have had the space or courage to do what I've done&nbsp;... I have a definite feeling of inheriting space. And power."<ref name="sensibly"/>