Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas DBE born 24 May 1960 is an English actress. She also holds French citizenship. A five-time BAFTA Award and Olivier Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and the Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2008 for the Royal Court revival of The Seagull. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The English Patient (1996).
Scott Thomas made her film debut in Under the Cherry Moon (1986), and won the Evening Standard Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for A Handful of Dust (1988). Her work includes Bitter Moon (1992), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), Gosford Park (2001), The Valet (2006), and Tell No One (2007). She won the European Film Award for Best Actress for Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long (2008). Her other films include Leaving (2009), Love Crime (2010), Sarah’s Key (2010), Nowhere Boy (2010), The Woman in the Fifth (2011), Only God Forgives (2013), Darkest Hour (2017), and Tomb Raider (2018).
She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama. She was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by the French Government in 2005.
Early life
Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall. Her mother, Deborah (née Hurlbatt), was brought up in Hong Kong and Africa, and studied drama before marrying Kristin’s father, Lieutenant Commander Simon Scott Thomas, a pilot in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm who died in a flying accident when Kristin was aged five. She is the elder sister of Serena Scott Thomas, the niece of Admiral Sir Richard Thomas (a former Black Rod), and the great-great-niece of the polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott,
The childhood home of Scott Thomas was in Trent, Dorset, England. Her mother remarried, to another Royal Navy pilot, Lt Cdr Simon Idiens (of Simon’s Sircus aerobatic team flying Sea Vixens) who also died in a flying accident, flying a Phantom FG1 off the North Cornwall coast, six years after the death of her father. Scott Thomas was educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and St Antony’s Leweston in Sherborne, Dorset, both independent schools.
On leaving school in 1978, she moved to Hampstead, London, and worked in a department store. She began training to become a drama teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama, enrolling on a BEd in Speech and Drama. During her time at the school, she requested to switch degree courses to acting but was refused. After a year at Central, speaking French fluently, she decided to move to Paris to work as an au pair and studied acting at the École Nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre (ENSATT). When she was 25, she was cast as Mary Sharon in the film Under the Cherry Moon (1986).
Career
Scott Thomas at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Her breakthrough role was playing Brenda Last in an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust (1988), winning her the Evening Standard British Film Award for the most promising newcomer. This was followed by roles opposite Hugh Grant in Bitter Moon and Four Weddings and a Funeral where she won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1994, she starred in the Romanian-French film An Unforgettable Summer, in which she played Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy. Rather than learn Romanian for the part, she read her lines phonetically. She had all the lines translated into French, which she speaks fluently, so she knew what she was saying. In an interview for Gloucester Citizen on 22 March 2015, she cited An Unforgettable Summer as one of the films that she is most proud of alongside The English Patient and Only God Forgives.
1996 saw the release of her most famous role as Katharine Clifton in The English Patient, which gained her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well as critical acclaim. This was followed by a brief period working in Hollywood on films such as The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford and Random Hearts with Harrison Ford. However, growing disillusioned with Hollywood, she took a year off to give birth to her third child.
She returned to the stage in 2001 when she played the title role in a French theatre production of Racine’s Berenice and on-screen as Lady Sylvia McCordle in Robert Altman’s critically acclaimed Gosford Park. This started a critically acclaimed second career on stage, in which she has received four nominations for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress, including one win, for her performance of Arkadina in a London West End production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. She reprised the role in New York in September 2008. In summer 2011, Scott Thomas returned to London’s West End to star as Emma in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the Comedy Theatre. The revival was directed by Ian Rickson. Her husband was played by Ben Miles and the love triangle was completed by Douglas Henshall. In January 2013, she starred in another Pinter play, Old Times, again directed by Ian Rickson. In 2014, she appeared at The Old Vic in the title role of Sophocles’s Electra.
Scott Thomas has also acted in French films. In 2006, she played the role of Hélène, in French, in Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One), by French director Guillaume Canet. In 2008, Scott Thomas received many accolades for her performance in Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I’ve Loved You So Long), including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. In 2009 she played the role of a wife who leaves her husband for another man in Leaving.
In Sarah’s Key (2010) – the story of the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup – Scott Thomas starred as an American journalist in Paris who discovers that the flat her husband is renovating for them was once the home of an evicted Jewish family. Other roles include Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire and Ormond, mother of Henry VIII’s second wife Anne, in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), the role of a fashion magazine creator and editor in the film Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), and as a love interest of George Duroy (played by Robert Pattinson) in the 2012 film Bel Ami, based on the 1885 Maupassant novel.
She was also seen in The Woman in the Fifth (2011), a film adaption of Douglas Kennedy’s novel of the same name, Lasse Hallström’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), Ralph Fiennes’s The Invisible Woman (2013), Philippe Claudel’s Before the Winter Chill (2013), and in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, which premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, she voiced the narration of Kay Summersby, General Eisenhower’s driver, in the documentary series D-Day Sacrifice. She appeared in Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady (2014) and Suite Française, the 2015 film adaptation of Irène Némirovsky’s World War II novel directed by Saul Dibb.
In 2017 she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 71st British Academy Film Awards for portraying Clementine Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour. In May 2017, it was reported that Scott Thomas has signed on to star as BMW heiress Susanne Klatten in the thriller Paramour, directed by Alexandra-Therese Keining. In May 2019, Scott Thomas was cast in the role of Mrs. Danvers in director Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic romance Rebecca.
In 2020 she appeared in the BBC television remake of Alan Bennett’s monologue series, Talking Heads, playing the role of Celia in the episode “Hand of God”.
Personal life
Scott Thomas is divorced from François Olivennes, a French gynaecologist, with whom she has three children: Hannah (1988), Joseph (1991) and George (2000). She has lived in France since she was 19, brought up her three children in Paris, and sometimes considers herself more French than British.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Charly | Short film | ||
| 1986 | Under the Cherry Moon | Mary Sharon |
|
|
| 1987 | Agent trouble | Julie | ||
| 1988 | Lounge Chair | Marie | ||
| 1988 | A Handful of Dust | Brenda Last | Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer | |
| 1989 | Force majeure | Katia | ||
| 1989 | Bille en tête | Clara | Also released as Headstrong | |
| 1990 | Le bal du gouverneur | Marie Forestier | ||
| 1990 | The Bachelor | Sabine | ||
| 1991 | Valentino! I Love You | Short film | ||
| 1991 | Aux yeux du monde | L’institutrice | ||
| 1992 | Bitter Moon | Fiona | ||
| 1994 | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Fiona |
|
|
| 1994 | An Unforgettable Summer | Marie-Thérèse von Debretsy | ||
| 1995 | En mai, fais ce qu’il te plaît | Martine | ||
| 1995 | The Confessional | Alfred Hitchcock’s assistant | ||
| 1995 | Angels & Insects | Matty Crompton | Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress | |
| 1995 | Richard III | Lady Anne of Lancaster | ||
| 1995 | Les Milles | Mary-Jane Cooper | ||
| 1995 | The Pompatus of Love | Caroline | ||
| 1995 | Plaisir d’offrir | Short film | ||
| 1996 | Mission: Impossible | Sarah Davies | ||
| 1996 | Souvenir | Ann | ||
| 1996 | Microcosmos | Narrator | English version | |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Katharine Clifton |
|
|
| 1997 | Amour et confusions | Sarah | ||
| 1998 | The Horse Whisperer | Annie MacLean | ||
| 1998 | Sweet Revenge | Imogen Staxton-Billing | ||
| 1999 | Random Hearts | Kay Chandler | ||
| 2000 | Up at the Villa | Mary Panton | ||
| 2001 | Play | First Woman | Short film | |
| 2001 | Life as a House | Robin Monroe | ||
| 2001 | Gosford Park | Sylvia McCordle |
|
|
| 2003 | Small Cuts | Béatrice | ||
| 2004 | Arsène Lupin | Joséphine, comtesse de Cagliostro | ||
| 2005 | Man to Man | Elena van den Ende | ||
| 2005 | Chromophobia | Iona Aylesbury | ||
| 2005 | Keeping Mum | Gloria Goodfellow | Nominated – London Film Critics’ Circle Award for British Actress of the Year | |
| 2006 | The Valet | Christine Levasseur | ||
| 2006 | Tell No One | Hélène Perkins | ||
| 2007 | The Walker | Lynn Lockner | ||
| 2007 | The Golden Compass | Stelmaria (voice) | ||
| 2008 | I’ve Loved You So Long | Juliette |
|
|
| 2008 | The Other Boleyn Girl | Lady Elizabeth Boleyn | ||
| 2008 | Seuls Two | L’antiquaire | ||
| 2008 | Easy Virtue | Mrs. Whittaker |
|
|
| 2008 | Largo Winch | Ann Fergusson | ||
| 2009 | Confessions of a Shopaholic | Alette Naylor | ||
| 2009 | Leaving | Suzanne | Nominated – César Award for Best Actress Nominated – Globe de Cristal Award for Best Actress |
|
| 2009 | Nowhere Boy | Mimi Smith |
|
|
| 2010 | Love Crime | Christine | ||
| 2010 | Sarah’s Key | Julia Jarmond | Lumières Award for Best Actress Globe de Cristal Award for Best Actress Nominated – César Award for Best Actress |
|
| 2010 | In Your Hands | Anna Cooper | ||
| 2011 | Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | Patricia Maxwell | ||
| 2011 | The Woman in the Fifth | Margit Kadar | ||
| 2012 | Bel Ami | Virginie Walters | ||
| 2012 | Looking for Hortense | Iva Delusi | ||
| 2012 | In the House | Jeanne Germain | ||
| 2013 | Only God Forgives | Crystal | ||
| 2013 | Before the Winter Chill | Lucie | ||
| 2013 | The Invisible Woman | Frances Ternan | ||
| 2014 | My Old Lady | Chloé Girard | ||
| 2014 | Suite Française | Madame Angellier | ||
| 2017 | The Party | Janet | ||
| 2017 | Darkest Hour | Clementine Churchill | Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role | |
| 2018 | Tomb Raider | Ana Miller | ||
| 2018 | Au bout des doigts | Countess Elizabeth Buckingham | ||
| 2019 | Military Wives | Kate | ||
| 2020 | Rebecca | Mrs. Danvers | ||
| 2020 | Cinquième set | Judith | In post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret | N/A | Episode: “L’Ami d’enfance de Maigret” |
| 1984 | Mistral’s Daughter | Nancy | Miniseries; 3 episodes |
| 1987 | Sentiments | Nathalie | Episode: “La tricheuse” |
| 1987 | Sentimental Journey | Bettina | Television film |
| 1988 | The Tenth Man | Thérèse Mangeot | Television film |
| 1989 | The Endless Game | Caroline | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming | Leda St Gabriel | Television film |
| 1990 | Framed | Kate | Television film |
| 1991 | Titmuss Regained | Jenny Sidonia | Miniseries; 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Look at It This Way | Victoria Rolfe | Miniseries; 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Weep No More, My Lady | Elisabeth | Television film |
| 1993 | Body & Soul | Sister Gabriel / Anna | Miniseries; 6 episodes |
| 1995 | Belle Époque | Alice Avellano | Miniseries; 3 episodes |
| 1996 | Gulliver’s Travels | Immortal Gatekeeper | Miniseries; episode 2 |
| 2003 | Absolutely Fabulous | Plum Berkeley | Episode: “Book Clubbin'” |
| 2019 | One Red Nose Day and a Wedding | Fiona | Television short |
| 2019 | Fleabag | Belinda Friers | Series 2, episode 3 Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series |
| 2020 | Talking Heads | Celia | Episode: “The Hand of God” |
| TBA | Slow Horses | Diana Taverner | Upcoming series |
Theatre
- La Lune déclinante sur 4 ou 5 personnes qui dansent (1983, Festival de Semur en Auxois)
- Terre étrangère (1984, Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers)
- Naïves Hirondelles (1984, Festival d’Avignon)
- Yes, peut-être (1985, in a field in Burgundy)
- Bérénice (2001, Festival de Perpignan and Festival d’Avignon + national tour)
- Three Sisters (2003, Playhouse Theatre, London) … Masha
- As You Desire Me (2005–06, Playhouse Theatre, London) … Elma
- The Seagull (2007, Royal Court Theatre, London) … Arkadina
- The Seagull (2008, Walter Kerr Theatre, New York) … Arkadina
- Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (2011, Comedy Theatre, London) … Emma
- Harold Pinter’s Old Times (2013, Harold Pinter Theatre London) … Kate/Anna
- Sophocles’ Electra (2014, The Old Vic, London) … Electra
- Peter Morgan’s The Audience (2015, Apollo Theatre, London) … Queen Elizabeth II
Olivier Awards
| Year | Category | Play | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Best Actress | Three Sisters | Nominated |
| 2008 | Best Actress | The Seagull | Won |
| 2012 | Best Actress | Betrayal | Nominated |
| 2013 | Best Actress | Old Times | Nominated |
| 2015 | Best Actress | Electra | Nominated |
National honours
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2015)
Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (2005).