With Hugh Grant in Bitter Moon

A national treasure on both sides of the channel, we examine Kristin Scott Thomas’ CV to see where it all went right…

First major films: Bitter Moon and Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most recently released film: Nowhere Boy.

Currently filming: Bel Ami.

Significant acting awards to date: Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer (1988); BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (1994); Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (1994 and 1995); National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (1996); Best European Actress in a Leading Role (2008); London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year (2008).

Aged 19, whilst training to be a drama teacher in London, Kristin Scott Thomas was told that she would never be able to make a living out of acting. But this didn’t stop her moving to Paris and enrolling at its renowned arts institute, ENSATT. Almost immediately after her graduation in 1985, she landed her first film role, and has never looked back.

‘Movies make you immortal and ageless.’ - Kristin Scott-Thomas

Early Work

Kristin’s career began with a leading role in the 1985 Under the Cherry Moon. Her 1988 performance as Brenda Last in A Handful of Dust saw her win the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She then went on to star in several French films until she landed a role in Bitter Moon (1992) opposite Hugh Grant, and then again opposite Grant in Brit-flick rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Her status as a British actress to be watched was firmly in place, and her role as haughty big-hat wearing Fiona put her name firmly on the map.

Her success was followed by roles in several more French films – she actually says she feels more French than British, having lived in Paris since she was nineteen, as well as raising her three children there. 1996’s The English Patient saw her star soar even higher as the adulterous Katharine Clifton who conducts a passionate affair with Ralph Fiennes’ Count Laszlo. The film was nominated for several awards, and Kristin won the Bafta (but lost the Oscar) for her portrayal of Clifton. In the same year she also starred in Mission: Impossible, alongside Tom Cruise.

Kristin in ensemble piece Gosford Park

2001 saw the release of the multi award-winning Gosford Park, a 1930s murder mystery set in a stately home. Scott Thomas played the meddling Lady Sylvia McCordle and starred alongside a stellar ensemble cast including Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, Charles Dance and Laurence Fox.

The Big Break

Following the success of Gosford Park, Kristin’s career began to accelerate. The noughties alone have seen her star in over twenty films, many of which have had great success. Her role in Keeping Mum in 2005, starring alongside Rowan Atkinson and Maggie Smith, bagged her a nomination for London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year and her next big role – her first leading role conducted entirely in French – in I’ve Loved You So Long won her two awards and several other nominations. Her performance as troubled Juliette received positive acclaim, and one critic wrote of her that “Kristin Scott Thomas’ performance is one of a small handful of highlights by which people will remember this year in movies”.

In the last few years she has balanced more independent work with a selection fo Hollywood blockbusters: she played Anne Boleyn’s mother in the 2008 adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl and received two nominations for her role as Mrs. Whittaker in the jazzy Easy Virtue. She also made a tongue-in-cheek appearance as a French fashion magazine editor in 2009’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, before returning to homegrown films with Nowhere Boy, depicting the early life of John Lennon.

And as for the future? She is currently filming Bel Ami, due for release in 2011, alongside Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman, and plays one of a debauched Pattinson’s love interests. Undoubtedly there will be more theatre; Scott Thomas has walked the boards in theatres throughout France, and has also won an Olivier Award for her 2007 appearance in Chekhov’s The Seagull in London. We can’t wait to see what Kristin will turn her highly-talented hand to next – whatever it is, it’s sure to be a class act.

Kristin Scott Thomas in a scene from Under the Cherry Moon with Prince