Helena Bonham Carter Biography

Having attended the South Hampstead School for Girls, Helena used the money she'd won in a national poetry competition to find an agent and buy herself an entry in a casting directory.

Her first real break was in ‘A Pattern Of Roses’, in which she played an Edwardian ghost and, having caught the attentions of Trevor Nunn, she found herself cast in ‘Lady Jane’.

However, it was in EM Forster's ‘A Room With A View’, alongside Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, that Helena hit the big time.

The film was a huge success and secured her future in acting. In an effort to break from possible ‘English Rose’ typecasting, she upped sticks and moved to America where she played Don Johnson's junkie fiancée in the smash hit show ‘Miami Vice’.

During this time she appeared in ‘A Hazard Of Hearts’, ‘The Vision’ and the classic ‘Howard's End’. Successfully combining period and more contemporary roles she played a stripper in ‘Dancing Queen’ and a victim of the darkly gothic ‘Frankenstein’. It was during the filming of ‘Frankenstein’ that she met Kenneth Branagh. The pair began a relationship that lasted until 1999.

‘Fight Club’, alongside Brad Pitt was her first real Hollywood blockbuster roll and in 2001 she donned a monkey suit to star in Tim Burton’s ‘Planet Of The Apes’. It was during the making of the film that Helena and Tim began their relationship.

As her career continues to slowly blossom, Helena has successfully avoided the Hollywood blockbuster trap, preferring instead to opt for low-budget roles that offer her more scope and less familiarity.

In her latest role, Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was released in 2007. She replaced Helen McCrory, who left due to pregnancy.