Emma Thompson Named a Dame in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Congratulations are in order for the incredibly talented Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney), who has been recognized as a dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to drama!

Thompson responded to the news with grace and humor:

It’s a huge honour to be sharing this massive pat on the back with other women in so many other professions and walks of life. I’ve always wanted to be able to refer to myself as a dame. Small D. Dame with a capital D is even more thrilling.

I was, however, disappointed it didn’t come with a castle. I plan to go on being very difficult, just in case anyone was wondering if it might shut me up.

Besides playing the fraudulent Divination professor in Harry Potter, Thompson is known for her roles in films such as Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, In the Name of the Father, and Nanny McPhee. The official Honours list notes that she is the only person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and writing, having won Best Actress for Howards End (1992) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995). She is also the only British actress to be nominated for both a supporting and leading Academy Award and Golden Globe Award in the same year, which she did for The Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father in 1993.

In total, she has won an impressive résumé of two Oscars, two Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, and one Emmy, among many other awards and nominations.

Thompson joins fellow Harry Potter actress Julie Walters (Molly Weasley), who was named a dame in last year’s list and received the honor from the Queen at a ceremony last November. Other Potter actors with the equivalent honor are Dame Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall), Sir Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Sir John Hurt (Garrick Ollivander), and Sir Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart).

Other recognizable names in this year’s list include actor Tom Hardy and author Ken Follett, who each receive a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), and actress Keira Knightley, who receives an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).

In total, this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list includes 1,057 people, 49% of whom are women.