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Helena Bonham Carter. Photo by Siebbi.

Top 10 Incredible Facts about Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is unquestionably a legend in the game. With a career spanning five decades, the British actress has repeatedly demonstrated that she is here to stay.

Her roles in numerous independent films and high-profile blockbusters have earned her accolades that most amateur actors can only dream of, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, nine Golden Globes, four Prime time Emmy nominations, and two Oscar nominations. This, along with other unnamed honors, confirms the London-born icon’s status as a supreme artist.

She hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, despite being 54 years old. The Enola Homes star is a gift that keeps on giving in the world of acting. 

1. Helena Bonham Carter comes from a wealthy family

Helena Bonham Carter. Photo by David Torcivia.

Helena Bonham Carter comes from a well-known family in the United Kingdom. Her great-grandfather was H.H. Asquith, a former British Prime Minister, and her great-grandmother was an activist. She and Winston Churchill were once romantically involved. They even got married!

Bonham Carter was born in the London borough of Islington. Her father, Raymond Bonham Carter, was a merchant banker who served as the alternative British director representing the Bank of England at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., during the 1960s. 

Elena is a psychotherapist of Spanish and mostly Jewish ancestry, and her parents were Spanish diplomat Eduardo Propper de Callejón and painter Baroness Hélène Fould-Springer.

2. Her interest in acting began at a young age

A portrait of Helena Bonham Carter. Photo by Reginald gray.

Her first encounter occurred when she was six years old. Bonham Carter’s decision to pursue acting as a professional career was influenced by a family friend who was in the business. Her next encounter occurred when a school friend began acting. This, combined with a desire to be self-sufficient, prompted her to pursue a career as an actress.

She had no formal acting training, entered the field after winning a national writing contest in 1979 and using the prize money to pay for her listing in the actors’ Spotlight directory. At the age of 16, she made her professional acting debut in a television commercial. She also had a small role in the 1983 television film A Pattern of Roses.

3. Bonham Carter was rejected at Cambridge University

Cambridge University. Photo by Julius DÅ«dÄ—nas.

Bonham Carter originally planned to study at King’s College, Cambridge University. She had the necessary grades and test scores to be admitted, but the administration was concerned that she would drop out to pursue her acting career. They turned her down, prompting Bonham Carter to pursue acting full-time. Fortunately, everything worked out!

4. Bonham Carter was forced to take a leave of absence after tragedy struck

A bus. Photo by Sereina.

Four of Bonham Carter’s relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa in August 2008. Fiona, her cousin, escaped with a few broken bones, but the rest of her family died. She was given indefinite leave from Terminator Salvation, returning later to finish filming. 

5. She launched her own fashion line in 2006

A line of swimwear fashion. Photo by Artem Beliaikin.

She awoke one morning in 2006 with the realization that she needed to do more than just act. Not only that, but she decided to collaborate with swimwear designer Samantha Sage on a lingerie line.

Helena Bonham Carter and swimwear designer Samantha Sage launched their own fashion line, “The Pantaloonies,” in May 2006. Bloomin’ Bloomers, their first collection, is a Victoriana-inspired collection of camisoles, mop caps, and bloomers.

The pair collaborated on customized Pantaloons jeans, which Bonham Carter describes as “a kind of scrapbook on the bum.” 

6. Bonham Carter accidentally perforated Matthew Lewis’s eardrum

In the final four Harry Potter films, Bonham Carter portrayed the psychopathic and homicidal dark witch Bellatrix Lestrange. She accidentally perforated Matthew Lewis’s eardrum while filming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by sticking her wand into his ear canal.

There’s a scene where Helena is holding Matthew Lewis hostage, and she decides to move the wand around in his ear to really tease Neville. It appeared to be very cool. It appeared sadistic and menacing, just like Bellatrix, but there were explosions and stunts going off.

When this one explosion happened, Matthew Lewis went one way, Helena went another, and the wand just went straight into his ear. He couldn’t hear anything out of his right ear after it went in about an inch. They finished the scene, and then he went to one of the stuntmen and told him what had happened.

They got a doctor, he said it would be fine, but it would hurt for a few days. The doctor administered some pain relievers, and he went home. He can hear perfectly well. Helena was extremely sorry. 

7. She has a couple of Oscar nominations

An Oscar award. Photo by Mirko Fabian.

Bonham Carter’s talents always add a sense of buzz and anticipation to projects. For good reason: she’s been nominated for four Best Picture Oscars so far:

• A Room With a View,
• Howard’s End,
• The King’s Speech, and
• Les Misérables are among them.

Surprisingly, these four films were directed by only two people: James Ivory and Tom Hooper.

8. Bonham Carter joined the Action Duchenne charity as a patron

In early October 2008, it was announced that Bonham Carter had become a patron of Action Duchenne. The charity helps people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The disease is a rare and severe form of muscular dystrophy with a life expectancy of approximately 26 years.

9. Bonham Carter voiced two different stop-motion animation films

Bonham Carter. Photo by www.lancashire.gov.uk.

The lead female voice is provided by Bonham Carter in an unusual collaboration of two animated films created using stop-motion techniques, which involve moving inanimate objects while photographing them one frame at a time.

The first is “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride,”. “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” a big-screen adventure starring clay-animated British cheese fanatic Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit.

“Corpse Bride” stars Bonham Carter as the title character, a woman who was murdered the night before her wedding and buried in her bridal gown while waiting for a husband to come and claim her. When a nervous bridegroom (voiced by Johnny Depp) practicing his vows inadvertently slips her a ring and whisks him away to the underworld as her eternal match, the blue-skinned, decomposing bride rises from her grave and says “I do.”

Aardman Animations’ “Wallace & Gromit” features the ever-jovial Brit and his patient canine pal running a humane pest-control service to keep rabbits from ravaging produce just before the town’s annual giant veggie contest.

Peter Sallis returns as Wallace’s mouthpiece, as he encounters a monster bunny and a nasty rival (Ralph Fiennes) for the affections of Lady Tottingham, the patron of the vegetable competition, played by Helena Bonham Carter.

For Lady Tottingham, Bonham Carter developed a perky, gushing voice inspired by a mother-daughter friend.

10. Bonham Carter speaks French fluently

Bonham Carter is an excellent French speaker. She has even appeared in a French film. In 1996, she starred in Martine Dugowson’s romantic drama Portrait Chinois.