- published: 05 May 2009
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Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas,DBE (born 24 May 1960) is a British actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for The English Patient (1996). For her work in the theatre, she has been nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress five times, winning in 2008 for the Royal Court revival of The Seagull.
Scott Thomas made her film debut in the Prince-directed Under the Cherry Moon in 1986, Further film roles include Bitter Moon (1992), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), Gosford Park (2001) and Nowhere Boy (2010). She has also worked in French cinema, winning the European Film Award for Best Actress for Philippe Claudel's I've Loved You So Long (2008). Her other French films include The Valet (2006), Tell No One (2007), Leaving (2009) and Sarah's Key (2010).
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 actress Serena Scott Thomas, the niece of Admiral Sir Richard Thomas (a former Black Rod, the parliamentary ceremonial officer in the House of Lords), and the great-great-niece of the ill-fated explorer Captain Scott, who lost the race to the South Pole.