Emily Blunt

Biography of Emily Blunt

Emily Olivia Leah Blunt was born on February 23, 1983. She is a British-American actress.

Emily Blunt was born to a lawyer and a teacher. She grew up with three other siblings in Roehampton and was enthusiastic about singing and playing the cello at an early age before accidentally turning to acting as a teenager. At the age of 16 she entered the prestigious boarding school Hurtwood House, where she devoted herself to theater work for fun. As a result, she was discovered by an agent while she was still at school.

After studying acting for a year in her hometown, Blunt, who stuttered as a child, began her career in theater. In 2001, at the age of eighteen, she made her debut in George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's play The Royal Family at the Haymarket Theater Royal in London. Critics praised her acting and the young English actress won the Evening Standard Award for Best Young Actress for the role of Gwen Cavendish.

Following The Royal Family, Blunt appeared in Spring 2002 alongside Clare Higgins and Jochum Ten Haaf in Richard Eyre's production of Vincent in Brixton at London's National Theatre, where she was recognized for her touchingly innocent-wise portrayal of Eugenie. In the autumn of that year she performed the title roles in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with Lex Shrapnel at the Chichester Theater Festival.

Blunt made her debut on British television in 2003 alongside Alex Kingston in the historical drama Boudica, after which she was to appear mainly in costume films. That same year saw Pete Travis' award-winning television series Henry VIII, which starred Emily Blunt in a supporting role as Catherine Howard, fifth wife of King Henry VIII (played by Ray Winstone).

Following a supporting role as a murder victim in the television adaptation of Agatha Christie's crime novel Poirot: Death on the Nile, Blunt landed her first leading role in a motion picture in 2004. In Paweł Pawlikowski's drama My Summer of Love, she plays the rich and educated 16-year-old Tamsin, who embarks on a one-summer liaison with rough proletarian Mona (played by Nathalie Press). The film, hailed by the New York Times as a triumph of mood and implication, was critically acclaimed and won the 2005 BAFTA for Best British Cinematographic Production of the Year. Also taking center stage was Emily Blunt, whose performance as the spoiled granddaughter earned her the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Actress alongside fellow actress Nathalie Press.

Brought to international audiences by the success of My Summer of Love, she has landed several leading roles in both UK and international television productions, including as the psychic Vestal in the award-winning historical miniseries Empire and as the neglected daughter of a successful PR consultant (played by Bill Nighy) in Stephen Poliakoff's drama Gideon's Daughter, for which she won a Golden Globe. In 2006, Blunt was reprized as the manipulative beauty opposite Susan Sarandon and Sam Neill in Ann Turner's family drama Irresistible, which she spent several months filming in Australia.

In the same year followed her first engagement in Hollywood with David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada. In the quirky comedy about the New York fashion world, she starred opposite Anne Hathaway as the ambitious assistant to a successful fashion journal editor (played by Meryl Streep). Blunt received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Best Young Actress and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress that same year.

From 2007 to 2008, the actress followed several offers for American theatrical productions, including the female lead opposite Tom Hanks and John Malkovich in the drama The Great Buck Howard. In 2009, Blunt took on the title role as the young Queen Victoria (1819-1901) in Jean-Marc Vallée's biopic The Young Victoria.

As a result, the actress, who prefers to choose characters "that aren't as streamlined," continued to establish herself in Hollywood, landing starring roles such as starring opposite Benicio del Toro in the horror remake Wolfman (2010) and opposite Matt Damon in the sci-fi thriller The Adjustment Bureau (2011).

She was Jon Favreau's first choice for the role of Black Widow in Iron Man 2, but had to turn down the role due to the filming of Gulliver's Travels, which Scarlett Johansson took over.

In 2012 she played for the third time alongside Jason Segel in the film Almost Married. Both previously starred in Gulliver's Travels (2010) and The Muppets (2011). She has been promoting the perfume Opium by Yves Saint Laurent since 2012. She starred opposite Tom Cruise in the 2014 sci-fi film Edge of Tomorrow.

Blunt was in a relationship with the Canadian jazz singer Michael Bublé from 2005 to 2008, whom she met at one of his concerts and with whom she lived alternately in London and Vancouver. She has been married to fellow actor John Krasinski since July 10, 2010, with whom she has two daughters (* 2014 and 2016). Since August 2015, Blunt has held both British and US citizenship.