Helena Bonham Carter has been seen in such diverse feature films as David Fincher's provocative drama Fight Club, Tim Burton's new version of The Planet of the Apes and the dark comedy Novocaine with Steve Martin. She received Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Best Actress nominations for her role in Ian Softley's sensual adaptation of Henry James' Wings of the Dove and won accolades starring opposite Kenneth Branagh in The Theory of Flight. Other awards include a Canadian Genie for Best Actress for her performance in Margaret's Museum and an Emmy nomination for the widely praised miniseries Merlin. She can be seen in the HBO movie Live From Baghdad with Michael Keaton for which she has been nominated for a 2002 Golden Globe Best Actress Award. Bonham Carter shot the big screen adaptation of Daniel Wallace's Big Fish for director Tim Burton. Born and raised in London, Bonham Carter was educated at one of that city's foremost schools, Westminster. Director Trevor Nunn persuaded her to postpone her studies to star in his film Lady Jane. Then, on the last day of shooting Nunn's film, James Ivory offered here the lead in A Room With a View. This began a series of roles in E.M. Forster adaptations that would bring Bonham Carter international stardom, followed by Where Angels Fear to Tread and Howard's End. She also played Ophelia in Franco Zeffrelli's Hamlet opposite Mel Gibson, appeared in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein directed by Kenneth Branagh and starred as Woody Allen's wife in Mighty Aphrodite.

Bonham Carter's wide variety of contemporary roles include playing an anorexic in Getting it Right, a stripper in Dancing Queen and the widow of Lee Harvey Oswald in Fatal Deception. Other television credits include Arms and the Man, Beatrix Potter, A Hazard of Hearts, as well as guest appearances on Miami Vice. Bonham Carter's stage appearances include Woman in White, The Chalk Garden, House of Bernarda Alba and Trelawny of the Wells.