Emily Blunt

Biography

Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She has received several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards. Forbes ranked her as one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2020. Blunt made her acting debut in the 2001 stage production of The Royal Family and portrayed Catherine Howard in the television miniseries Henry VIII (2003). She made her feature film debut in the drama My Summer of Love (2004). Blunt's breakthrough came in 2006 with her starring roles in the television film Gideon's Daughter and the comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada. The former won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her profile continued to grow with leading roles in the period film The Young Victoria (2009), the romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), the science fiction films The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Looper (2012) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and the musical Into the Woods (2014). Blunt received critical acclaim for playing an idealistic FBI agent in the crime film Sicario (2015), an alcoholic in the thriller The Girl on the Train (2016), and a survivalist mother in her husband John Krasinski's horror film A Quiet Place (2018), for which she won a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred in the sequels Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2021), the science fiction film Disclosure Day (2026), and the revisionist Western television miniseries The English (2022). Her portrayal of Katherine Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller film Oppenheimer (2023) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Blunt was born on 23 February 1983, in London. She is the second of four children of barrister Oliver Blunt KC and an English teacher and former actress, Joanna Mackie. Her mother gave up acting to parent full time before Blunt started school. Blunt described herself as a "shy and awkward" child, who began having difficulties with stuttering, a condition she described as debilitating and "like an imposter living in your body". She experienced it at its worst between the ages of seven and fourteen. Intimidated by speaking, she spent much time watching people, as well as creating elaborate games for herself, and playing the cello. Blunt credits a school teacher with having encouraged her to perform in class plays, where using voices different to her own allowed her to disconnect from herself and speak fluently. This also gave her the confidence to continue on the stage and discover her love of acting. She said that her stutter largely receded in adulthood, but still occasionally emerges under stress. Blunt attended Ibstock Place School, a private school in the London suburb of Roehampton, followed by Hurtwood House, a private sixth-form boarding school in Surrey, known for its performing arts programme. After appearing in a school play at the Edinburgh Festival, Blunt was discovered and signed by an agent. Once she finished her school exams, she began auditioning. Blunt has been working with the American Institute for Stuttering since 2006 to help children overcome stuttering through educational resources and raise awareness of the realities of the condition. She is on the board of directors of the institute, and hosts a gala for it to raise funds for speech therapy scholarships for children and adults.