Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May, 1966) is an English actress, who portrayed Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2. She replaced Helen McCrory, who was originally going to play the role but could not because of her pregnancy. McCrory subsequently took on the role of Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix's sister.
She portrayed Hermione Granger disguised as Bellatrix in the Gringotts Break-In scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. The voice for the transformed Bellatrix was done by Emma Watson.
Career
Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange (Deathly Hallows).jpg
Helena Bonham Carter on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Bonham Carter has had no formal training in acting. She won a national writing contest in 1979 and used the money to pay for an entry into Spotlight, an actors' directory in England.
In 1983, she made her professional debut in a commercial at the age of 16 and also had a part in A Pattern of Roses, a minor television film. Her breakout performance was in the coveted role of Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View. After that, she found herself frequently typecast in ingenue characters in period flicks.
Her earlier roles included two episodes in the TV series Miami Vice ("Theresa" and "The Savage"), cameoing in the film Maurice, and the TV film A Hazard of Hearts in 1987, The Mask (1988), the 1989 films Francesco and Getting It Right, Hamlet (1990), Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991), episode "Hospital" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous, and providing narration for 5 episodes of the Jackanory TV series.
In the late 90s, she appeared in the 1995 films Mighty Aphrodite, Margaret's Museum, and The Good Sex Guide, Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1997), Sweet Revenge (1998), and Women Talking Dirty (1999).
In the 2000s, she was in Novocaine (2001), Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002), Big Fish (2003), provided voice in the 2005 film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and its video game, and Terminator Salvation (2009).
In 2010, Bonham Carter was in the British biographical comedy-drama Toast, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film The King's Speech that came out the same year.
She has since developed a richly diverse career in Hollywood, starring in films such as Fight Club (co-starring with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt), Conversations with Other Women, The Wings of the Dove (for which she was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Actress), Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland and Planet of the Apes. The latter three were directed by her partner Tim Burton.
Comments on her character
Bellatrix in Gringotts.jpg
Helena playing Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix during the Gringotts Break-in scene
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bonham Carter said the following about playing Bellatrix Lestrange: "She's obviously as bonkers as they come. There's a bit of a child-like madness there... You know how kids can be like savages before they get civilised? There's that sadist quality. Y'know, like boys who like to pick apart an insect for the sake of it... She's a sadist. She's very sick. She's got problems. I think she's been in prison a bit too long. But I suspect even before prison she had problems. She's a racist, obsessed with blood purity... And she's in love with Voldemort, really."[2]
Bonham Carter also had a role in determining Bellatrix's wardrobe for the film: "So I had the idea of the corset. She looks like a warrior. I mean, Bellatrix does mean warrior. And she's also a bit of a fatale. She's the right hand of Voldemort..."[3]
Bonham Carter also has invited Emma Watson to her own home to discuss the character Hermione Granger and her mind set as Bonham Carter wanted to portray Hermione true to how Emma does when she takes Polyjuice Potion in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Hermione transforms into
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