I grew up on the Shirley Temple movies, and I memorized Annie. My dad works in St. James, and he heard they were doing Annie at Rolla's Ozark Actors Theatre. My mom took me to audition, and I got a part in it. From that point on, I just loved it. My mom started driving me an hour into St. Louis to do shows.
I remember watching the older kids at my church perform plays for Christmas and Easter. I always wanted to be in the play, but the younger kids only did Easter and Christmas “speeches,” which are short, cute poems that you memorize and recite in front of the entire church—pretty cool, but not as cool as the play.
Has a strong intesity, strong enough to hold up the ecsentric roles she often takes. Although she is widely known for her 'crazy' characters she still has a large Merchant Ivory following from her corset bound days. Her growth as an actress is obvious through the early 90's and her ability to transform isnt only limited to whacky and unusual characters. Helena has proved herself capable of raw humanistic emotionaly driven roles in many underated indi films such as Howards End (1992, dancing queen (1993), Women talking dirty (1999), Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002), Live from Baghdad (2002), Burton and Taylor (2013) and many more.
Her benefits in movies go beyond her intense look and acting skill, she also speaks in many convincing accents on screen and is fluent in French and Spanish.
She prefers her characters hair to be wild and curly so she doesnt have to be bothered by hair and makeup crew, and loves to use false teeth to find her character. Being a self admitted swat, she is known to visit an astrologer and graphologist when portraying a 'historical' or 'real' character, and reads every biography and talks to every living relative she can get her hands on. Helena always has crew runners fetching her multiple beverages at once and sometimes forgets to take out false teeth when she is eating.
Her partner, Tim Burton (who she calls her 'hero' and 'soulmate') has collaborated with her seven times, the most recent collaboration being "Dark Shadows". They have two children and live in London and ajoined houses. After going through a rough time in her personal life Helena says she is glad to finally feel at home with Burton.
Helena's impact on the world goes past acting, she has also given multiple generations of women and men courage and bravery to feel comfortable in their own bodies and to realize criticism will happen but it shouldn't have the power to change you. Her filmography is beyond impressive and I have never seen one with so much (unrealized) versatility. I dont think its possible to watch any 4 of her films and not fall in love with at least one of them.
Pictures of Helena X
Click 'read more' for filmography.
Cinderella (pre-production)
Fairy Godmother
2014 Salting the Battlefield (TV movie) (pre-production)
Margot Tyrrell
2014 Turks & Caicos (TV movie) (filming)
Margot Tyrrell
2013 The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (post-production)
Dr. Clair
2013 Burton & Taylor (TV movie)
Elizabeth Taylor
2013 The Lone Ranger
Red Harrington
2012 Les Misérables
Madame Thénardier
2012 Great Expectations
Miss Havisham
2012 A Therapy (short)
Patient
2012 Dark Shadows
Dr. Julia Hoffman
2011 The Gruffalo's Child (TV movie)
Mother Squirrel (voice)
2011 Life's Too Short (TV series)
Helena Bonham Carter
– Episode #1.3 (2011) … Helena Bonham Carter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Bellatrix Lestrange
2011 The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animation
Mother Squirrel (voice)
2010 Toast (TV movie)
Mrs. Potter
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Bellatrix Lestrange
2010 The King's Speech
Queen Elizabeth
2010/I Alice in Wonderland
Red Queen
2009 The Gruffalo (TV short)
Mother Squirrel (voice)
2009 Enid (TV movie)
Enid Blyton
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Bellatrix Lestrange
2009 Terminator Salvation
Dr. Serena Kogan
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Mrs. Lovett
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Bellatrix Lestrange
2006 Sixty Six
Esther Rubens
2005 Magnificent 7 (TV movie)
Maggi Jackson
2005/I Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Video Game)
Lady Tottington (voice)
2005 Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride (voice)
2005 The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Lady Campanula Tottington (voice)
2005 Conversations with Other Women
Woman
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Mrs. Bucket
2003 Big Fish
Jenny - Young / Jenny - Senior / The Witch
2003 Henry VIII (TV movie)
Anne Boleyn
2002 Live from Baghdad (TV movie)
Ingrid Formanek
2002 Till Human Voices Wake Us
Ruby
2002 The Heart of Me
Dinah
2001 Novocaine
Susan
2001 Planet of the Apes
Ari
2001 Football (short)
Mum (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
2000 Carnivale
Milly (voice)
1999 The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (TV movie)
Lily
1999 Women Talking Dirty
Cora
1999 Fight Club
Marla Singer
1998 The Theory of Flight
Jane Hatchard
1998 The Revengers' Comedies
Karen Knightly
1998 Merlin (TV mini-series)
Morgan Le Fey
– Part 1 (1998) … Morgan Le Fey
– Part 2 (1998) … Morgan Le Fey
– Part 3 (1998) … Morgan Le Fey
1997 A Merry War
Rosemary
1997 The Wings of the Dove
Kate Croy
1997 The Petticoat Expeditions
Narrator
1996 The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (TV series)
Vera Brittain
– Explosion (1996) … Vera Brittain (voice)
– Slaughter (1996) … Vera Brittain (voice)
1996 Portraits chinois
Ada
1996 Twelfth Night or What You Will
Olivia
1995 Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex (video)
1995 Mighty Aphrodite
Amanda
1995 Margaret's Museum
Margaret MacNeil
1994 Frankenstein
Elizabeth
1994 Absolutely Fabulous (TV series)
Dream Saffron
– Hospital (1994) … Dream Saffron
1994 Butter (TV short)
Dorothy
1994 A Dark Adapted Eye (TV movie)
Faith Severn (adult)
1993 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald (TV movie)
Marina Oswald
1993 Dancing Queen (TV movie)
Pandora/Julie (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
1992 White Bear's Secret (TV movie)
White Bear (voice) (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
1992 Howards End
Helen Schlegel
1991 Brown Bear's Wedding (TV movie)
White Bear (voice) (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread
Caroline Abbott
1991 Jackanory (TV series)
Reader
– The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 5 (1991) … Reader
– The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 4 (1991) … Reader
– The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 3 (1991) … Reader
– The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 2 (1991) … Reader
– The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 1 (1991) … Reader
1990 Hamlet
Ophelia
1989 Getting It Right
Lady Minerva Munday
1989 Theatre Night (TV series)
Raina Petkoff
– Arms and the Man (1989) … Raina Petkoff
1989 Francesco
Chiara
1988 Six Minutes with Ludwig (short)
The Star
1988 La maschera
Iris
1987 A Hazard of Hearts (TV movie)
Serena Staverley
1987 Screen Two (TV series)
Jo Marriner
– The Vision (1987) … Jo Marriner
1987 Maurice
Lady at Cricket Match (uncredited)
1987 Miami Vice (TV series)
Dr. Theresa Lyons
– Theresa (1987) … Dr. Theresa Lyons
– The Savage (1987) … Dr. Theresa Lyons
1986 Lady Jane
Lady Jane Grey
1985 A Room with a View
Lucy Honeychurch, Miss Bartlett's cousin and charge (as Helena Bonham-Carter)