Emily Blunt

Emily Blunt Bio

Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress whose career spans stage, television, and major Hollywood films. The recipient of 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, she has earned a place among the most respected performers of her generation. In 2020, Forbes ranked her as the sixth highest-paid actress in the world, with annual earnings of $22.5 million. Blunt has built a reputation for versatility across drama, comedy, musical, and action genres.

Early Life and Background

Emily Olivia Laura Blunt was born in London on 23 February 1983, the second of four children. Her mother, Joanna Mackie, was a former actress and English teacher, and her father, Oliver Blunt KC, is a barrister. Her mother gave up acting to parent full time before Blunt started school. Blunt has described herself as a shy and awkward child who began having difficulties with stuttering, a condition she has called debilitating and compared to an imposter living in your body. The condition was at its worst between the ages of seven and fourteen.

Intimidated by speaking, Blunt spent much of her time watching people, creating elaborate games, and playing the cello. She credits a school teacher with encouraging her to perform in class plays, where using voices different from her own allowed her to disconnect from herself and speak fluently. The experience gave her the confidence to continue on the stage and discover her love of acting. She has said that her stutter largely receded in adulthood, though it still occasionally emerges under stress. Blunt attended Hurtwood House, a sixth-form boarding school in Surrey known for its performing arts programme.

Path to Celebrity

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 for professional roles. In November 2001, she made her professional acting debut at age 18 in Peter Hall’s West End production of the play The Royal Family, in which she played the granddaughter of Judi Dench’s character. For her performance, Blunt was named Best Newcomer by the Evening Standard. The following year, she portrayed Eugenie in Nicholas Wright’s play Vincent in Brixton at the National Theatre, and Juliet in Indhu Rubasingham’s production of Romeo and Juliet at Chichester Festival Theatre.

In 2003, Blunt made her screen debut in the British television drama Boudica, about the life of the ancient Celtic warrior-queen who fought the Romans. That same year, she was praised for her performance as the 16th-century Queen Catherine Howard in the two-part British television drama Henry VIII. In 2004, she made her theatrical film debut in Paweł Pawlikowski’s critically acclaimed independent British drama My Summer of Love, about an infatuation between two young women from different socioeconomic backgrounds in the English countryside. For this role, Blunt won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer and was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Emily Blunt Career

Early Career (2001–2004)

Blunt’s first notable work was her 2001 West End debut in The Royal Family, which earned her the Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer. She quickly transitioned to screen work with roles in Boudica and the television miniseries Henry VIII in 2003, where her portrayal of Catherine Howard drew significant praise. Her feature film debut came in 2004 with My Summer of Love, a critically acclaimed independent British drama in which she co-starred as Tamsin. The role earned her the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer and a nomination for the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

During these early years, Blunt established herself as a versatile performer capable of taking on both period and contemporary material. She credited her experience making My Summer of Love as having a lasting impact on her career choices, calling the improvisational approach free spirited, collaborative, and alive, and saying she looked for that feeling of terror and excitement in subsequent work.

Breakthrough (2005–2010)

Blunt’s international breakthrough came in 2006 when she co-starred as the troubled only child of a New Labour spin doctor in the British television film Gideon’s Daughter, and played Emily Charlton, the senior assistant of fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly, in the comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada. The Devil Wears Prada was a commercial success, grossing $326 million, and Blunt’s performance was widely praised. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for Gideon’s Daughter, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep described Blunt as the best young actress I have worked with in some time, perhaps ever.

Her profile continued to rise through 2007 and 2008 with roles in Wind Chill, The Jane Austen Book Club, Dan in Real Life, Charlie Wilson’s War, and Sunshine Cleaning. In 2009, she portrayed Queen Victoria in the independent period drama The Young Victoria, earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama and the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actress. That same year, she received the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.

Notable Works and Milestones

Among Blunt’s signature films are The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), Looper (2012), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Sicario (2015), The Girl on the Train (2016), A Quiet Place (2018), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), A Quiet Place Part II (2021), and Oppenheimer (2023). She won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie for Edge of Tomorrow and a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for A Quiet Place. Her portrayal of Katherine Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the film became her highest-grossing release with a worldwide gross of over $950 million.

Emily Blunt Award Nominations

Emily Blunt has received multiple accolades across film, television, and stage throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards. She has earned Golden Globe nominations for her work in The Devil Wears Prada, The Young Victoria, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Into the Woods, Mary Poppins Returns, and Oppenheimer. Additional nominations include BAFTA Award nominations for The Devil Wears Prada, The Girl on the Train, and Oppenheimer, as well as her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Oppenheimer.

Emily Blunt Awards Won

Emily Blunt has won a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards across her career. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for Gideon’s Daughter in 2007. She won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for A Quiet Place in 2019. Additional recognitions include the Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer for The Royal Family, the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for My Summer of Love, the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie for Edge of Tomorrow, and the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year in 2009.

Emily Blunt Family

Emily Blunt was born in London to a former actress and English teacher, Joanna Mackie, and a barrister, Oliver Blunt KC. She is the second of four children. In 2012, Blunt became the sister-in-law of actor Stanley Tucci when he married her sister Felicity Blunt. She and her husband, American actor John Krasinski, have two daughters, one born in 2014 and the other in 2016.

Personal Life

Blunt was in a relationship with Canadian singer Michael Bublé from 2005 to 2008. She and American actor John Krasinski were introduced to each other by a mutual friend and began dating in November 2008. They became engaged in August 2009 and married in Como, Italy, in July 2010. In 2015, Blunt became an American citizen through naturalisation, making her a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States.

Blunt has been working with the American Institute for Stuttering since 2006 to help children overcome stuttering through educational resources and to raise awareness of the realities of the condition. She serves on the board of directors of the institute and hosts a gala to raise funds for speech therapy scholarships for children and adults.

Upcoming Projects

As of February 2025, Blunt has filmed the sports drama The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson as wrestler Mark Kerr, which is set for release later in the year. She will also star in Steven Spielberg’s as-yet untitled science fiction film, co-starring Josh O’Connor. Blunt will reprise the role of Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which is scheduled for release in May 2026.