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| Ms Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall (in southwest England, very close to Land's End!) though her exact birthdate is unknown; the best available information is either the year 1960 or 1961. Her father, a pilot in the Royal Navy, was killed in an accident when she was five years old; her mother remarried another pilot six years later who subsequently died in a similar mishap. Growing up primarily in a rural environment as the eldest of five children, Kristin has said that she was "incredibly shy and unsure of myself". An interest in acting from an early age lead to a year in drama school at London's Central School of Speech and Drama ("It was disastrous..."), though her mother preferred for her to attend university. As a practical matter she enrolled in a teaching course, but her determination to pursue acting finally won out despite, or perhaps in spite of, a teaching instructor's unbelievably harsh pronouncement that Kristin had no talent and should "stick to the amateur-dramatics society"; surely an example of nurturing and inspirational pedagogy at its very finest. Needing a break from this oppressive attitude and environment, Kristin went to visit a friend in Paris, intending to stay for a couple weeks. As it turned out, she found work in the city as an au pair for a supportive family who encouraged her desire to act. Still in her teens, she re-enrolled in drama school -- this time in Paris's École Nationale des Arts et Technique de Théâtre -- and found her calling. Her drama teacher helped her find her first job in theater; she somewhat self-deprecatingly adds, "It helped that I was something exotic in France -- a funny little English girl". Kristin's major cinematic debut came in the Prince's Under the Cherry Moon in 1986. She was originally called to try out for a minor character, but her reading of the leading lady in auditions was so compelling they offered her that part instead. 1988 saw her in a film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust, and a noticeably British cast after years in France: "I was a bit intimidated at the prospect of working with all these British actors. I don't have any real training; I did most of my study in France, where they don't have the same British method of acting. I thought everybody would be doing voice warm-ups before each take." Handful turned out to be less formidable than she feared and her portrayal of Lady Brenda Last remains one of her most compelling. A steady series of roles in films and television, primarily in Europe, followed until the smash international success of Four Weddings and a Funeral -- for which she was awarded a BAFTA and an Evening Standard Award for Best Actress as Fiona -- in 1994. Recent roles include agent Sarah Davies in Mission: Impossible (1996) and her Oscar-nominated role as Katharine Clifton in The English Patient (1996). She presently lives with her husband, François Oliviennes (an obstetrician), and their two children on the Left Bank in Paris. Her sister, Serena Scott Thomas, is also an actress and a model. |
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