Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May, 1966) is an English actress, known for playing Bellatrix Lestrange in the 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. Helen is now playing Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix's sister. Due to the similarity in appearance between Bellatrix and her sister Andromeda Tonks, fans of the series set up an online petition to have Helena play Andromeda in the film adaptations of Deathly Hallows. However, Andromeda was cut from the films.

She played Hermione 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
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. 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. She has since developed a richly diverse career in Hollywood, starring in films such as Fight Club, 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. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film The King's Speech.

Comments on her character
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."

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..." ''

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 Bellatrix.

Personal life
Bonham Carter's domestic partner is director Tim Burton, with whom she has two children: Billy-Ray and Nell Burton. She was once involved with Kenneth Branagh, who portrayed Gilderoy Lockhart in the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and whom she met while he was still married to Emma Thompson, who plays Sybill Trelawney the Harry Potter films. Bonham Carter and Burton are good friends, and frequent colleagues, of actor Johnny Depp. Helena and Tim live in Belsize Park, London with their two kids in ajoining houses that connect through Helena's Drawing Room.