Power was born in London England on May 26th, 1966 to a merchant banker father and a Spanish/French psychotherapist mother. She comes from England's most prominent families both in the cinematic and social senses. Her great-grandfather is Lord Herbert Henry Asquith, one of Englands Liberal Prime Minister's; granddaughter of Lady Violet Bonham Carter, orator, celebrated politician, and a member of the house of Lords; and grandniece to the famed screenwriter-director Anthony Asquith.
Her heritage may have been defined by power and wealth but her upbringing was full of affliction. Her mother suffered a nervous breakdown when Helena was five and then in her father suffered from a massive stroke that left him a paraplegic and partially blind following a botched operation to remove a benign brain tumor.
She has said in interviews that it was her father's paralysis that spurred her into acting. While her father was battling for his life in intensive care, thirteen-year-old Helena took control of her future by paying (with money she had won in a poetry competition) to have her photo listed in a casting directory. She was soon auditioning and made her screen debut in 1985's "Lady Jane." She turned in an impressive performance that caught the eye of director James Ivory who cast her in the 1986 adaptation of E.M. Forster's "A Room With a View." The film was a huge success with eight Oscar nominations, including Best picture and Best Director. The buzz surrounding the movie gave Helena her first real taste of fame, not to mention steady work. She opted to drop out of Cambridge University to concentrate her efforts on her acting career.
While she did find steady work, she also found herself being typecast in one period piece to another. Although the quality of the movies; "Hamlet" (1990), "Where Angels Fear to Tread" (1991), and "Howards End" (1992) were among the best, she felt they limited her ability to advance as an actress.
In 1995 the cycle was finally broken and Bohnam Carter starred in Woody Allen's wife in "Mighty Aphrodite." She then turned in a stellar performance as the coal miner's wife driven to madness in "Margaret's Museum." She did still appear in period pieces but her characters were becoming more diverse and in 1997 she appeared in "The Wings of The Dove." She gave such a powerful performance that she was awarded a Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
She appeared in the poorly received "Theory of Flight" with her off-screen partner Kenneth Branagh in 1998. But in 1999 she was cast in one of her most talked about roles to date, as Edward Norton's and Brad Pitt's desirable in "Fight Club." She traded in her English mannerisms and hair extensions for a short modern hairdo and American dysfunction. Critics have called her one of the most shocking aspects of a shocking movie.
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