“She Kinda Looks Like If Winona and Johnny Depp Had a Daughter,” Wait Until You See Helena in Her Youth

Helena Bonham Carter has a film presence so striking that it’s hard to imagine cinema without her wild hair, sharp wit, and unforgettable characters. But before she became the darkly magnetic Bellatrix in Harry Potter, she was a young actress playing period dramas and navigating the spotlight in her own unfiltered way. From her early roles to her off-screen life, here’s a look at the Helena you may not know — and why she remains one of the most intriguing stars today.

Career success

Helena Bonham Carter is known for her incredible talent for transformation: Cruel Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter, kind chimp Ari from Planet of the Apes, and Queen Elizabeth from The King’s Speech.

Many other actresses would be jealous of her track record. But such a variety of roles became accessible to her only with age. It’s hard to believe it today, but at the start of her career, Helena kept playing very similar characters.

The first main role she played was Grey in Lady Jane. The film premiered in 1986, and the critics weren’t thrilled. But the young actress was noticed and got many new offers. She’d mostly get characters from the past, damsel-in-distress types, so she often got the offensive nickname “Corset queen.”

“I looked, as someone said, like a bloated chipmunk,” Helena remembers those years. She needed a lot of time to really show her incredible acting talent and prove she was a master of transformation.

As she got older, Carter got more and more offers. Her talent was even appreciated by the royal family. Once, she met Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She told the actress, “Oh, Helena, yes, you are getting better at acting.” Of course, nobody knew Helena would play Margaret in the famous series The Crown.

What roles people know her

Helena Bonham Carter has one of those faces you recognize instantly, even if you can’t always place where you saw her last. From playing fierce queens to eccentric oddballs, she’s made every role unforgettable in her own beautifully chaotic way. Let’s see which of her characters people remember most — and which roles left the biggest mark on you.

Of course, almost everyone knows Helena for her iconic role in Harry Potter:

• Her performance as Bellatrix Lestrange was one of the best performances of the entire HP franchise. The true embodiment of evil, crazy and clever. © moviesncheese / Reddit
• She’s part of a generation of British actors that I have to explain to my kids had a career BEFORE Harry Potter. © KoryGrayson / Reddit
• Gorgeous and talented! I have an affinity for her as Bellatrix in the Harry Potter series, but she is consistently excellent. © diggertim68 / Reddit

But many people love her for the other characters she has brought to the screen:

• A Room With a View! Chemistry between her and Julian Sands is incredible! © starboy__xo / Reddit
• I’m not big into musicals, but Sweeney Todd was a wonderful movie. Still got it on DvD! © Captain_Deskchair / Reddit
• She will always be Marla Singer to me! Fight Club! © Necessary_Drive9765 / Reddit
• Any answer that is not Margarets Museum is the wrong answer. You probably have not seen this movie. I’d make that a priority if I were you. © iterationnull / Reddit
• Her episode of The Cleaner on BBC is superb. © Long_Tall_Man / Reddit

Private life

Her private life started to develop later in life. She began dating Tim Burton when she was 35. It wasn’t just a union of a man and a woman, but a team of geniuses.

She became the muse of the director, and she starred in many of his movies: Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. In 2014, they broke up. Carter said, “It might be easier to work together without being together anymore. He always only cast me with great embarrassment.”

A new love

“With a divorce, you go through massive grief — it is a death of a relationship, so it’s utterly bewildering. Your identity, everything, changes,” Carter once said after divorcing Burton. And she did change: she started a new life. In 2018, she met art historian Rye Holmboe, who is 21 years younger than her. “Women can be very powerful when they’re older,” the actress laughs when she’s asked about their age difference.

At 56 years old, she finally did something in a relationship she’d never done before. She moved in with her partner. Yes, it’s incredible, but in all the years of marriage with Tim Burton, they lived in different houses. Now, Carter is a homemaker, and she even has rabbits.

Her attitude toward age

Carter is an inspiration for many women. As you can see, she’s only getting happier as she ages. She’s actually said, “I don’t ever want to go back there.” Today, she’s in love, she’s successful and attractive. She states, “I’m definitely the cliché of saying I’m miles happier than I was when I was younger.”

In a recent interview, Helena said that many people consider aging as something shameful. “Every single magazine, Instagram, anything, it’s all about thou shalt not age. It’s a dirty word, aging. We’re all obsessed with it, it’s sort of pathological. It’s almost a crime, the shame attached.”

The actress is nearing her 60th birthday and thinks that aging is synonymous with reaching one’s prime and not the other way around. People can’t control this process, so why waste time on pointless attempts? There are things in life that are worth our attention.

Most people remember Helena from her roles in her adulthood, but her youthful image causes heated discussions. One person said, “She kinda looks like if Winona and Johnny Depp had a daughter.” Other one added, “Sometimes I forget how pretty she is cause her styling in movies often makes her look grungy and disheveled lol. But she’s like an 8.5 at minimum. Very pretty.”

From her corseted roles in her youth to the fierce, layered characters she’s known for now, Helena Bonham Carter has always chosen her own path, both on and off screen. Whether you know her from Harry Potter, Fight Club, or her quieter early films, one thing’s clear: Helena’s career, and her unapologetically authentic life, have made her one of the most captivating figures in Hollywood.