Love Actually fans ‘had no idea’ star Emma Thompson’s sister is soap and romcom royalty

Love Actually fans have been left stunned to find out star has a rather famous soap star sister.

The iconic festive flick is a staple on screens at Christmastime. Released in 2003, Love Actually – directed by Richard Curtis – has gone on to become one of the most successful Christmas movies.

It features an ensemble cast, including the likes of Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Coin Firth and Liam Neeson. Denise Richards and even Ant and Dec make an appearance too.

The romantic comedy is centred around eight interconnected couples navigating their love lives in the run-up to .

But for star Emma Thompson, who plays Karen, it turns out acting runs in the family, as fans are only just realising her sister is a soap legend.

Emma’s younger sister is fellow actress Sophie Thompson. She is an Olivier Award-winning actress, and has appeared in several rom-com’s like Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Sophie also played Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. Similarly, her sister Emma also appeared in the Harry Potter franchise, playing Professor Trelawney.

But soap fans will best recognise Emma’s sister, Sophie as Stella Crawford from ’s .

The actress played the villainous fiancee of Phil Mitchell from 2006 until 2007. During that time she was involved in some dark storylines including secretly abusing Phil’s son Ben.

Stella’s demise came on the day of her wedding to the Hartman, as Ben stood up and revealed all. She then made a run for it, with a furious Phil in pursuit, before throwing herself off a roof.

On an Facebook fan page, fans shared their shock over learning the connection between Emma and Sophie. One person said: “Didn’t realise Sophie (Stella) was Emma’s sister.” Someone else wrote: “I didn’t know either until the other day…..” A third penned: “No way!”

isn’t the only soap that Sophie has starred in though. In 2018, she played a quirky psychic called Rosemary in .

Speaking about appearing in and her return to the world of soaps, Sophie said on Good Morning Britain in 2018: “Soap is such an extraordinary thing as you have to get on a bus that’s moving at quite a speed so it’s such a strange sensation.

“It’s like a curious merge, and I always find merging on the motorway quite discombobulating and that merge in work terms is also discombobulating although they’re all so welcoming there, but it’s strange, there’s no getting away from it.”