Emma Bates is an Australian actress and character actress who was known for her strong yet petite physical presence. She is known for her appearances in several award winning movies like Dances With Machines (2021), Team backs (eds), Vanilla Sky (eds), Edward Scissorhands (eds), Bridesmaids (eds), The Perfect Score (eds), Zodiac War (eds), A Dangerous Life (eds), and The Night Manager (eds). Emma’s other credits include the movie Invictus (based on the novel Howards End by Richard Francis Burton), the television series Deadwood, the British film The Game (a), the novel adaptation of Macbeth, and the television mini-series Salvation. She has also been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Performance in a Drama for her work in Edward Scissorhands and Bridesmaids.
Emma’s parents are English and Polish. Emma was born in Victoria, Australia and was educated at St. Lawrence Nursery in Adelaide where she met her future husband, Australian actor John Howard Waite. John was studying to become a painter when Emma enrolled at the University of Western Australia where she pursued her Bachelor of Arts degree with her boyfriend, Australian actor David Strathairn. While at VCA, Emma began to learn about acting and was impressed by fellow student David Storey who had studied acting with Edith Head. Emma pursued a course in Acting, which was a mix of drama, music, and film studies.
Emma later changed her name from Emma Blunt to Emma Bates after she married American actor Albert Brooks. As a member of the Actors Union, Emma regularly fought for better wages and improved working conditions for her fellow actors. When Brooks left the country to pursue a film career in Hollywood, Emma followed suit and moved to Los Angeles where she continued to work in the theatre while studying acting in order to qualify for acting contests in London. After relocating to New York in the late nineteen fifties, Emma began appearing on television programs such as I Married a Machine Girl and Roseanne, which helped to build her reputation. Her association with movies made her a name as a versatile actress in both classical and contemporary dramas.