9 Roles You'd Probably Forgotten That Emily Blunt Once Played

With a resume that includes massive films like The Devil Wears Prada, Edge Of Tomorrow and Oppenheimer, it’s hard to remember a time when Emily Blunt wasn’t one of the cinema industry’s most in-demand actors.

After the British actor landed her first Oscar nomination last year for her role in Oppenheimer, followed by the news this week that she might just be reprising one of her most iconic roles in a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, it seems like Emily’s success is showing no sign of slowign .

Before an impressive string of roles in films as varied as The Fall Guy, A Quiet Place (and its sequel) and Mary Poppins Returns, these are just some of Emily’s additional performances from across the past two decades that you may well have forgotten…

Boudica (2003)

Before Emily Blunt was rubbing shoulders with Hollywood A-listers, she featured in the 2003 TV movie Boudica about the ancient Celtic queen. She played the character of Isolda oppositeDoctor Who and ER actor Alex Kingston in the leading role.

Emily recalled in one interview with IMDB how she had only done theatre before appearing in the role, which meant she swiftly discovered “the difference between stage and screen acting” when she was overly projecting her dialogue on the first day.

Henry VIII (2003)

That same year, Emily played the fifth wife of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard in an ITV miniseries about the infamous monarch. 

With Ray Winstone playing the titular tyrant, the cast also featured other big names like Charles Dance and Mark Strong, while Helena Bonham-Carter and Emilia Fox were among those playing the king’s other wives.

My Summer Of Love (2004)

Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, Emily starred alongside Paddy Considine in this romantic thriller which explores the relationship between two women in the Yorkshire countryside.

It won a Bafta in 2005 for Best British Film, while Emily’s performance earned her recognition at the the British Independent Film Awards in the Most Promising Newcomer category.

Empire

We might not associate Emily Blunt with all that much TV work these days, but back in 2005 she featured in (yes, another!) historical TV miniseries about the struggle for Roman succession after Julius Caesar.

Emily played a priestess called Camane, alongside a cast that also featured Big Little Lies’ Santiago Cabrera and House Of The Dragon’s Vincent Regan.

Gideon’s Daughter (2005)

With a total of seven Golden Globe nominations to her name, Emily Blunt’s only win to this day was for her supporting role in the BBC drama Gideon’s Daughter.

She played the titular daughter of Bill Nighy’s character in the film, which explores a breakdown in their complex relationship.

There are also some other familiar faces here including Tom Hardy, Miranda Richardson and Baby Reindeer’s Tom Goodman-Hill.

Irresistible (2006)

By 2006, Emily Blunt was beginning to share the credits with even bigger names, including Susan Sarandon and Sam Neill.

Emily played Mara in the mystery thriller, an unnerving new co-worker whose disturbing behaviour gets in between a married couple. 

The Wolfman (2010)

While in recent years much of Emily’s resume features more high-octane action roles, there’s definitely a darker streak to her character work.

In 2010, she starred as Gwen Conliffe alongside Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins (and a young Asa Butterfield) in The Wolfman, about a man who is bitten and cursed by a werewolf upon returning to his ancestral homeland.

Looper (2012)

Looper’s unique premise and impressive cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Paul Dano made for a solid action sci-fi upon its release in 2012.

Helmed by Knives Out director Rian Johnson, the plot followed time-travelling contract killers called “loopers”.

You might remember Emily as the shotgun wielding Sara who threatens Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character after he arrives on her property.

And yes, Joseph is wearing prosthetics in the above clip, intended to make him look more like Bruce, who was playing an older version of his character.

Wild Mountain Thyme

Did you know Emily Blunt once starred opposite Jon Hamm in an Irish romantic-drama? The pair played love interests in this 2020 film about star-crossed lovers caught up in a family land dispute.

You can hear Emily sing and do an Irish accent in this film which also stars Christopher Walken and Jamie Dornan.