Bonham-Carter wins best actress award - Feb 4 2008
Helena Bonham-Carter has been named best actress at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

The 41-year-old took the prize for two performances - in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street and low-key drama Conversations With Other Women.

Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for his role as a Texan oil prospector in There Will Be Blood.

The performance has already earned him a Golden Globe and he is hotly tipped for Bafta and Oscar glory later this month.

Julie Christie, also a front-runner for Oscar success with Away From Her, received the Alexander Walker Special Award for outstanding contribution to film.

The newly-married star has enjoyed a career spanning five decades and including such films as Darling, Don't Look Now and Doctor Zhivago.

The awards ceremony was held at The Ivy restaurant in central London.

Joy Division biopic Control was the surprise winner of the best film award, beating Atonement and There Will Be Blood. It also won best screenplay.

Irish writer and director John Carney won most promising newcomer for Once.

Atonement took the prize for technical achievement in cinematography, production and costume design. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood received the best film score award for There Will Be Blood.

Helena’s dream comes true - Jan 16 2008
Helena Bonham-Carter has revealed that starring in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street is a dream come true.

"I’ve always wanted to be in a musical but thought, ’Hey, that’s going to be a dream, babe’," she tells the New York Daily News of her non-singing background.

"I didn’t know if I could sing. I was gobsmacked. It was a dream come true. I’m going to be in a musical! And it’s written by Sondheim (Stephen, the musical’s composer and lyricist). It was really amazing for me."

But the 41-year-old British actress admits it wasn’t easy.

"I don’t think I have ever worked quite so hard - although I do love working hard. It was really rewarding," she says.

Helena, who has two children with Sweeney Todd director Tim Burton, is ruling out more roles in the future, although she will return as quirky professor Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

"I’m ready for a break," she admits.

"Sweeney was a year in the making - from singing lessons to recording to filming."

’Late bloomer’ Burton may wed Helena - Jan 15 2008
Filmmaker Tim Burton says he is finally planning to tie the knot with actress Helena Bonham Carter.

The pair met when Burton directed the English actress in the film Planet Of The Apes seven years ago.

Burton, 49 - whose Sweeney Todd has just won best film musical and best actor in a musical for Johnny Depp at the Golden Globes - told the Radio Times magazine: "Helena and I feel so married we never got around to doing it, but I’m thinking about it. I’m a late bloomer."

The couple have two children together - four-year-old son Billy and a daughter who was born in December - and have knocked through the wall that separated their adjoining London homes.

Helena, 41, who previously dated Kenneth Branagh, has appeared in Burton’s movies Big Fish and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. She also appears in Sweeney Todd.

New baby joy for Helena - Dec 17 2007
Helena Bonham Carter and her director partner Tim Burton have received an early Christmas present - their second child.