Emma Chambers was born Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers in 1964 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to John, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Noelle (nee Strange). She was raised in a family that moved around frequently, and her parents eventually split up. Chambers trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, where she met her contemporaries, including the former EastEnders actor Ross Kemp.
Her breakout role was as Honey Thacker in the 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill, where she played an eccentric bookshop owner who becomes engaged to her brother's slovenly housemate. Her performance earned her critical acclaim and recognition.
Chambers' television debut was in a 1988 BBC adaptation of the DH Lawrence novel The Rainbow, where she played Margaret, one of the young Brangwen children. She went on to appear in various TV shows, including a six-part serialisation of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit and the popular BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, which she starred in from 1994 to 1998.
In addition to her television work, Chambers had a successful stage career, making her West End debut in the 1988 production of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy Henceforward... at the Vaudeville theatre. She also appeared in the original 1987 production at the Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough, where she lodged with Ian McKellen for a while and regarded him as a father figure.
Chambers' other notable stage roles include Mariane in Tartuffe at the Almeida theatre in 1996 and Sheila in Michael Frayn's Benefactors at the Albery theatre in 2002. She also appeared in various productions with the National Theatre company, including Franz Kafka's The Trial and Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III.
Chambers was married to actor Ian Dunn in 1991 and had no children. She suffered from asthma and withdrew largely from public life after the final episode of The Vicar of Dibley in 2007. She died on February 21, 2018, at the age of 53, due to a heart attack at her home in Lymington, Hampshire.
