Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. The recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards, Forbes ranked her as one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2020.

Blunt made her acting debut in a 2001 stage production of The Royal Family and portrayed Catherine Howard in the television miniseries Henry VIII (2003). She made her feature film debut in the drama My Summer of Love (2004). Blunt's breakthrough came in 2006 with her starring roles in the television film Gideon's Daughter and the comedy film The Devil Wears Prada. The former won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her profile continued to grow with leading roles in The Young Victoria (2009), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Looper (2012), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Into the Woods (2014).

Blunt received critical acclaim for playing an idealistic FBI agent in the crime film Sicario (2015), an alcoholic in the thriller The Girl on the Train (2016), and a survivalist mother in her husband John Krasinski's horror film A Quiet Place (2018), for which she won a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred in the sequels Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2021), and the miniseries The English (2022). Her portrayal of Katherine Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Blunt has been working with the American Institute for Stuttering since 2006 to help children overcome stuttering through educational resources and raise awareness of the realities of the condition. She is on the board of directors of the institute, and hosts a gala for it to raise funds for speech therapy scholarships for children and adults.

Emily Olivia Laura Blunt was born in London on 23 February 1983. She is the second of four children, born to a former actress and English teacher, Joanna Mackie, and a barrister, Oliver Blunt KC. Her mother gave up acting to parent full time before Blunt started school. Blunt described herself as a "shy and awkward" child, who began having difficulties with stuttering, a condition she described as debilitating and "like an imposter living in your body." She experienced it at its worst between the ages of seven and 14. Intimidated by speaking, she spent much time watching people, as well as creating elaborate games for herself and playing the cello. She credits a school teacher with encouraging her to perform in class plays, where using voices different from her own allowed her to disconnect from herself and speak fluently. It also gave her the confidence to continue on the stage and discover her love of acting. She has said that her stutter largely receded in adulthood, but still occasionally emerges under stress. She attended Hurtwood House, a sixth-form boarding school in Surrey, known for its performing arts programme. After appearing in a school play at the Edinburgh Festival, Blunt was discovered and signed by an agent. Once she finished her school exams, she began auditioning.

In November 2001, Blunt made her professional acting debut at age 18 in Peter Hall's West End production of the play The Royal Family, in which she played the granddaughter of Judi Dench's character. Critic Tom Keatinge hailed the production, writing that "Peter Hall's direction and Anthony Ward's tremendous set combine with all this to make The Royal Family a terrific night's entertainment", and that "it provides a vehicle for acting of the finest quality, with strong performances from the whole ensemble". For her performance, Blunt was named "Best Newcomer" by the Evening Standard. The following year, she portrayed Eugenie in Nicholas Wright's play Vincent in Brixton at the National Theatre, and Juliet in Indhu Rubasingham's production of Romeo and Juliet at Chichester Festival Theatre. In 2003, Blunt made her screen debut in the British television drama Boudica, about the life of the ancient Celtic warrior-queen who fought the Romans. That same year, she was praised for her performance as the 16th-century Queen Catherine Howard in the two-part British television drama Henry VIII.

In 2004, Blunt made her theatrical film debut in Paweł Pawlikowski's critically acclaimed independent British drama My Summer of Love, about an infatuation between two young women from different socioeconomic backgrounds in the English countryside. The film involved much improvisation, which Blunt found an interesting challenge, later stating that Pawlikowski's approach was "free spirited, collaborative and alive." Co-starring as Tamsin, she received considerable attention for her performance, garnering critical praise, with David Ansen of Newsweek writing: "Press and Blunt are major discoveries ... they conjure up the role-playing raptures of youth with perfect poetic pitch". Blunt won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer and was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She credited her experience making the film as having an impact on her career choices, stating that it was "such a foray into the great unknown ....[like] putting your feet to the fire" and she "loved that feeling of terror and excitement" and "looked for it ever since."

Blunt's international breakthrough came in 2006. She co-starred as the troubled only child of a New Labour spin doctor in the British television drama film Gideon's Daughter, and played Emily Charlton, the senior assistant of fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep), in the comedy-drama film The Devil Wears Prada. The Devil Wears Prada was a commercial success, grossing $326 million. Blunt's performance was deemed a standout, with Clifford Pugh of the Houston Chronicle asserting that "[Blunt] has many of the film's best lines and steals nearly every scene she's in." Blunt won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her performance in Gideon's Daughter, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada. She also received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the latter. At the 79th Academy Awards, she and co-star Anne Hathaway co-presented the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, with both acting as their characters from the film. Blunt also appeared in the independent mystery drama Irresistible (2006). After The Devil Wears Prada, Streep described Blunt as "the best young actress I've worked with in some time, perhaps ever".