Ralph Fiennes – English Actor

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor. He has appeared in films such as Schindler’s List, Quiz Show, The English Patient, Oscar and Lucinda, Red Dragon, The Constant Gardener, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the Harry Potter films, and In Bruges . Most recently he appeared in The Reader.

He is the only actor ever to have won a Tony Award for playing Hamlet on Broadway. In 2001, Fiennes received the William Shakespeare Award from the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C..

Fiennes is also a UNICEF ambassador.

Biography

Early life

Fiennes was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, the son of Mark Fiennes (1933-2004), a farmer and photographer, and Jennifer Lash (1938-1993), a writer. His surname is of Norman origin. He is a third cousin of the adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The eldest of seven children, his siblings are actor Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Luther), Martha Fiennes, a director (in her film Onegin, he acted the title role), Magnus Fiennes, a composer, Sophie Fiennes, a filmmaker, Jacob Fiennes, a conservationist, and his foster brother Michael Emery, an archaeologist.

The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork and County Kilkenny for some years, where Fiennes attended Saint Kieran’s College for one year. He also attended Newtown, a Quaker school in Waterford. They moved to Salisbury in England, where Fiennes finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworth’s School before attending Chelsea College of Art.

Career

Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park and, also during the late 1980s, the National Theatre before becoming a star in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and then made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, for which he received substantial acclaim and praise throughout Europe.

1993 was his “breakout year”. He had a major role in the very controversial Peter Greenaway film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond. Though the film was poorly received, Fiennes’s career suffered no lasting consequences, and later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. For this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[4] He did not win the Oscar, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role. His portrayal as Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institute’s list of top 50 movie villains.

In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show, and in 1996 was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the World War II epic romance The English Patient. Fiennes’ work has ranged from thrillers (Red Dragon) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to campy nostalgia (The Avengers) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan) and offbeat dramedy (Oscar and Lucinda). Fiennes was cast as Lord Voldemort in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and has retained this role for both the 5th film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the 7th and 8th films Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which will be released in two parts in 2010 and 2011. Lord Voldemort does not appear in the book of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and so Fiennes will not appear in the film. However, as Voldemort appears as an 11 year-old, Ralph’s nephew , Hero Fiennes-Tiffin will play him.

The Constant Gardener was released in 2005 with Fiennes as the title role. The film is set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity. His 2007 performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2006 Tony Award.

In 2008 he reteamed with frequent collaborator director Jonathan Kent to play the title role in Sophocles’ Oedipus which will tour internationally in 2009. He will also appear in a 2010 West End revival of Uncle Vanya.

Other Information

• Full Name : Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes
• Born : 22 December 1962
• Birth Place : Suffolk, England
• Years active : 1990-present
• Spouse(s) : Alex Kingston (1993-1997)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1993 – NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor – Schindler’s List
• 1994 – BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor – Schindler’s List
• 1994 – NSFC Award, DFWFCA Award, and CFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor – Schindler’s List
• 1995 – ALFS Award for British Actor of the Year – Schindler’s List
• 1995 – Tony Award for Best Actor – Hamlet
• 1999 – European Film Award for Best Actor – Sunshine
• 2005 – Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for his body of work as a thespian
• 2006 – Honorary Fellowship of UCD Dramatic Society for services to theatre
• 2007 – Spike TV’s 2007 Scream Awards for Most Vile Villain – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 2007 – The James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society.

Nominations

• 1994 – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Schindler’s List
• 1994 – Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Schindler’s List
• 1994 – MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance – Schindler’s List
• 1997 – Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role – The English Patient
• 1997 – BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – The English Patient
• 1997 – Golden Globe and Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – The English Patient
• 1997 – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast – The English Patient
• 1999 – Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production – The Prince of Egypt
• 1999 – Razzie Award for Worst Actor – The Avengers
• 1999 – Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (shared with Uma Thurman) – The Avengers
• 2000 – BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – The End of the Affair
• 2000 – Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Sunshine
• 2001 – ALFS Award for British Actor of the Year – The End of the Affair
• 2003 – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor – Red Dragon
• 2003 – Teen Choice Award – Choice Movie Liplock (shared with Jennifer Lopez) – Maid in Manhattan
• 2006 – BAFTA Award – Best Actor – The Constant Gardener
• 2006 – Annie Awards – Best Voice/Animation – Wallace & Gromit – Curse of the Were-Rabbit
• 2006 – MTV Movie Awards – Best Villain – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• 2008 – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – The Duchess

Links

• Ralph Fiennes at the Internet Movie Database
• BroadwayWorld Exclusive World Premiere: In Bruges Trailer
• Ralph Fiennes – Wikipedia.org

Tags: Academy Award, American, golden globe award, Julia Ormond, MTV, Ralph Fiennes, steven spielberg, The Duchess, The Reader, Trailer