Matthew Macfadyen

David Matthew Macfadyen (born 17 October 1974) is an English actor.

Macfadyen was born on 17 October 1974 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil engineer.

His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh.

Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father's occupation.

He attended schools in England, including in Louth, Lincolnshire, as well as in Scotland and Indonesia.

He went to Oakham School in Rutland before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at 17.

As a student, he was inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, which he thought was "[a]n example to follow – an example of people acting with each other...", and "[f]eatured just the most extraordinary acting I'd ever seen".

He studied at RADA from 1992 to 1995.

After leaving RADA, Macfadyen became known in British theatre primarily for his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for which he played Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing.

His Benedick was played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh.

He made his television debut in 1998 as Hareton Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.

A TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, screened on the ITV network in 1998.

Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas Warriors (1999) and The Way We Live Now (2001), both for the BBC.

Also in 2001, he earned acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial Perfect Strangers, which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff.

Macfadyen appeared in films including Enigma (released in 2001), and In My Father's Den, for which he received the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Actor.

He portrayed Tom Quinn in the BBC One spy series Spooks (2002–04, 2011), and Inspector Edmund Reid in the BBC mystery series Ripper Street (2012–2016).

In 2002, he starred in The Project, a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power.

He starred in Spooks, which became a success when screened on BBC One.

A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in autumn 2004, with him leaving the series in the second episode.

The series was aired as MI-5 on the A&E Network.

Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005).

In 2005, he played Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts One and Two at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the role of Falstaff.

He starred as the romantic lead Fitzwilliam Darcy in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, released in the UK in September 2005.

Macfadyen starred in Frank Oz's Death at a Funeral and the film Incendiary, based on Chris Cleave's novel alongside Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor.

He also appeared in Ron Howard's film Frost/Nixon, in which he played John Birt.

Macfadyen is also known for his roles in films such as Death at a Funeral (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008), Anna Karenina (2012), The Assistant (2019), and Operation Mincemeat (2021).

In 2007, he returned to the stage, portraying an American, Clay, a stay-at-home father with a liberal attitude in the play The Pain and the Itch.

In 2007 he appeared in the one-off Channel 4 drama Secret Life, which dealt with paedophilia.

Macfadyen won the Best Actor award at the Royal Television Society 2007 Awards for this part, and was nominated for a BAFTA.

He also appeared in a short sketch for Comic Relief as the bridegroom in Mr. Bean's Wedding, alongside Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Ryan.

In 2008, he played the male lead Arthur Clennam in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit.

For his role in Criminal Justice (2009) he received a BAFTA Television Award.

In 2009 Macfadyen appeared alongside Academy Award-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter in the BBC Four movie Enid, based on the life of Enid Blyton, as Hugh Pollock, Blyton's publisher and first husband.

In 2010, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood.

He starred as Prior Philip in the TV serial The Pillars of the Earth, and was the middle-aged Logan Mountstuart in Any Human Heart.

In June 2010, Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Criminal Justice.

In 2011, Macfadyen made a final cameo in Spooks, and in 2012, he played Oblonsky in Joe Wright's film Anna Karenina.

In December 2012 he began portraying Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in BBC One's Ripper Street.

He also starred in various miniseries playing roles such as Henry Wilcox in Howards End (2017), Charles Ingram in Quiz (2020), and John Stonehouse in Stonehouse (2023).

He rose to international fame for his role as Tom Wambsgans in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which he received two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.