Ralph Fiennes

He is the eldest child of Mark Fiennes (1933–2004), a farmer and photographer, and Jennifer Lash (1938–1993), a writer.

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director.

A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Widely regarded as one of Britain’s most well-known and popular actors, he has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award.

Fiennes was born in Ipswich, England, on 22 December 1962.

The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in County Cork and County Kilkenny for some years.

Fiennes was educated at St Kieran's College for one year, followed by Newtown School, a Quaker independent school in County Waterford.

They moved to Salisbury in England, where Fiennes finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworth's School.

He went on to pursue painting at Chelsea College of Arts before deciding that acting was his true passion.

Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1983 and 1985.

He began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, and also at the National Theatre before achieving prominence at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 when he starred as T. E. Lawrence in the British television film A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, before he made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche.

He made his film debut playing Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992).

His portrayal of Nazi war criminal Amon Göth in the Steven Spielberg drama Schindler's List (1993) earned him nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, and he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

1993 was his "breakout year".

He had a major role in Peter Greenaway's film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond, which provoked controversy and was poorly received.

Later that year, he became known internationally for portraying the brutal Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Göth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. For his performance in the film, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His portrayal of Göth also saw him listed at number 15 on the AFI's list of the top 50 film villains.

Fiennes gained weight to represent Göth, but shed it afterwards.

Fiennes later stated that playing the role had a profoundly disturbing effect on him.

In a subsequent interview, Fiennes recalled:

Fiennes has appeared in a number of other notable films, including Quiz Show (1994), The End of the Affair (1999), Maid in Manhattan (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), In Bruges (2008), The Duchess (2008), The Reader (2008), The Hurt Locker (2009), Clash of the Titans (2010), Great Expectations (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), A Bigger Splash (2015), Hail, Caesar! (2016), The King's Man (2021), and The Menu (2022).

"Evil is cumulative. It happens. People believe that they've got to do a job, they've got to take on an ideology, that they've got a life to lead; they've got to survive, a job to do, it's every day inch by inch, little compromises, little ways of telling yourself this is how you should lead your life and suddenly then these things can happen. I mean, I could make a judgment myself privately, this is a terrible, evil, horrific man. But the job was to portray the man, the human being. There's a sort of banality, that everydayness, that I think was important. And it was in the screenplay. In fact, one of the first scenes with Oskar Schindler, with Liam Neeson, was a scene where I'm saying, 'You don't understand how hard it is, I have to order so many-so many meters of barbed wire and so many fencing posts and I have to get so many people from A to B.' And, you know, he's sort of letting off steam about the difficulties of the job."In 1994, he portrayed the American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show. In 1996, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the epic World War II romantic drama The English Patient, in which he starred with Kristin Scott-Thomas.

Fiennes's film work has encompassed a variety of genres, including thrillers (Spider), an animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt), camp nostalgia (The Avengers), romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan), and historical drama (Sunshine).

In 1995, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing Prince Hamlet in the Broadway revival of Hamlet.

His performance as Count Almásy in The English Patient (1996) garnered him a second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.

He lent his voice to the films The Prince of Egypt (1998), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017).

Since 1999, Fiennes has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK.

Fiennes is also an Honorary Associate of London Film School.

Fiennes starred in the Harry Potter film series (2005–2011) as the main antagonist Lord Voldemort.

In 2011, Fiennes made his directorial debut with his film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, in which he also played the titular character.

In the James Bond series he has played Gareth Mallory / M, the head of MI6, in Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021).

He followed this with The Invisible Woman (2013) where he portrayed Charles Dickens.

He is the grandson of Maurice Fiennes, great-grandson of Alberic Arthur Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, and great-great-grandson of Frederick Benjamin Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele.

His surname is of Norman origin.

He is the eldest of six children.

His siblings are actor Joseph Fiennes; Martha Fiennes, a director (in her film Onegin, he played the title role); Magnus Fiennes, a composer; Sophie Fiennes, a filmmaker; and Jacob Fiennes, a conservationist.

His foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist.

His nephew, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, played Tom Riddle, young Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

For his work behind the camera, in 2019 he received the Stanislavsky Award.