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Colin Firth

Colin Firth
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Colin Firth is "Mr. Darcy," star of the BBC television mini-series of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Born September 10, 1960, in Grayshott, Hampshire, UK, Firth lived in Nigeria with his parents until he was four years old. He studied drama in London, and made his professional stage debut in 1983 replacing Rupert Everett as "Guy Bennett" in Another Country. He went on to make the film of that play, this time playing "Tommy Judd" opposite Everett's "Bennett." In 1989, Firth had his first starring film role, in Valmont, and that same year, he received rave reviews for his portrayal of real-life Scottish soldier Robert Lawrence who had been left paralyzed in Tumbledown.

He was in the film production of Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends in 1995, and later that year he came to the screen as "Mr. Darcy." Among his other films are The English Patient (1996), Fever Pitch (1997), A Thousand Acres (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Relative Values (2000), Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), What a Girl Wants (2003), Love, Actually (2003), Hope Springs (2003), Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003), and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).

Firth has garnered rave reviews on the stage for his performance in the London premiere of Three Days of Rain (1999) and in a production of Shakespeare's Hamlet (2001).

Firth and his wife, Livia Giuggioli, have two sons. Firth also has a son from a former relationship with actress Meg Tilly.

Last updated: December 21, 2005.

 
 
Who2 Biography: Colin Firth, Actor

  • Born: 10 September 1960
  • Birthplace: Grayshott, Hampshire, England
  • Best Known As: Mr. Darcy in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice

Colin Firth made female fans swoon as the darkly dashing Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC TV production of Pride and Prejudice. The film was a huge hit and launched Firth on a prosperous decade of movie roles: as a betrayed husband in The English Patient (1996, with Kristin Scott Thomas); as the villainous Lord Wessex in Shakespeare in Love (1998, with Gwyneth Paltrow); as the lawyerly love interest Mark Darcy opposite Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, and in the 2004 sequel); as struggling artist Jan Vermeer in Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003, with Scarlett Johansson); as the lovelorn novelist Jamie in Love, Actually (2003, with Hugh Grant and a cast of thousands); and as a father of seven in the puckish Nanny McPhee (2006, with Emma Thompson). Firth often plays glowering, passionate men whose reticence hides an essential goodness, but he has played a smattering of cads in films like Circle of Friends (1995). He also has appeared often on the London stage, training at the London Drama Centre and performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Old Vic.

Firth is 6'1" tall, according to the celebrity site Tiscali... Pride and Prejudice was adapted from the 1813 book by Jane Austen... Firth played William Shakespeare in Blackadder Back & Forth, a short film made for London's Millennium Dome in 1999... His character in Bridget Jones's Diary, Mark Darcy, was named by author Helen Fielding as a nod to Pride and Prejudice... Firth married the former Livia Giuggioli in 1997. They have two sons, Luca (b. 2001) and Mateo (b. 2003). Firth also has a son, Will (b. 1990), by actress Meg Tilly.

 
Actor:

Colin Firth

  • Born: Sep 10, 1960 in Grayshott, Hampshire, England
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Pride and Prejudice, Another Country, Playmaker
  • First Major Screen Credit: Another Country (1984)

Biography

As Mr. Darcy in the acclaimed 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth induced record increases in estrogen levels on both sides of the Atlantic. Imbuing his role as one of literature's most obstinate lovers with surly, understated charisma, Firth caused many a viewer to wonder where he had been for so long, even though he had in fact been appearing in television and film for years.

The son of two university lecturers, Firth was born in England's Hampshire county on September 10, 1960. Part of his early childhood was spent in Nigeria with missionary grandparents, but he returned for schooling in his native country and eventually enrolled in the Drama Centre in Chalk Farm. While playing Hamlet in a school production during his final term, the actor was discovered, and he went on to make his London stage debut in the West End production of Julian Mitchell's Another Country. Starring opposite Rupert Everett, Firth played Tommy Judd, a character based on spy-scandal figurehead Donald Maclean (Everett played Guy Bennett, based on real-life spy Guy Burgess). He went on to reprise his role for the play's 1984 film version, again playing opposite Everett.

Despite such an auspicious beginning to his career, Firth spent the rest of the decade and half of the next working in relative obscurity; he starred in a number of television productions -- including the highly acclaimed 1993 Hostages -- and worked steadily in film. Some of his more notable work included A Month in the Country, in which he played a World War I veteran opposite Kenneth Branagh and Natasha Richardson, and Valmont, Milos Forman's 1989 adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, in which Firth starred in the title role. The film also provided him with an introduction to co-star Meg Tilly, with whom he had a son.

However, it was not until he again donned breeches and a waistcoat that Firth started to emerge from the shadows of BBC programming. With his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the popular TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Firth was propelled into the media spotlight, touted in a number of articles as the latest in the long line of thinking women's crumpets; he was further rewarded for his work with a BAFTA award. The same year, he appeared as an amorous cad in the similarly popular Circle of Friends and went on the next year to appear as Kristin Scott Thomas' cuckolded husband in The English Patient. Firth garnered praise for his role in the film, which went on to win international acclaim and Academy Awards.

After a turn as a morally ambiguous man who gets involved with both Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer in A Thousand Acres, Firth took a comically sinister turn as Gwyneth Paltrow's intended husband in the 1998 Shakespeare in Love. The following year, he starred in two very different movies: My Life So Far, a tale of family dysfunction in the Scottish Highlands, and Fever Pitch, initially released in the U.K. in 1997, in which Firth played a rabid English football fan forced to choose between his love of the sport and the woman in his life.

Headlining the low-key comedy My Life So Far the following year, Firth's performance as the father of a family living in a post World War I British estate was only one of five roles that the busy actor would essay that particular year (including that of William Shakespeare in Blackadder Back and Forth). His finale of the year -- Donovan Quick -- offered a memorable updating of the legend of Don Quixote with Firth himself in the titular role. Firth's supporting role in the 2001 comedy Bridget Jones's Diary preceded a more weighty performance in the chilling drama Conspiracy, with the former earning him a BAFTA nomination and the latter an Emmy nod. Comic performances in Londinium (2001) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) found Firth continuing to maintain his reputation as one of England's most talented comic exports, and if his lead in 2003's Hope Springs failed to capitalize on his recent string of success, his role as teen starlet Amanda Bynes' celluloid father in What a Girl Wants (2003) at least endeared him to a new generation of moviegoers before the adult-oriented drama Girl With a Pearl Earring hit theaters later that same year. After rounding out the busy year with a return to romantic comedy in Love Actually, Firth kicked off 2004 with a turn as a haunted widower in Trauma while preparing to return to familiar territory in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

 
Wikipedia: Colin Firth
Colin Firth
Colin.Firth.Budapest.Premiere.jpg
Firth in Budapest, 15 November, 2005
Born September 10 1960 (1960--) (age 47)
Flag of England Grayshott, Hampshire, England
Spouse(s) Livia Giuggioli (21 June 1997-)

Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September, 1960) is an English film, television and stage actor.

Biography

Early life

Firth was born in Grayshott, Hampshire, England to Shirley Jean (Rolles), a comparative religion lecturer, and David Norman Lewis Firth[1][2], a history lecturer.[3] Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother, Jonathan, who is now also an actor. Firth's parents were born and raised in India,[4] as his maternal grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an Anglican minister, performed missionary work abroad.[5][6][7][8] Firth's name is pronounced very similarly to the Old English word collenferhð, meaning pride.[9] Firth spent part of his childhood in Nigeria, where his father was teaching. He lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11. He later attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School, a state comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire, and then Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

Film career

In 1983, Firth starred in the award-winning London stage production of Another Country, and reprised his role for his first film appearance in 1984. In 1987, he appeared alongside Kenneth Branagh in the film version of J. L. Carr's novel, A Month in the Country. In 1989, he took the lead in the film Valmont.

Despite widespread admiration for his performances,[citation needed] it was only with the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that Firth gained wider renown. The serial was a major success, and Firth became known as a heartthrob because of his role as Fitzwilliam Darcy. This performance also made him the object of affection for fictional journalist Bridget Jones (created by Helen Fielding), an interest which carried on into the two novels featuring the Jones character. In the second novel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the character even meets Firth in Rome. As something of an in-joke, when the novels were adapted for the cinema, Firth was cast as Jones's love interest, Mark Darcy.

Firth as the Earl of Wessex, Shakespeare in Love, 1998
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Firth as the Earl of Wessex, Shakespeare in Love, 1998

Firth had a supporting role in The English Patient (1996) and since then has starred in films such as Fever Pitch (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Love Actually (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). He has also appeared in recent television productions, including Donovan Quick (an updated version of Don Quixote) (1999) and Conspiracy (2001). In 2007, Firth starred with Aishwarya Rai in The Last Legion.

Firth is also a Jury Member for the on going Filmaka amateur short film contest.

Personal life

In 1989, Firth entered into a romantic relationship with actress Meg Tilly his co-star in Valmont. In 1990, she gave birth to a son, Will Firth. In 1994, Firth was involved with actress Jennifer Ehle, his co-star in Pride and Prejudice. Firth lives both in London and Italy and is currently married to an Italian film producer/director Livia Giuggioli. They have two sons, Luca (born March 2001) and Mateo (born August 2003).

Recently, Firth has been involved in a campaign to stop the deportation of a group of asylum seekers, because he believes that they may be murdered on their return to the Democratic Republic of Congo.[10] Firth has argued that "To me it's just basic civilisation to help people. I find this incredibly painful to see how we dismiss the most desperate people in our society. It's easily done. It plays to the tabloids, to the middle-England xenophobes. It just makes me furious. And all from a government we once had such high hopes for".[11] As a result of the campaign, a Congolese nurse was given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.[12]

In a 2006 interview with French magazine, Madame Figaro,[13] Firth was asked "Quelles sont les femmes de votre vie?" (Who are the women in your life?). Firth replied: "Ma mère, ma femme et Jane Austen" (My mother, my wife and Jane Austen).

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Debut/Premiere
1984 Another Country Tommy Judd May 1984 - Cannes
Camille Armand Duval Made for TV Movie 11 December 1984 - USA
1985 1919 (young) Alexander Scherbatov February 1985 - W. Ger.
Dutch Girls Neil Truelove Made For TV Movie
1986 Lost Empires (TV mini-series) Richard Herncastle with Sir Laurence Olivier 24 October 1986 - UK
1987 A Month in the Country Tom Birkin 24 September 1987 - USA
Rene Wilcox PBS Shorts Special
The Secret Garden (adult) Colin Craven Hallmark Hall of Fame 30 November 1987 - USA
1988 Tumbledown Robert Lawrence Made for TV Movie 30 May 1988 - UK
1989 Apartment Zero Adrian LeDuc 8 September 1989 - TIFF
Valmont Valmont 17 November 1989 - USA
1990 Femme Fatale Joseph Prince
Wings of Fame Brian Smith 23 March 1990 - Netherlands
1991 Out of the Blue Alan Play for Television 22 August 1991 - UK
1993 Hostages John McCarthy Television - HBO 20 February 1993 - UK
The Hour of the Pig Richard Courtois aka The Advocate 25 September 1993 - Dinard
1994 Master of the Moor Stephen Whalby Made for Television - UK 2 September 1994 - UK
Playmaker Michael Condron/Ross Talbert aka Death Date (Germany) 16 May 1994 - Cannes
The Deep Blue Sea Freddie Page Play for Television - UK
1995 Circle of Friends Simon Westward 15 March 1995 - USA
Pride and Prejudice FitzWilliam Darcy Television mini-series 24 September 1995 - UK
The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd Charles Holroyd Play for Television - UK 14 October 1995 - UK
1996 The English Patient Geoffrey Clifton 6 November 1996 - USA
1997 A Thousand Acres Jess Clark 19 September 1997 - USA
Fever Pitch Paul Ashworth 4 April 1997 - UK
Nostromo Charles Gould Television mini-series 5 January 1997 - USA
1998 Shakespeare in Love Lord Wessex 3 December 1998 - USA
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth William Shakespeare short 6 December 1999 - UK
Donovan Quick Donovan Quick/Daniel Quinn Made for Television - UK
My Life So Far Edward Pettigrew 23 July 1999 - USA
The Secret Laughter of Women Matthew Field 26 November 1999 - UK
The Turn of the Screw The Master Masterpiece Theater 26 December 1999 - UK
2000 Relative Values Peter Ingleton 23 June 2000 - UK
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary Mark Darcy 4 April 2001 - UK
Conspiracy Wilhelm Stuckart Television - HBO 21 May 2001 - US
Londinium aka Fourplay Allen Portland Television - HBO 2 September 2001 - USA
2002 The Importance of Being Earnest Jack Worthing 17 May 2002 - USA
2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring Johannes Vermeer 31 August 2003 - Telluride
Hope Springs Colin Ware 14 March 2003 - UK
Love Actually Jamie Bennett 7 September 2003 - TIFF
What a Girl Wants Henry Dashwood 27 March 2003 - USA
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Mark Darcy 8 Nov 2004 - Netherlands
Trauma Ben Slater 19 January 2004 - Sundance
2005 Nanny McPhee Cedric Brown 9 October 2005 - UK
Where The Truth Lies Vince Collins 13 May 2005 - Cannes
2006 Born Equal Mark Armitage Television movie - UK 4 December 2006 - UK
2007 And When Did You Last See Your Father? Blake Morrison May 2007 - Cannes
Celebration Russell Play for Television - UK 26 February 2007 - UK
In Prison My Whole Life Narrator/Executive Producer Documentary 25 October 2007 - Italy, UK
St. Trinian's Geoffrey Thwaites
The Department of Nothing Writer - Short Story Short Film - Australia 7 Feb 2007 - Australia
The Last Legion Aurelius 19 April 2007 - Russia
Then She Found Me Frank 7 September 2007 - TIFF
2008 Genova Joe
Mamma Mia! Harry Bright
The Accidental Husband Richard

References

Further reading

Teeman, Tim. "Colin Firth's Darcy Dilemma", The Times, 2007-09-20. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 

External links



 
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