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'sCircle 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.
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.
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
Despite widespread admiration for his performances,[citation needed] it was only with the 1995BBC 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 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).
Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar! Click here to download now. Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.
