made in atlantis - actor biographies
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 Birth Date: December 22, 1962
Birth Place: Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK
Ralph Fiennes has emerged as one of the leading actors of his generation with much-lauded screen performances in films such as The English Patient, Quiz Show, Schindler's List, Sunshine, The End of the Affair, Oscar and Lucinda, and Onegin. Fiennes has also received much critical acclaim for his performances in the theater, both here and in the U.K., for the title roles in such classics as Hamlet, Ivanov, Richard II and Coriolanus. He will be seen on screen this year in two feature film thrillers, Red Dragon and Spider, and the romantic comedy, Maid in Manhattan.
Born in Suffolk, he grew up in England and Ireland and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1985. He began working professionally as an actor in England's open-air theatre in Regents Park, the Theatre Clwyd and the Oldham Coliseum, and became part of Michael Rudman's company at the National Theatre in 1987, barely two years after leaving drama school. In 1988 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he remained for two seasons, giving notable performances in Henry VI, King Lear and Love's Labour's Lost.
In 1991 Fiennes landed a small, but compelling, role in the award-winning series Prime Suspect. This led to his being cast by David Puttnam as T.E. Lawrence in a special television film about the legendary hero, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. That same year he made his feature film debut in a dark version of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, opposite Juliette Binoche. Fiennes starred next in the BBC's haunting telefilm, The Cormorant.
It was Fiennes' icon-shattering interpretation of Bronte's Heathcliff that compelled Steven Spielberg to cast him as SS Commandant Amon Goeth, opposite Liam Neeson, in Schindler's List in 1993. His extraordinary performance in this film won critical praise worldwide. He received the BAFTA, New York Film Critics, National Society of Film Critics, Boston and Chicago Film Critics Awards as Best Supporting Actor, along with an Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe nomination and the London Film Critics Award for Best British Actor of 1994.
He then landed the role of Charles van Doren in Robert Redford's critically acclaimed film, Quiz Show. In 1995, Fiennes starred in Kathryn Bigelow's futuristic thriller, Strange Days, after which he returned to the stage for a much-lauded production of Hamlet, directed by Jonathan Kent for London's Almeida Theatre. A subsequent special Broadway engagement won him Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Actor.
Then in 1996, he starred as the mortally wounded pilot in Anthony Minghella's brilliant and moving adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. The film earned acclaim around the world, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and for Fiennes his second Oscar® nomination as Best Actor.
Once again he followed film with stage work, returning to London's Almeida Theatre and director Jonathan Kent to portray the title role in Chekhov's tragicomic early play Ivanov. With a striking modern translation by David Hare, and rave reviews all around, the production and cast were granted the singular honor of an invitation to Moscow for a week's special performance.
In 1997, Fiennes starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Oscar and Lucinda, an eccentric love story adapted from Peter Carey's celebrated novel and directed by Australia's Gillian Armstrong.
He then brought to cinematic life a long-sought dream, by starring in and executive producing the feature film version of Pushkin's classic verse novel, Onegin. Directed by his sister, Martha Fiennes, and co-starring Liv Tyler, this visually stunning production was shot partially on location in Russia.
In 1999, Fiennes starred in Neil Jordan's film adaptation of novelist Graham Greene's The End of the Affair opposite Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea, as well as in Sunshine, writer/director Istvan Szabo's epic story of a Jewish family in Hungary. The film spans three generations, from the fall of the Hapsburg Empire to the 1965 Hungarian Revolution, and Fiennes portrays the central character in each of the three linking stories.
In the Summer of 2000, Fiennes played, in rotating repertory, the title roles of Richard II and Coriolanus for the Almeida Theatre Company in London. Both Shakespearean plays were directed by Jonathan Kent and drew rave reviews for Fiennes. In September of that year, they took the shows to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for 14 performances of Richard II and 12 performances of Coriolanus, to great critical acclaim.
Spider, a psychological thriller about a man (played by Fiennes) trying to piece his life back together after his release from a mental institution, had its world premiere at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and will premiere in the U.S. in December. Shot last year in Canada by famed genre director David Cronenberg, and based on the 1991 novel by Patrick McGrath, the film also stars Gabriel Byrne, Lynn Redgrave, Miranda Richardson and John Neville.
This winter, Fiennes will star at London's National Theatre in The Talking Cure, a new play by Christopher Hampton, directed by Howard Davies, followed by a run with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the title role of Ibsen's Brand, to be directed by Adrian Noble.
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