Films
Who is Ralph Fiennes?
One of the great romantic leads of recent times and the star of Pushkin's Onegin on UKTV Drama, Ralph Fiennes has become an acting heavyweight via roles in such award-winning movies as Schindler's List, The English Patient and The End of the Affair.
Posh as...
Capricorn Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham Fiennes, as he's called on his birth certificate, was born in Suffolk one December day in 1962. The Fiennes clan are quite an arty bunch: mum was a novelist, dad a photographer while all six offspring "do stuff". Brother Joseph is an actor as well. Martha a director, Sophie a producer, Magnus a musician and Jacob a, erm, gamekeeper. British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a cousin and guess who's an eighth cousin. HRH The Prince of Wales!
Ralph Lawrence
Our "Rafe" originally wanted to be a painter and enrolled at Chelsea Art College before transferring to RADA to study acting. Things moved fast following graduation as he joined the Royal National Theatre in '87, becoming part of the Royal Shakespeare Company a year later. While a member of the company, he performed a wide range of the classics, playing everyone from Romeo to King Lear's Edmund. All this proved good preparation for a wider audience when in 1991, he starred as the title character in the acclaimed TV production of A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia.
A real piece of work
Since then, of course, Fiennes has become a fully-fledged movie star, often playing either the romantic lead or a memorable villain. His film debut came as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, an actress with whom he would again star in the award-winning The English Patient. However, it is as psychotic Nazi Commandant, Amon Goeth, in the Spielberg masterpiece Schindler's List that he really hit the big time, gaining a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and an impressive 15th place on the American Film Institute's Villains list in their compilation of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.
He who shall not be named
Fiennes can currently be seen in the political thriller The Constant Gardener, an adaptation of the John le Carré bestseller directed by Fernando "City of God" Meirelles, starring opposite Rachel Weisz. However, the forthcoming role to get really excited about is his casting as the evil Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He's committed to appear in the fifth Potter film too, with a big fight with Michael Gambon's Dumbledore scheduled. "When children were introduced to Lord Voldemort," Fiennes said of his portrayal, "they looked suitably terrified - which gave me great gratification."
The last mile is the hardest mile
Rafe's other usual role as a romantic hero doesn't always end in the happiest of circumstances: his leading ladies rarely survive the end of the movie! Juliette Binoche's character died in Emily Bronte`s Wuthering Heights, Kristen Scott Thomas perished in a desert cave in The English Patient and Julianne Moore carked it in "The End of the Affair."
When once asked about his attraction to ill-fated romances, Fiennes told United Press International: "Jennifer Lopez made it to the end of 'Maid in Manhattan'. She wasn't going anywhere." Shame - neither was the plot.
To the end
As far as his leading ladies go, however, it seems things are finally about to change. "I don`t only want to play tragic love stories," he said recently. "The Merchant-Ivory film I just did, 'The White Countess', is a love story and both partners get through to the end - intact - together!" Having said that, his next project doesn't sound quite so promising for the female involved. Fiennes will be starring alongside Emily Mortimer in a film, billed as a dark tale of sexual obsession based on Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. The title? Who Killed Norma Barnes?!
Capricorn Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham Fiennes, as he's called on his birth certificate, was born in Suffolk one December day in 1962. The Fiennes clan are quite an arty bunch: mum was a novelist, dad a photographer while all six offspring "do stuff". Brother Joseph is an actor as well. Martha a director, Sophie a producer, Magnus a musician and Jacob a, erm, gamekeeper. British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a cousin and guess who's an eighth cousin. HRH The Prince of Wales!
Ralph Lawrence
Our "Rafe" originally wanted to be a painter and enrolled at Chelsea Art College before transferring to RADA to study acting. Things moved fast following graduation as he joined the Royal National Theatre in '87, becoming part of the Royal Shakespeare Company a year later. While a member of the company, he performed a wide range of the classics, playing everyone from Romeo to King Lear's Edmund. All this proved good preparation for a wider audience when in 1991, he starred as the title character in the acclaimed TV production of A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia.
A real piece of work
Since then, of course, Fiennes has become a fully-fledged movie star, often playing either the romantic lead or a memorable villain. His film debut came as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, an actress with whom he would again star in the award-winning The English Patient. However, it is as psychotic Nazi Commandant, Amon Goeth, in the Spielberg masterpiece Schindler's List that he really hit the big time, gaining a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and an impressive 15th place on the American Film Institute's Villains list in their compilation of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.
He who shall not be named
Fiennes can currently be seen in the political thriller The Constant Gardener, an adaptation of the John le Carré bestseller directed by Fernando "City of God" Meirelles, starring opposite Rachel Weisz. However, the forthcoming role to get really excited about is his casting as the evil Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He's committed to appear in the fifth Potter film too, with a big fight with Michael Gambon's Dumbledore scheduled. "When children were introduced to Lord Voldemort," Fiennes said of his portrayal, "they looked suitably terrified - which gave me great gratification."
The last mile is the hardest mile
Rafe's other usual role as a romantic hero doesn't always end in the happiest of circumstances: his leading ladies rarely survive the end of the movie! Juliette Binoche's character died in Emily Bronte`s Wuthering Heights, Kristen Scott Thomas perished in a desert cave in The English Patient and Julianne Moore carked it in "The End of the Affair."
When once asked about his attraction to ill-fated romances, Fiennes told United Press International: "Jennifer Lopez made it to the end of 'Maid in Manhattan'. She wasn't going anywhere." Shame - neither was the plot.
To the end
As far as his leading ladies go, however, it seems things are finally about to change. "I don`t only want to play tragic love stories," he said recently. "The Merchant-Ivory film I just did, 'The White Countess', is a love story and both partners get through to the end - intact - together!" Having said that, his next project doesn't sound quite so promising for the female involved. Fiennes will be starring alongside Emily Mortimer in a film, billed as a dark tale of sexual obsession based on Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. The title? Who Killed Norma Barnes?!
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