Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an Oscar-nominated
English film, television, and stage
actor. Firth first gained wide public attention, especially in the United Kingdom, for his portrayal of
Mr. Darcy in the
1995 television adaption of
Pride and Prejudice. He subsequently achieved film stardom with the international box-office success of
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), where he co-starred with
Renée Zellweger and
Hugh Grant. On February 2, 2010, he received an
Academy Award nomination for his work in
A Single Man.
Early life
Firth was born in
Grayshott,
Hampshire,
England, the son of Shirley Jean (
née Rolles), a comparative religion lecturer, and David Norman Lewis Firth, a history lecturer and education officer for the
Nigerian Government.
[Actor Colin Firth is perhaps bes][Colin Firth's Lineage][Colin Firth Biography (1979-)] Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother,
Jonathan, who is also an actor. Firth's parents were raised in
India,
[Real Magazine interview with Colin Firth (Aug 2002)] because his maternal grandparents,
Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an
Anglican priest, performed
missionary work abroad.
[Colin Firth - Fresh Air interview 2001][Colin Firth: Bridget Jones' Sweetie Would Rather Play Bad Guys][British Actor Colin Firth : NPR][Globe and Mail - The Other Face of Colin Firth (May 18, 2002)] 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. His acting training took place at the
Drama Centre London.
Film career
In 1983, Firth starred as Guy Bennett in the award-winning
London stage production of
Another Country. In 1984, he made his film debut in the
screen adaptation of the play, taking the role of Tommy Judd (opposite
Rupert Everett as Bennett). In 1986 he starred with
Laurence Olivier in
Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of
J. B. Priestley's novel, and 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 played the title role in the film
Valmont, and was co-lead in the film
Apartment Zero.
It was through the 1995
BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice that Firth gained wider renown. The serial was a major international success, and Firth gained heartthrob status because of his role as
Mr. 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. Continuing this in-joke there was a dog called Mr Darcy in the film
St. Trinian's which Firth's character accidentally kills.
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),
Relative Values (2000),
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001),
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002),
Love Actually (2003),
What a Girl Wants (2003),
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003),
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004),
Nanny McPhee (2005),
The Last Legion (2007) with
Aishwarya Rai,
When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008), the film adaptation of
Mamma Mia! (2008),
Easy Virtue which screened at the Rome Film Festival to excellent reviews
and most recently he starred in
A Christmas Carol (2009), the 50th adaptation of
Charles Dickenss novel A Christmas Carol using the performance capture procedure, playing Scrooge's (portrayed by Jim Carrey) optimistic nephew Fred.
He has also appeared in several television productions, including
Donovan Quick (an updated version of
Don Quixote) (1999) and
Conspiracy (2001), for which he received an Emmy nomination. Colin Firth's most recent role is in the Toronto International Film Festival debuted film,
Genova.
[Colin Firth, Genova Interview. AOL Entertainment Canada]
At the
66th Venice International Film Festival on Saturday 12 September 2009, Colin Firth was awarded the
Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Tom Ford's
A Single Man as a college professor grappling with solitude after his longtime partner dies. Fashion designer
Tom Ford made his director's debut with this movie. This role has earned Firth career best reviews and Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and BFCA nominations.
Other work
Firth played
William Shakespeare in a comedy special entitled
Blackadder: Back & Forth. Edmund
Blackadder runs into Firth's character while he is working on
Macbeth, asks him to sign the script for him, and then punches him, saying "That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years!".
He was a guest host of
Saturday Night Live in 2004 alongside musical guest
Norah Jones.
Colin performed in theatre frequently between 1983 and 2000. He starred in
Three Days of Rain as lead character Ned/Walker, as well as
The Caretaker,
Desire Under the Elms and
Chatkzy.
He served as executive producer for the 2007 documentary produced by his wife,
Livia Giuggioli,
In Prison My Whole Life. The film questions the trial proceedings and evidence used against political activist and former Black Panther member,
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner.
Firth is also a Jury Member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.
[Filmaka Jury Member Colin Firth,Filmaka.com.]
On February 2,2010, Firth was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "A Single Man"
Writer
Firth's first published work, "The Department of Nothing", appeared in
Speaking with the Angel (2000).
[Colin Firth Career Timeline: Department of Nothing] This collection of short stories was edited by
Nick Hornby[Nick Hornby] and was published to benefit the
TreeHouse Trust,
[Nick Hornby] in aid of autistic children. Firth had previously met Hornby during the filming of the original
Fever Pitch.
[Colin Firth Biography][Fever Pitch (1997)] Colin Firth contributed with his writing for the book,
We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, released in 2009.
[Survival International - We Are One] The book explores the culture of peoples around the world, portraying both its diversity and facing threats. It counts with the contributions of many western writers, such as
Laurens van der Post,
Noam Chomsky,
Claude Lévi-Strauss; and also indigenous peoples, such as
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and
Roy Sesana. The royalties from the sale of this book go to the indigenous rights organization,
Survival International.
Personal life
[
] London premiere in October 2005]]
Firth resides in Chiswick, London. In 1989, he entered into a romantic relationship with actress
Meg Tilly his co-star in
Valmont. In 1990, she gave birth to a son, William "Will" Joseph Firth, and they made their home in Canada. He still stays in contact with Will and with Tilly's other children for whom he was a surrogate father. In 1994, after he and Tilly had separated, Firth became involved with actress
Jennifer Ehle, his co-star in
Pride and Prejudice, but the two broke up eventually. Firth is currently married to Italian film producer/director
Livia Giuggioli and lives in both
London and
Italy.
They have two sons, Luca (born March 2001) and Matteo (born August 2003).
Firth has been involved in a campaign to stop the
deportation of a group of
asylum seekers, because he believed that they might be murdered on their return to the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Firth argued that "To me it's just basic civilization 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".
As a result of the campaign, a Congolese nurse was given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.
Firth has been a long-standing supporter of
Survival International, a non-governmental organization that defends the rights of tribal peoples.
Speaking in 2001, he said, "My interest in tribal peoples goes back many years... and I have supported
[1] ever since."
In 2003, during the promotion of the movie
Love Actually, he spoke in defense of the tribal people of
Botswana, condemning the Botswana government's eviction of the Gana and Gwi
Bushmen from the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He says of the Bushmen, "These people are not the remnants of a past era who need to be brought up to date. Those who are able to continue to live on the land that is rightfully theirs are facing the 21st century with a confidence that many of us in the so-called developed world can only envy."
Firth has also been involved in the
Oxfam global campaign
Make Trade Fair,
in which several other celebrities participated as well in order to bring more attention to the issues involved.
The campaign has focused on several trade practices seen as unfair to third world producers especially, including dumping, high import tariffs, and labour rights such as fair wages. Firth remains deeply committed to this cause, making efforts such as supporting fair trade coffee in his daily life, as he believes "
[2]f you're going to sustain commitment to any of this, ...
[3]ou've got to get involved on an ordinary every day basis."
He has further contributed to this cause by opening (with a few collaborators) an eco-friendly shop in West London, Eco.
The shop offers fair trade and eco-friendly goods, as well as expert advice on making spaces more energy efficient.
In
October 2009 at the
London Film Festival, Firth launched a film and political activism website,
Brightwide.com, along with his wife
Livia and a team headed by
Paola De Leo, a former Director of
Deutsche Bank and Head of the Global Major Donor Programme for
Amnesty. In a 2006 interview with
French magazine
Madame Figaro,
Firth was asked "Quelles sont les femmes de votre vie?" (Who are the women of your life?). Firth replied: "Ma mère, ma femme et
Jane Austen" (My mother, my wife and Jane Austen). He was awarded an honorary degree on 19 October 2007 from the
University of Winchester.
Singing career
Firth has performed songs in many of his films, the most recent being
Mamma Mia!. He performs the song "Lady Come Down" alongside Rupert Everett in
The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as one song in
St. Trinian's with Everett which appeared in the credits, an adaptation of "
Love Is in the Air".
Filmography
| Main Street
| Tom Phillips
| in post-production
|
| St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold
| Geoffrey Thwaites
|
|
| Catalonia
| George Orwell
| in pre-production
|
| 2010
| The King's Speech
| King George VI
| filming
|
Further reading
