Early life

McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Scotland. He became a theatre aficionado when he was five years old, when his father took him to see an act named Tommy Morgan at a theatre in Dundee. In 2004, he stated, "It sort of fascinated me, and it also scared me. All those lights, all that make-up. I said to myself, 'I don't know what this is, but I want it.'" However, fearing his father's disapproval, McDiarmid attended the University of St Andrews, where he received an M.A. in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead, and took acting training courses at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In 1968, McDiarmid received a gold medal for his work, the first of many recognitions given to him for his work in the theatre. McDiarmid claimed he became its recipient "by doing all the boring jobs you have to do when you are young, to eke out an existence."

Theatre

McDiarmid is renowned for his work in British theatre, having won plaudits as an actor and director from a wide variety of sources. He has starred in a variety of Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet (1972), The Tempest (1974, 2000), Much Ado About Nothing (1976), Ross and the Porter in Trevor Nunn's 1976 Macbeth (television 1978), The Merchant of Venice (1984) and King Lear (2005). From April to June 2012, he played the title role in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He played Ivanov in Tom Stoppard's play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Mermaid Theatre in 1978.

From 1990, McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent served as the artistic directors of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, gaining the commitment of prominent actresses such as Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom for their productions. The two men resigned in 2001 with the venue in good shape. In 1998, they shared the Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year. Their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes. While connected with the Almeida, McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preserv'd (1986) and Hippolytus (1991). In 2002, McDiarmid won Almeida Theatre's Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor for his role as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Five years later in 2006, he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway. Directed by Kent, he performed alongside Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

One theatrical performance of note is his portrayal of Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepard's play Seduced. By McDiarmid's own description, Hackamore was a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made-up in prosthetics, including a false beard and long fingernails. McDiarmid was only 37 at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could convincingly play a much older character in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine.

Star Wars

Further information: Portrayal of Palpatine

After a minor part in the film Dragonslayer, McDiarmid was cast by George Lucas in Return of the Jedi as Emperor Palpatine, the main villain. Sixteen years after appearing in Return of the Jedi, he reprised the role as the character's younger incarnation of Senator Palpatine and Sith Lord Darth Sidious in the prequel films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

The prequels had him play two faces to his character; he re-created his diabolical interpretation of Palpatine from Return of the Jedi when playing Darth Sidious, the Chancellor's Sith alter ego, but created an attractive, pleasant and seductive character in Palpatine's public persona. While he had previously achieved little recognition for this role, due to the extensive prosthetics used for the character which made him unrecognizable, he received widespread attention and critical acclaim for his expanded role in the prequels.

In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to include McDiarmid. The Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Revill for that scene, and visually portrayed by Elaine Baker, the wife of make-up designer Rick Baker. With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, McDiarmid has now appeared in every film version in which Palpatine appears.

He has also worked with the Star Wars expanded universe as the voice of Palpatine in the video games of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. McDiarmid made a small appearance during Celebration Europe, and on 23-26 August 2012, he attended Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida and had his own show titled The Phantom Menace: Ian McDiarmid, hosted by James Arnold Taylor, in which he talked about his experience working on Star Wars and how he landed the role of Palpatine. Ian McDiarmid also voiced a pig version of Palpatine for a promo video on for Angry Birds Star Wars II, entitled "Join the Pork Side".

Television and radio

McDiarmid took an early role as Mickey Hamilton, a killer intent on avenging the death of his wife and child in The Professionals for London Weekend Television. In 1990, he starred in the "Masonic Mysteries" episode of Inspector Morse as the psychopathic conman Hugo DeVries. In 1997, McDiarmid played the villain, Ronald Hinks, in Touching Evil's "Through the Clouds/The Lost Boys", Parts 1 & 2 He played the role of police detective Porfiry Petrovich in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 2003, McDiarmid took the role of the Stuart statesman Edward Hyde, in the BBC series Charles II: The Power and The Passion.

In 2005, he portrayed the part of Satan in the 41 part BBC Four radio drama based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC7. Recently, he played the writer and pioneer of policing, Henry Fielding, in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice and Denis Thatcher in 2009's Margaret.

McDiarmid played intelligence chief LeClerc in a 2009 BBC Radio dramatization of John le Carré's The Looking Glass War.

In 2014, he played a leading role as British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the BBC television drama 37 Days, which is about the diplomatic crisis preceding the First World War. He also had a recurring role on series 2 of Utopia playing the role of Anton.

Work in theatre

Stage appearances

• Hamlet, Open Space Theatre, London, 1972
• And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, Open Space Theatre, London, 1973
• In the Jungle of Cities, Place Theatre, London, 1973
• Macbeth, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, 1973, then Bankside Globe Theatre, London, 1973
• Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1974
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1975
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1976
• Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
• Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976
• Schweyk in the Second World War, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1977
• Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 1976, then Aldwych Theatre, 1977
• That Good Between Us, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
• Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977
• The Days of the Commune, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1977
• Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1978
• Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1978
• Mephisto, adapted by Gordon McDougall from the book by Klaus Mann, Oxford Playhouse Company, The Roundhouse Theatre, London, 1981
• The Worlds, New Half Moon Theatre, London, 1981
• Ezra, New Half Moon Theatre, 1981
• Insignificance, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1982
• Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983
• The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1984
• The Party, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), London, 1985
• Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985
• The War Plays, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Crimes in Hot Countries, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• The Castle, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Downchild, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985
• Edward II, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986
• The Saxon Shore, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• Creditors, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• The Danton Affair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986
• Don Carlos, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1987
• The Black Prince, Aldwych Theatre, 1989
• Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• The School for Wives, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1993
• Hated Nightfall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1995
• Tartuffe, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1996
• The Government Inspector, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1997
• The Doctor's Dilemma, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1998
• The Jew of Malta, Almeida Theatre, 1999
• The Tempest, Almeida Theatre, 2000-01
• Faith Healer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2001
• Faith Healer, Gate Theatre in Dublin, 2001-2002
• The Embalmer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2002
• Henry IV, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 2004
• Lear, Sheffield Crucible, 2005
• Faith Healer, Booth Theatre, 2006
• John Gabriel Borkman, Donmar Warehouse, 2007
• Jonah and Otto, Manchester Royal Exchange, 2008
• Be Near Me, National Theatre of Scotland and Donmar Warehouse, 2009
• Six Characters in Search of an Author, Headlong Theatre, 2008-2010
• The Prince of Homburg, Donmar Warehouse, 2010
• Emperor and Galilean, National Theatre, 2011
• The Faith Machine, Royal Court Theatre, 2011
• Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2012
• Life of Galileo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, 2013
• Merchant of Venice, Almeida, London, 2014

Stage director

• Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986
• Dom Juan, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1988
• The Possibilities, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1988
• Scenes from an Execution, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990
• Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991
• A Hard Heart, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1992
• Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1995

Filmography

Theatrical film

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1976	The Likely Lads	Vicar
1980	Sir Henry at Rawlinson End	Reg Smeeton
	Richard's Things	Burglar
	The Awakening	Dr. Richter
	The Empire Strikes Back	The Emperor	Uncredited appearance replacing Elaine Baker and Clive Revill in message scene for 2004 DVD and subsequent re-releases
1981	Dragonslayer	Brother Jacobus
1983	Return of the Jedi	The Emperor
	Gorky Park	Prof. Andreev
1988	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Arthur
1995	Restoration	Ambrose
1999	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious
	Sleepy Hollow	Dr. Thomas Lancaster
2002	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
2005	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Bad Guy
2009	The Odds	Unknown	Short

Television

Year	TV Series	Role	Number of episodes	Other notes
1976	Red Letter Day	Blade	1 episode
1978	Crown Court	Greg Gorgon	1 episode
1979	Macbeth	Ross & the Porter	TV movie
	The Professionals	Mickey Hamilton	1 episode	"The Madness of Mickey Hamilton"
1981	ITV Playhouse	Fedka	1 episode
1983	The Nation's Health	Doctor Vernon Davis	4 episodes
1985	Pity in History	Murgatroyd
1988	The Modern World: Ten Great Writers	Fyodor Dostoyevsky	1 episode
1990	Inspector Morse	Hugo De Vries	1 episode	"Masonic Mysteries"
1991	Chernobyl: The Final Warning	Dr. Vatisenko
1993	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Professor Levi	1 episode	"Paris, October 1916" (later edited into "Chapter 9: Demons of Deception")
	Heart of Darkness	Doctor
	Selected Exits	Unknown
1995	Annie: A Royal Adventure!	Dr. Eli Eon
1996	Karaoke	Oliver Morse	4 episodes
	Cold Lazarus	Oliver Morse	1 episode
	Hillsborough	Dr. Popper
1997	An Unsuitable Job for a Woman	Ronald Callender	1 episode
	Rebecca	Coroner
	Touching Evil	Ronald Hinks	2 episodes
1999	Great Expectations	Jaggers
	All the King's Men	Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards
2002	Crime and Punishment	Porfiry Petrovich
2003	Charles II: The Power and The Passion	Sir Edward Hyde	TV movie
	The Making of 'Charles II'	Himself / [Sir Edward Hyde	TV documentary
2004	Spooks	Prof. Fred Roberts	1 episode
2005	Our Hidden Lives	B. Charles
	Elizabeth I	Lord Burghley	2 episodes	Alongside Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons
2008	City of Vice	Henry Fielding	5 episodes
2009	Margaret	Denis Thatcher
2013	Words with Warwick	Himself / Palpatine	1 episode	"Ian McDiarmid"
2014	37 Days	Sir Edward Grey
	Utopia	Anton/Phillip Carvel	5 episodes	#2.2-#2.6

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work
1968	Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Gold Medal (won)
1982	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play (won)	Insignificance
1985	Time Out Comedy Awards for Directing (won)	Scenes from an Execution
1990	Time Out Comedy Awards for Directing (won)	Volpone
1991	Observer Awards for Outstanding Achievement for Ten Years of Presenting Irish Drama (nominated)	Volpone, The Rehearsal, and Betrayal Field
1995	Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor (won)	Hated Nightfall
1998	Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year (shared with Jonathan Kent)
2001	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Theatre Actor (won)	Faith Healer
2002	Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actor (won)	Faith Healer
2004	Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor (won) Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actor (won)	Henry IV
2005	Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actor (won)	King Lear
2006	Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance (nominated) Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play (nominated) Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance (won) Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (won)	Faith Healer

[ Source: Wikipedia ]