Early life and family

Further information: Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family and Baron Saye and Sele

Fiennes was born in Ipswich, on 22 December 1962. He is the eldest child of Mark Fiennes (1933-2004), a farmer and photographer, and Jennifer Lash (1938-1993), a writer. He has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His surname is of Norman origin. His grandfathers were industrialist Sir Maurice Fiennes (1907-1994) and Brigadier Henry Alleyne Lash (1901-1975).

Fiennes is an eighth cousin of Charles, Prince of Wales, and a third cousin of adventurer Ranulph Fiennes and author William Fiennes. He is the eldest of six children. His siblings are actor Joseph Fiennes; Martha Fiennes, a director (in her film Onegin, he played the title role); Magnus Fiennes, a composer; Sophie Fiennes, a filmmaker; and Jacob Fiennes, a conservationist. His foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist. His nephew Hero Fiennes-Tiffin played Tom Riddle, young Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork and County Kilkenny for some years. Fiennes was educated at St Kieran's College for one year, followed by Newtown School, a Quaker independent school in County Waterford. They moved to Salisbury in England, where Fiennes finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworth's School. He went on to pursue painting at Chelsea College of Art before deciding that acting was his true passion.

Career

Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1983 and 1985. He began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park and also at the National Theatre before achieving prominence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and then made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche.

1993 was his "breakout year". He had a major role in the controversial Peter Greenaway film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond, which was poorly received. Later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. For this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He did not win the Oscar, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role. His portrayal as Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of Top 50 Film Villains. To look suitable to represent Goeth, Fiennes gained weight, but he managed to shed it afterwards.

Fiennes later stated that playing the role had a profoundly disturbing effect on him. In a subsequent interview, Fiennes recalled,

Evil is cumulative. It happens. People believe that they've got to do a job, they've got to take on an ideology, that they've got a life to lead; they've got to survive, a job to do, it's every day inch by inch, little compromises, little ways of telling yourself this is how you should lead your life and suddenly then these things can happen. I mean, I could make a judgment myself privately, this is a terrible, evil, horrific man. But the job was to portray the man, the human being. There’s a sort of banality, that everydayness, that I think was important. And it was in the screenplay. In fact, one of the first scenes with Oskar Schindler, with Liam Neeson, was a scene where I'm saying, "You don't understand how hard it is, I have to order so many-so many meters of barbed wire and so many fencing posts and I have to get so many people from A to B." And, you know, he's sort of letting off steam about the difficulties of the job.

In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show. In 1996 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the World War II epic romance The English Patient in which he starred with Kristin Scott-Thomas. Fiennes' film work has ranged from thrillers (Spider) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to camp nostalgia (The Avengers) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan) to historical drama (Sunshine).

In 1999, Fiennes starred in the role of Eugene Onegin in Onegin, a film which he also helped produce. His sister Martha Fiennes directed and brother Magnus composed the score.

The Constant Gardener was released in 2005 with Fiennes in the central role. The film is set in Kenya, dealing in part with real people in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani. The situation affected the cast and crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust to provide basic education for children of these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity.

He is also a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.

Fiennes portrayed Lord Voldemort in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He kept the role for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 and Part 2.

Fiennes' 2006 performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2007 Tony Award. In 2008, Fiennes worked with frequent collaborator, director Jonathan Kent, playing the title role in Oedipus the King by Sophocles, at the National Theatre in London. In 2008, he played the Duke of Devonshire in the film The Duchess, and played the protagonist in The Reader.

In February 2009, Fiennes was the special guest of the Belgrade's Film Festival FEST. He filmed his version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Fiennes reunited with Kathryn Bigelow for her Iraq War film The Hurt Locker, released in 2009, appearing as an English mercenary. They had previously worked together on Strange Days (1995). In April 2010, he played Hades in Clash of the Titans, a remake of the 1981 film of the same name. In 2012, he starred in the twenty-third James Bond film, Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes. He will replace Dame Judi Dench as M in future Bond films. Dench had also starred alongside Fiennes' brother, Joseph, in Shakespeare in Love in 1998.

Though he is not noted as a comic actor, in 2014 he made an impression for his farcical turn in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Said one critic about the film, "In the end it's Fiennes who makes the biggest impression. His stylized, rapid-fire delivery, dry wit and cheerful profanity keep the film bubbling along." For his performance, Fiennes was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

In 2015, Fiennes starred in Luca Guadagnino's thriller A Bigger Splash.

Personal life

Fiennes is a UNICEF UK ambassador and has done work in India, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda and Romania.

Fiennes met English actress Alex Kingston while they were both students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After dating for ten years, they married in 1993 and divorced in 1997. Fiennes had an 11-year relationship with actress Francesca Annis until breaking up in 2006.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights	Heathcliff
1993	Baby of Mâcon, TheThe Baby of Mâcon	Bishop's son, TheThe Bishop's son
1993	Schindler's List	Amon Goeth	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
1994	Quiz Show	Charles Van Doren
1995	Strange Days	Lenny Nero	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996	The English Patient	Count László de Almássy	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
1997	Oscar and Lucinda	Oscar Hopkins
1998	Avengers, TheThe Avengers	John Steed	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Combo
1998	Prince of Egypt, TheThe Prince of Egypt	Ramesses II (voice)	Nominated—Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
1999	Sunshine	Ignatz Sonnenschein/Adam Sors/Ivan Sors	European Film Award for Best Actor Nominated—Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
1999	Onegin	Evgeny Onegin	Also executive producer
1999	End of the Affair, TheThe End of the Affair	Maurice Bendrix	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2000	Miracle Maker, TheThe Miracle Maker	Jesus Christ (voice)
2002	Spider	Dennis "Spider" Cleg
2002	Good Thief, TheThe Good Thief	Tony Angel	Uncredited
2002	Red Dragon	Francis Dolarhyde	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Christopher Marshall	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Film - Liplock
2005	Chumscrubber, TheThe Chumscrubber	Mayor Michael Ebbs
2005	Chromophobia	Stephen Tulloch
2005	Constant Gardener, TheThe Constant Gardener	Justin Quayle	BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
2005	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	Lord Victor Quartermaine (voice)	Nominated—Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
2005	White Countess, TheThe White Countess	Todd Jackson
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Lord Voldemort	Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
2006	Land of the Blind	Joe
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Lord Voldemort
2008	In Bruges	Harry Waters	Nominated—BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008	Duchess, TheThe Duchess	William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire	Nominated—BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
2008	Reader, TheThe Reader	Older Michael Berg
2009	Hurt Locker, TheThe Hurt Locker	Contractor Team Leader	Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast Performance Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2009	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince	Lord Voldemort	Cameo
2010	Cemetery Junction	Mr. Kendrick
2010	Clash of the Titans	Hades
2010	Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang	Lord Gray
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1	Lord Voldemort
2010	Wildest Dream, TheThe Wildest Dream	George Mallory
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2	Lord Voldemort	Scream Award for Best Villain Teen Choice Award for Choice Film Fight Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2011	Page Eight	Alec Beasley
2011	Coriolanus	Coriolanus	Also director and producer Nominated—BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
2012	Wrath of the Titans	Hades
2012	Skyfall	Gareth Mallory / M
2012	Great Expectations	Magwitch
2013	The Invisible Woman	Charles Dickens	Also director
2014	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Monsieur Gustave H.	Denver Film Critics Society for Best Actor Detroit Film Critics Society for Best Ensemble Indiana Film Journalists Association For Best Actor Indiewire 2014 Year-End Critics Poll for Best Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Actor
2014	Two Women	M.A. Rakitin
2015	A Bigger Splash	Harry Hawkes
2015	Spectre	M / Gareth Mallory
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Laurence Laurentz
2016	Kubo and the Two Strings	Moon King / Raiden (voice)	Post-production
2017	The Lego Batman Movie	Alfred Pennyworth (voice)

In Quebec, Canada, Fiennes's voice has been overdubbed in French in 6 of his films, by Jean-Luc Montminy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, AA Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia	T. E. Lawrence
1991	Prime Suspect	Michael
2008	Bernard and Doris	Bernard Lafferty	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2011-2014	Rev.	Bishop of London	2 episodes
2014	Turks & Caicos	Alec Beasley	Television film
2014	Salting the Battlefield	Alec Beasley	Television film

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Lord Voldemort	Voice
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Lord Voldemort	Voice

Stage credits

• Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1985) - Role: Curio - Directed by Richard Digby Day - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1985) - Role: Cobweb - Directed by Toby Robertson - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1986) - Role: Lysander - Directed by David Conville and Emma Freud - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London and New Shakespeare Company's European Tour
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (1986) - Role: Romeo - Directed by Declan Donnellan - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
• Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (1987) - Role: Son - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Olivier Theatre, London
• Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1987) - Role: Arkady Nikolayevich Kirsanov - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre, London
• Ting Tang Mine by Nick Darke (1987) - Role: Lisha Ball - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre, London
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (1988) - Role: Claudio - Directed by Di Trevis - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
• The Plantagenets: Henry VI, The Rise of Edward IV, Richard III His Death by William Shakespeare (1988-1989) - Role: Henry VI, ghost of Henry VI - Directed by Adrian Noble - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Barbican Theatre, London
• King John (1989) by William Shakespeare - Role: Dauphin - Directed by Deborah Warner - The Other Place Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and The Pit Theatre, London
• The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman (1989) - Role: Bert Jefferson - Directed by Ron Gene Saks - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Barbican Theatre, London
• Playing with Trains by Stephen Poliakoff (1989) - Role: Gant - Directed by Ron Daniels - The Royal Shakespeare Company - The Pit Theatre, London
• Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare (1990) - Role: Troilus - Directed by Sam Mendes - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
• King Lear by William Shakespeare (1990) - Role: Edmund - Directed by Nicholas Hytner - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
• Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare (1991) - Role: King of Navarre - Directed by Terry Hands - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Barbican Theatre, London
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1995) - Role: Hamlet, with Francesca Annis as Gertrude - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Hackney Empire, London and Belasco Theatre on Broadway, NY
• Ivanov by Anton Chekhov translated by David Hare (February-April 1997) - Role: Ivanov - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Almeida Theatre, London
• Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (2000) - Role: Coriolanus - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Gainsborough Film Studios in Shoreditch, London and BAM Harvey Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City
• Richard II by William Shakespeare (2000) - Role: Richard II - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Gainsborough Film Studios in Shoreditch, London and BAM Harvey Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City
• The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben (2001) - Role: Sir Ralph Fiennes - Directed by Kenneth Branagh - The Duo The Right Size - Wyndham's Theatre, West End
• The Talking Cure by Christopher Hampton (2003) - Role: Carl Jung - Directed by Howard Davies - National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre, London
• Brand by Henrik Ibsen (2003) - Role: Brand - Directed by Adrian Noble - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Theatre Royal Haymarket, West End
• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (2005) - Role: Mark Antony - Directed by Deborah Warner - Barbican Centre, London & tour
• Faith Healer by Brian Friel (2006) - Role: Frank Hardy - Directed by Jonathan Kent - Gate Theatre, Dublin and Booth Theatre on Broadway, New York City
• First Love by Samuel Beckett - Sydney Festival 2007
• God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza (2008) - Role: Alain Reille - Gielgud Theatre, West End
• Oedipus the King by Sophocles (2008) - Role: Oedipus - National Theatre, London
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare (2011) - Role: Prospero - Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
• National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage (2013) - Role: Lambert Le Roux (Pravda) - National Theatre, London
• Man and Superman by Bernard Shaw (2015) - Role: Jack Tanner - National Theatre, London
• The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen (2016) - Role: Halvard Solness - Directed by Matthew Warchus - Old Vic, London
• Richard III by William Shakespeare (2016 - upcoming) - Role: Richard, Duke of Gloucester - Directed by Rupert Goold - Almeida Theatre, London
• Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (2018 - upcoming) - Role: Antony - Directed by Simon Godwin - National Theatre, London

Selected other projects, contributions

• When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) - "Sonnet 129" ("Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame")

[ Source: Wikipedia ]