Early life

Graves was born in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England, to Mary Lousilla (née Roberts) Graves, a travel coordinator, and Richard Harding Graves, a music teacher and musician.

Education

Graves was educated at Wyvern Community School, a state comprehensive school in his home town of Weston-super-Mare, which he left at the age of fifteen. The school has since closed and re-opened as the Hans Price Academy.

Career

Graves's first job after leaving school was as a circus clown. He has appeared in over twenty-five films and over thirty-five television productions; he has also appeared on stage.

Graves first came to prominence in costume-drama adaptations of E. M. Forster's novels A Room with a View (1985) and Maurice (1987), before going on to appear in films including A Handful of Dust (1988), the Oscar nominated The Madness of King George (1994), Different for Girls (1996), and Intimate Relations (1996).

Graves's role in Intimate Relations won him the Best Actor award at the 1996 Montreal World Film Festival. He was also acclaimed for his portrayal of Young Jolyon Forsyte in the television miniseries The Forsyte Saga (2002).

Personal life

In 1987 in his hometown of Weston-super-Mare, Graves met Yvonne, a stained glass artist (later a trained gardener), in a café. They lived together in Stoke Newington, and he helped her raise her two daughters, who were 10 and 14 years old when the relationship began. Graves and Yvonne were together for 13 years.

In September 2000, shortly after Graves's relationship with Yvonne ended, he met Australian-born production coordinator Suzanne Lewis at the opening-night party for The Caretaker, a play he was appearing in at the time with Michael Gambon. They married, and have five children together: Joseph, Ella, Noah, Isaac, and Zoe.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	A Room with a View	Freddie Honeychurch
1987	Maurice	Alec Scudder
1988	A Handful of Dust	John Beaver
1990	The Plot to Kill Hitler	Axel von dem Busche
1990	The Children	Gerald Ormerod
1991	Where Angels Fear to Tread	Philip Herriton
1992	Damage	Martyn Fleming
1992	The Sheltering Desert	Hermann Korn
1994	The Madness of King George	Robert Fulke Greville
1996	Different for Girls	Paul Prentice
1996	The Innocent Sleep	Alan Terry
1996	Intimate Relations	Harold Guppy	Montreal World Film Festival - Best Actor
1997	Bent	Officer on train
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Septimus Warren Smith
1998	The Soldier's Leap	Christian	Short film
1998	Sweet Revenge	Oliver Knightly
1999	All My Loved Ones	Nicholas Winton	Original title: Vsichni moji blízcí
1999	Dreaming of Joseph Lees	Joseph Lees
2000	Room to Rent	Mark
2002	Extreme Ops	Jeffrey
2005	Rag Tale	Eddy Taylor
2006	V for Vendetta	Dominic
2007	Death at a Funeral	Robert
2007	Intervention	Mark
2007	The Waiting Room	George
2010	Made in Dagenham	Peter Hopkins
2012	Fast Girls	David Temple
2015	Bone in the Throat	Rupert	based on Anthony Bourdain's novel

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Return of the Saint	Prefect	Episode: "Yesterday's Hero"
1979	The Famous Five	Yan	2 episodes
1981	Vice Versa	Tipping	6 episodes
1982	All for Love		Episode: "Mona"
1983	St. Ursula's in Danger	Teddy
1983	Good and Bad at Games	Guthrie
1984	Puccini	Tonio
1987	Fortunes of War	Simon Boulderstone	3 episodes
1991	A Private Affair	Milton
1992	Inspector Morse	Billy	Episode: "Happy Families"
1993	Screen One	Neil	Episode: "Royal Celebration"
1994	Doomsday Gun	Jones
1994	Open Fire	David Martin
1995	Harry	Dominic Collier	Series 2, Episode 6
1996	1914-1918		3 episodes
1996	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall	Arthur Huntingdon	3 episodes
1999	The Blonde Bombshell	Dennis Hamilton
1999	Cleopatra	Octavian
2000	Take a Girl Like You	Patrick Standish	TV movie
2002	The Forsyte Saga	Young Jolyon Forsyte
2003	The Forsyte Saga: To Let	Young Jolyon Forsyte	4 episodes
2003	Charles II: The Power & the Passion	George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham	4 episodes
2004	Pride	Linus	Voice only
2005	Spooks	William Sampson	Series 4, Episode 2
2005	A Waste of Shame	William Shakespeare
2006	Son of the Dragon	The Lord of the North
2007	To Be First	Dr. Christiaan Barnard
2007	Clapham Junction	Robin Cape
2007	The Dinner Party	Roger
2008	Ashes to Ashes	Danny Moore	Series 1, Episode 2
2008	Waking the Dead	Colonel John Garrett	2 episodes
2008	Midnight Man	Daniel Cosgrave	3 episodes
2008	God on Trial	Mordechai
2008	Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye	Lance Fortescue
2009	The Good Times Are Killing Me	Lexy
2009-2011	Garrow's Law	Sir Arthur Hill	12 episodes
2010	Wallander	Alfred Harderberg	Episode: "The Man Who Smiled"
2010	Lewis	Alec Pickman	Episode: "Falling Darkness"
2010	Law & Order: UK	John Smith	Episode: "Defence"
2010	Single Father	Stuart	3 episodes
2010	New Tricks	Adrian Levene	Episode: "Fashion Victim"
2010-present	Sherlock	D.I. Lestrade	8 episodes
2011	Case Sensitive	Mark Bretherick	2 episodes
2011	Scott & Bailey	Nick Savage	5 episodes
2011	Death in Paradise	James Lavender	Series 1 episode 1
2012	Putin, Russia & The West	Narrator	4 episodes
2012	Terror at Sea: The Sinking of the Concordia	Narrator
2012	The Hunt for bin Laden	Narrator
2012	Doctor Who	Riddell	Series 7, Episode 2: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"
2012	Secret State	Felix Durrell	4 Episodes
2013	The White Queen	Lord Stanley	6 episodes
2014	Turks & Caicos	Stirling Rogers
2014	Salting the Battlefield	Stirling Rogers
2014	The Crimson Field	Maj. Edward Crecy	Episode 2
2014	Last Tango in Halifax	Gary	Series 3
2015	Valentine's Kiss	Nicholas Whiteley
2015	Sacrifice	Duncan Guthrie
2015	Native	Cane
2016	The Family	John Warren

Theatre work

In addition to his screen work, Graves has also won acclaim for his stage acting, including roles on the American stage in Broadway-theatre productions in New York City, New York, of the plays Closer (2000) and The Elephant Man (2002).

Graves's notable London theatre credits includes his performance as Presley Stray in the original production of Philip Ridley's The Pitchfork Disney (1991) at the Bush Theatre, west London, which won him Best Actor at the 1991 Charrington London Fringe Awards; Martin Sherman's A Madhouse in Goa (1989) opposite Vanessa Redgrave; and as Eddie in the Peter Hall Company's production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly (1997-8) at the Old Vic and Queen's Theatre, for which he was nominated for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The Killing Of Mr. Toad by David Gooderson	Alistair Graham, Mr. Toad	The King's Head Theatre, London, director David Gooderson
1983, 1984	Sufficient Carbohydrate by Dennis Potter	Clayton Vosper	Hampstead Theatre and Albery Theatre, London, director Nancy Meckler
1985	Torch Song Trilogy (Part 2: 'Fugue in a Nursery') by Harvey Fierstein	Alan	Albery Theatre, London, director Robert Allan Ackerman
1986	Amadeus by Peter Shaffer	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Theatr Clwyd, director Simon Callow
1987	The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde	Algernon Moncrieff	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, director Clare Venables
1986-7	Candida by George Bernard Shaw	Marchbanks	The King's Head Theatre, London, director Frank Hauser (director)
1988	'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford (dramatist)	Giovanni	Royal National Theatre (Olivier), London, director Alan Ayckbourn
1989	The History Of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, adapted by Andrew Wickes	Tom Jones	Watford Palace Theatre, director Matthew Francis
1989	A Madhouse In Goa by Martin Sherman	David, Barnaby Grace	Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith) and Apollo Theatre, London, director Robert Allan Ackerman
1991	The Pitchfork Disney by Philip Ridley	Presley Stray	Bush Theatre, London, director Matthew Lloyd
1992	A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare	Lysander	Royal National Theatre (Olivier), London, director Robert Lepage
1994	Toyer by Gardner McKay	Peter Matson	Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, director Wyn Jones
1995	Design for Living by Noël Coward	Otto	Gielgud Theatre, London, director Sean Mathias
1996	Les Enfants du Paradis by Jacques Prévert, adapted by Simon Callow	Baptiste	Barbican Centre, London, director Simon Callow
1997, 1998	Hurlyburly by David Rabe	Eddie	Peter Hall Company at the Old Vic and Queen's Theatre, London, director Wilson Milam
1998	The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill	Don Parrit	Almeida Theatre, London, director Howard Davies (director)
1999	Closer by Patrick Marber	Dan	Music Box Theater, Broadway, director Patrick Marber
2000, 2000-01	The Caretaker by Harold Pinter	Mick	Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and Comedy Theatre, London, director Patrick Marber
2001	Speak Truth To Power : Voices From Beyond The Dark by Ariel Dorfman	Third Voice	Playhouse Theatre, London, director Gari Jones
2002	The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance	Dr. Frederick Treves	Royale Theatre, Broadway, director Sean Mathias
2003	A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde	Lord Illingworth	Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, director Adrian Noble
2004	Dumb Show by Joe Penhall	Greg	Royal Court Theatre, London, director Terry Johnson (dramatist)
2006	The Exonerated by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen	Kerry	Riverside Studios, London, director Bob Balaban

and primary archive sources.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]