Ralph Fiennes Biography

Ralph Fiennes (born on December 22, 1962) is an Oscar-nominated English actor.

Biography

Born in Suffolk, England to photographer Mark Fiennes (died 2005) and the artist Jennifer Lash (died 1993), he is the eldest of six children. The actor Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Luther) is his brother. His sister Martha works as a director. In her film Onegin, he acted the title role. He is a cousin of the famous adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and an eighth cousin of the Prince of Wales.

The family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork and County Kilkenny for some years. They moved to Salisbury in England where Ralph finished his schooling before attending Chelsea College of Art.

Ralph Fiennes then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988. He is the only actor ever to have won a Tony Award for playing Hamlet on Broadway. In 2001 Fiennes received the William Shakespeare Award from the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Ralph Fiennes' film debut was in 1992, when he played Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche. But it was in the following year that he became known internationally, portraying amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Göth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1994 Ralph Fiennes portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show, and in 1996, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The English Patient.

Ralph Fiennes' work has ranged from thrillers (Red Dragon) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to campy nostalgia (The Avengers) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan). In 2002, Fiennes and Miranda Richardson received critical acclaim for their performances in David Cronenberg's award-winning thriller Spider.

Ralph Fiennes married actress Alex Kingston (Dr. Corday from ER) in 1993, but they divorced in 1997. In 1995, he started dating Francesca Annis, his much-older (18 years) co-star in Hamlet. In February 2006, the couple separated. This came after tabloid reports that said Fiennes had had an affair.

In 2004, Ralph Fiennes was cast as Lord Voldemort in the fourth film of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The film was released in November 2005. Fiennes will reprise the role in its sequels.

Also in 2005, The Constant Gardener was released, with Fiennes as the title role. The film is set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity.

Trivia

His role in Schindler's List earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. While he didn't win the Oscar, he did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award.
In his 2006 appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio, Fiennes revealed that his favorite word is "heart" and his least favorite is "flabbergasted". Fiennes also stated that if he were not an actor, he would work in wildlife preservation and conservation, saying that he is "turned off" by environmental destruction and pollution.
It is said that in a scene in Red Dragon, when he is naked running down the stairs in his house, his genital area had to be darkened because his genitals were swinging too much.
Fiennes is a UNICEF ambassador.

Awards won

1993 - NYFCC Award for best supporting actor - Schindler's List
1994 - BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
1994 - NSFC Award, DFWFCA Award, and CFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
1995 - ALFS Award for British actor of the year - Schindler's List
1999 - European Film Award for best actor - Sunshine

Award nominations

1994 - BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
1994 - Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role - Schindler's List
1994 - Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture - Schindler's List
1994 - MTV Movie Award for best breakthrough performance - Schindler's List
1997 - Academy Award for best actor in a leading role - The English Patient
1997 - BAFTA Award for best performance by an actor in a leading role - The English Patient
1997 - Golden Globe and Golden Satellite Award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Drama - The English Patient
1997 - Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a cast - The English Patient
1999 - Annie Award for outstanding individual achievement for voice acting in an animated feature production - The Prince of Egypt
1999 - Razzie Award for worst actor - The Avengers
1999 - Razzie Award for worst screen couple (shared with Uma Thurman) - The Avengers
2000 - BAFTA Film Award for best performance by an actor in a leading role - The End of the Affair
2000 - Genie Award for best performance by an actor in a leading role - Sunshine
2001 - ALFS Award for British actor of the year - The End of the Affair
2003 - Saturn Award for best supporting actor - Red Dragon
2003 - Teen Choice Award - Choice Movie Liplock (shared with Jennifer Lopez) - Maid in Manhattan

Film List

Arthur: The Legend Begins (2007) as Mordred
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) as Lord Voldemort
Who Killed Norma Barnes? (2006) as Issac Barnes
Doris and Bernard (2006) as Bernard
Land of the Blind (2006) as Joe
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) as Lord Voldemort
The White Countess (2005) as Todd Jackson
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) (voice) as Victor Quartermaine
Chromophobia (2005) as Stephan Tulloch
The Chumscrubber (2005) as Mayor Michael Ebbs
The Constant Gardener (2005) as Justin Quayle
Maid in Manhattan (2002) as Christopher Marshel
Red Dragon (2002) as Francis Dolarhyde
The Good Thief (2002) as Tony Angel
Spider (2002) as Dennis Cleg
The Miracle Maker (2000) (TV) (voice) as Jesus
Sunshine(1999)- Ignatz Sonnenschein/Adam Sors/Ivan Sors
The End of the Affair (1999) as Maurice Bendrix
Onegin (1999) as Evgeny Onegin
Sunshine (1999) as Ignatz Sonnenschein/Adam Sors/Ivan Sors
The Prince of Egypt (1998) as Rameses
The Avengers (1998) as John Steed
Oscar and Lucinda (1997) as Oscar Hopkins
The English Patient (1996) as Count Laszlo de Almásy
Strange Days (1995) as Lenny Nero
Quiz Show (1994) as Charles Van Doren
Schindler's List (1993) as Amon Goeth
The Baby of Macon (1993) as the Bishop's Son
The Cormorant (1993) (TV) as John Talbot
Wuthering Heights (1992) as Heathcliff
Prime Suspect (1991) (TV) as Micheal
A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990) (TV) as T. E. Lawrence