A suave, urbane screen villain in the grand tradition of Basil Rathbone and George Sanders, the British-born Alan Rickman has created a handful of delightful characters since his screen debut in the 1988 actioner "Die Hard". This former graphic artist performed in such impressive British showcases as The Royal Shakespeare Company ("Captain Swing", 1978; "Love's Labour Lost", 1978; "Mephisto", 1986) before winning acclaim as the elegant, heartless seducer Le Vicomte de Valmont in the RSC's London and Broadway productions of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (1987). On British TV, he appeared as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" (1979), and had small roles in the terrifying "Therese Raquin" (1981) and the amusing "Barchester Chronicles" (1984). Rickman made his film debut as a vicious German terrorist in "Die Hard" (1988) and followed up as Kevin Kline's artsy pal in "The January Man" (1989) and as a tyrannical landowner in "Quigley Down Under" (1990). He made an engaging, if deceased, romantic lead in Anthony Minghella's love/ghost story, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (also 1990), then went back to evil as a sadistic interrogator in "Closet Land" (1991). In 1991, Rickman stole the hugely budgeted "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" from star Kevin Costner, delightfully tearing into the scenery as the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. He co-starred in the low-budget British drama "Close My Eyes" (also 1991) as a man whose girlfriend has an incestuous relationship with her brother, and was the campaign manager of "Bob Roberts" (1992). In the Irish "An Awfully Big Adventure" (1995), Rickman played the star of a ramshackle repertory theater company. That same year, he was Colonel Brandon, Kate Winslet's dark, smoldering suitor, in the Emma Thompson-scripted, Ang Lee-directed "Sense and Sensibility". Rickman earned an Emmy for the title role in the 1996 HBO drama "Rasputin". He co-starred as Eamon De Valera in Neil Jordan's biopic "Michael Collins" (1996).
Truly Madly Deeply (1991)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Bob Roberts (1992)
Michael Collins (1996)
Dogma (1999)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)