Born: December, 22, 1962, Suffolk, England
Astrosign: Capricorn (Element Earth)
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5'11''
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1982 to 1985.
In 1986, Fiennes began acting with Londons Open Air Theatre, then moved on to the National Theatre in 1987 and the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company in 1989. In his two-year stint with the company, Fiennes appeared in productions of King Lear, Loves Labour Lost, as Troilus and Cressida, and as the title character in Henry VI. He appeared on British television in a mini-series called "Prime Suspect" and in "A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia".
In his feature film debut, Fiennes stepped into the large shoes left by his countryman, Sir Laurence Olivier, when he played Heathcliff in a remake of "Wuthering Heights", opposite Juliette Binoche. The film, released in 1992, received poor reviews, but Fiennes's performance caught the attention of Steven Spielberg. The celebrated director cast Fiennes in his breakout role, the sadistic Nazi officer Amon Goeth in 1993's "Schindler's List". The film, co-starring Liam Neeson and Fiennes's fellow Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus, Ben Kingsley, was a huge critical and commercial hit. For his multi-layered portrayal of the utterly flawed Goeth, Fiennes won a Golden Globe and numerous other critics awards, and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In all, the film garnered seven Oscars (out of 12 nominations), including Best Picture and Best Director.
For his next film, 1994's "Quiz Show", directed by Robert Redford, Fiennes dropped the 30 pounds hed put on to play Goeth and displayed his unique rangeboth dramatic and physical with his portrayal of the clean-cut, professorial game show contestant Charles Van Doren. Altough hisnext film, the futuristic thriller "Strange Days" (1995), co-starring Angela Bassett, bombed at the box office, Fiennes made a triumphant return to the stage in 1995, playing the title role in Hamlet--for which he won a Tony Award for Best Actorduring a sold-out 15-week Broadway run. Fiennes added to his repertoire of brooding romantic heroes in 1996, when he starred in "The Englisch Patient" (1996), an epic wartime romance based on Michael Ondaatjes novel and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film, co-starring Kristen Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, and Willem Dafoe, was another smash hit, winning nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For his part, Fiennes received his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor.
His career had a few downturns in the following years, beginning in 1997, when Fiennes co-starred with Cate Blanchett in "Oscar and Lucinda", an unconventional romance directed by Gillian Armstrong. Tough both lead actors won praise for their performances, reviews of the film were generally negative. His next release, "The Avengers" (1998), a film version of the famous TV program, co-starring Uma Thurman, failed dismally among both critics and audiences.
In December 1999, Fiennes starred in "The End of the Affair", a World War 2 era story of religious faith and doomed romance, directed by Neil Jordan, co-starring Julianne Moore, and based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Graham Greene. He also filmed "Onegin"--adapted from Alexander Pushkins 19th century verse novel, directed by Fiennes's younger sister, Martha, and co-starring Liv Tyler, and "A Taste of Sunshine", in which he portrayed three different members grandfater, father, and son of the same Jewish Hungarian family. He continues to act on stage as well, including performances in repertory theatre productions of King Lear and
Coriolanus in London in 2000.
Fiennes, who lives in London, spent time in New York during the summer of 1999 promoting Blood Ties, a novel by his mother who wrote under the pen name Jennifer Lash that she had finished in 1989 but that had remained unpublished at the time of her death, in 1993, from breast cancer. Fiennes was joined in these promotional efforts by his brother, Josephan actor best known for his performances as the lovesick Bard in 1998's Shakespeare In Love and the lover of the young Queen Elizabeth in Elizabeth (1998)--and their sister Sophie, a documentary filmmaker. Fiennes was married in 1993 to Alex Kingston, a former classmate at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, after a 10-year relationship. The couple separated in 1995, and divorced in 1997. Kingston now lives in Los Angeles and has a leading role in the NBC medical drama E.R..
Fiennes became romantically involved with the British actress Francesca Annis when she played Gertrude, Hamlets mother, to his Hamlet, in 1995. Despite a British tabloids report, both Fiennes and Annis, who is 17 years his senior, deny that they have been secretly married.