'Colin Andrew Firth' (born
10 September,
1960) is an
English film, television and stage
actor.
Biography
Early life
Firth was born in
Grayshott,
Hampshire,
England to Shirley, a comparative religion lecturer, and David Firth, a history lecturer.
[1] Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother,
Jonathan, who is now also an actor. Firth's parents were born and raised in
India,
[2] as his maternal grandparents,
Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an
Anglican minister, performed
missionary work abroad.
[3][4][5][6] Firth's name is pronounced very similarly to the
Old English word ''collenferhð'', meaning ''pride''.
[7] Firth spent part of his childhood in
Nigeria, where his father was teaching. He lived in
St. Louis,
Missouri when he was 11. He later attended the
Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School, a state
comprehensive school in
Winchester, Hampshire, and then
Barton Peveril College in
Eastleigh, Hampshire.
Film career
Firth starred in the award-winning 1981
London stage production of ''
Another Country'', and reprised his role for his first film appearance in 1984. In 1987, he appeared alongside
Kenneth Branagh in the film version of
J. L. Carr's
novel, ''
A Month in the Country''. In 1989, he took the lead in the film ''
Valmont''.
Despite widespread admiration for his performances, it was only with the
1995 BBC television adaptation of ''
Pride and Prejudice'' that Firth gained wider renown. The serial was a major success, and Firth became known as a heartthrob because of his role as
Fitzwilliam Darcy. This performance also made him the object of affection for fictional journalist
Bridget Jones (created by
Helen Fielding), an interest which carried on into the two novels featuring the Jones character. In the second novel, '', the character even meets Firth in
Rome. As something of an
in-joke, when the novels were adapted for the cinema, Firth was cast as Jones's love interest,
Mark Darcy.
Firth had a supporting role in ''
The English Patient'' (1996) and since then has starred in films such as ''
Fever Pitch'' (1997), ''
Shakespeare in Love'' (1998), ''
Bridget Jones's Diary'' (2001), ''
The Importance of Being Earnest'' (2002), ''
Love Actually'' (2003), ''
What a Girl Wants'' (2003) and '' (2004). He has also appeared in recent
television productions, including ''Donovan Quick'' (an updated version of ''
Don Quixote'') (1999) and ''
Conspiracy'' (2001). In 2007, Firth starred with
Aishwarya Rai in ''
The Last Legion''.
Firth is also a Jury Member for the on going
Filmaka amateur short film contest.
Personal life
In 1989, Firth entered into a romantic relationship with actress
Meg Tilly, his co-star in ''Valmont''. In 1990, she gave birth to a son, Will Firth. In
1994, Firth was involved with actress
Jennifer Ehle, his co-star in ''Pride and Prejudice''. Firth lives both in London and
Italy. He married Italian documentary filmmaker
Livia Giuggioli on
21 June,
1997. The couple have two sons, Luca (born 2001) and Matteo (born 2003).
Recently, Firth has been involved in a campaign to stop the
deportation of a group of
asylum seekers, because he believes that they may be murdered on their return to the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
[8] Firth has argued that "To me it's just basic civilisation to help people. I find this incredibly painful to see how we dismiss the most desperate people in our society. It's easily done. It plays to the tabloids, to the middle-England xenophobes. It just makes me furious. And all from a government we once had such high hopes for".
[9] As a result of the campaign, a Congolese nurse was given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.
[10]
In a 2006 interview with French magazine, Madame Figaro,
[11] Firth was asked "Quelles sont les femmes de votre vie?" (Who are the women in your life?). Firth replied: "Ma mère, ma femme et Jane Austen" (My mother, my wife and Jane Austen).
Filmography
References
1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Colin-Firth.html
2. http://www.firth.com/articles/02realmag_816.html
3. http://hem.passagen.se/lmw/freshair01.html
4. http://www.spring.net/karenr/articles/entnewsdaily50401.html
5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1506175
6. http://www.firth.com/articles/globeandmail51802.html
7. Clark Hall, J. R. "A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. University of Toronto Press, 1894
8. Colin Firth, We must stop a deportation that is likely to end in murder, ''The Independent'', 26 February 2007, accessed 27 February 2007
9. Andrew Johnson, Colin Firth makes plea for nurse 'facing murder' in Congo, ''The Independent'', 26 February 2007, accessed 27 February 2007
10. Firth's intervention saves nurse from deportation, ''The Independent'', 27 February 2007, accessed 27 February 2007
11. http://www.firth.com/articles/06figaro_204.html
External links
★
★
Colin Firth 24/7
★
Bridget Jones Online Archive
★
Firth Essence - Fan Site
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