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Ralph Nathaniel Fiennes, pronounced, (born 22
December 1962), is an Oscar-nominated British actor.
Born in Suffolk, England to photographer Mark Fiennes (died 2004, age 71)
and novelist Jennifer Lash (died 1993 of breast cancer), Ralph Fiennes is
the eldest of six children and was raised a Roman Catholic. 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.
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The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork and County
Kilkenny for some years, where Fiennes and his siblings were homeschooled.
They moved to Salisbury in England where Ralph finished his schooling before
attending Chelsea College of Art.
He 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.
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 the 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. He did not
win the Oscar, but he did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the
role.
In 1994, he 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.
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.
He 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, 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.
His recent performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for
a Tony Award. He previously won a Tony for his performance in Hamlet. |
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