About me: The oldest of six children, Fiennes was born in Suffolk on December 22, 1962. His father was a self-taught photographer and his mother a novelist who wrote under the pen name Jennifer Lash, professions which virtually ensured a unique upbringing. Fiennes' family moved a number of times while he was growing up, and the children were encouraged in their creative pursuits. Thus, it is less than surprising that four out of the six Fiennes siblings went on to work in the entertainment business, with Ralph and his brother Joseph becoming actors, his two sisters a director and a producer, and another brother a musician. Originally wanting to be a painter, Fiennes enrolled at the Chelsea College of Art and Design before transferring to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to study acting. Following graduation, he joined the Royal National Theatre in 1987, and he became part of the Royal Shakespeare Company a year later. While a member of the company, he performed a wide range of the classics, playing everyone from Romeo to King Lear's Edmund.
Fiennes first became known to a wider audience in 1991, when he starred as the title character in the acclaimed British television production of A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. The next year he gained additional exposure, making his film debut as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Starring opposite Juliette Binoche, Fiennes glowered his way across the screen with suitable aplomb, something that he would do again to devastating effect the next year in Schindler's List. As the psychotic Nazi Commandant Amon Goeth, Fiennes blended quiet yet absolute menace with surprising charisma (even more surprising given that he had gained over thirty pounds for his role) to such great effect that he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and a British Academy Award for his portrayal. Fiennes' work in the film incited a flurry of interest in the actor, whose intensity and odd name (its correct pronunciation is "Rafe Fines") made him the subject of many a magazine article.
Ralph Fiennes is notoriously hard to pin down. He made his cinematic debut as a smouldering Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and was Oscar-nominated for the war-torn love-story The English Patient, yet he is not really viewed as a romantic lead actor. He was famously terrifying as camp kommandant Amon Goeth in Schindler's List and deeply disturbing as serial killer The Tooth Fairy in Red Dragon, yet he's not considered a villain. He played an arch John Steed in The Avengers and fell for Jennifer Lopez's serving-girl in the rom-com Maid In Manhattan, yet is not seen as a comedian. The truth is, he's simply a superb character actor - any character, any situation.
And he always brings something extra to his roles, something that may have been in the script but is extremely difficult to understand and express. This is human complexity. Perhaps due to his genes, his itinerant childhood, his unusual family life, Fiennes seems to have a remarkably strong grasp of people's weaknesses, their idiosyncratic thought processes, their troubles. His heroes are always flawed - confused, angry, vacillating - and his villains are always vulnerable, wishing to walk the path of righteousness but fatally undermined by other, darker compulsions. Consequently a Fiennes performance, even in legendary duffer The Avengers, is always fascinating. He muddies the waters around him, makes us peer more closely at movements on the screen, opens us up for surprise. His success is not simply down to his looks or his natural charisma - though he has both in spades - but a mighty emotional intelligence and a hard-won access to feelings of loss, loneliness, alienation, perturbation of every sort. Fiennes is not always easy to watch, but still you cannot turn your eyes away. He's a brilliant actor, quite brilliant.
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Thank you for adding me! This page is so adorable! I love the pictures you found of his family then/now. Ralph is so beautiful & sweet, he is my absolute favorite, so it is awesome to be among you all who love him just as much!! Keep up the good work! :)
Hello, how are you ? I'm just stoppin' by your page, after my work day. I'm tired, but finally at home ! Well, I'm gonna watch Wuthering Heights this evening, Take care, Kisses and Hugs, Charlie x ;)
Wow... About the videos... I'm probably really sensitive... I don't know... But I must admit that The English Patient always give me tears in the end. All the actors were brilliant ('love you, Ralph) Goodnight, Charlie x
