Birth name Colin Andrew Firth NationalityUnited-kingdom Birth 10 september 1960 (63 years) at Grayshott (United-kingdom) Awards Academy Award for Best Actor, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Colin Andrew Firth, CBE (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor. His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide. He has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, two BAFTAs and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup. His most notable and acclaimed role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, a performance that earned him an Oscar and multiple worldwide best actor awards.
Identified in the late 1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising, young British actors, it was not until Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that he received more widespread attention. This led to roles in films such as The English Patient, Bridget Jones's Diary (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA), Shakespeare in Love and Love Actually. In 2009 he received widespread critical acclaim for his leading role in A Single Man, for which Firth gained his first Academy Award nomination, and won a BAFTA Award. He starred in the action spy comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014, which was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews.
In 2011, Firth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was also selected as one of the Time 100. He was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Winchester in 2007, and was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2012.
Firth has campaigned for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and is a member of Survival International. He has also campaigned on issues of asylum seekers and refugees' rights and the environment. Firth commissioned and is credited as a co-author on a scientific paper on a study into the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations.
Biography
In 1989, he began a relationship with Meg Tilly, his co-star in Valmont and, in 1990, they had a son, William "Will" Joseph Firth. The family moved to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Firth's acting career slowed down until they broke up in 1994, and his return to the UK. Firth remains in contact with Will and with Tilly's two other children. In 1997, Firth married Italian film producer and director Livia Firth (née Giuggioli). They have two sons, Luca (born March 2001) and Matteo (born August 2003). The family now live in both Chiswick, London and Umbria, Italy. Firth started to learn Italian when he and Giuggioli began to date and is now fluent in the language. Firth is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.
Firth was awarded an honorary degree on 19 October 2007 from the University of Winchester. On 13 January 2011, he was presented with the 2,429th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In April 2011, Time magazine included Firth in its list of the world's 100 Most Influential People. Firth was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to drama, and made a Freeman of the City of London on 8 March 2012.
Activism
Firth has been a long-standing supporter of Survival International, a non-governmental organisation that defends the rights of tribal peoples. Speaking in 2001, he said, "My interest in tribal peoples goes back many years... and I have supported [Survival] ever since." In 2003, during the promotion of the film Love Actually, he spoke in defence of the tribal people of Botswana, condemning the Botswana government's eviction of the Gana and Gwi people (San) from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He says of the San, "These people are not the remnants of a past era who need to be brought up to date. Those who are able to continue to live on the land that is rightfully theirs are facing the 21st century with a confidence that many of us in the so-called developed world can only envy." He has also backed a Survival International campaign to press the Brazilian government to take more decisive action in defence of the Awá-Guajá people, whose land and livelihood is critically threatened by the actions of loggers.
As a supporter of the Refugee Council, Firth was involved in a campaign to stop the deportation of a group of 42 Congolese asylum seekers, expressing concerns in open letters to The Independent and The Guardian that they faced being murdered on their return to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Firth said "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". Four of the asylum seekers were given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.
Firth along with other celebrities has been involved in the Oxfam global campaign Make Trade Fair, focusing on trade practices seen as especially unfair to third world producers including dumping, high import tariffs, and labour rights. He has further contributed to this cause by opening (with a few collaborators) an eco-friendly shop in West London, Eco. The shop offers fair trade and eco-friendly goods, as well as expert advice on making spaces more energy efficient. In October 2009 at the London Film Festival, Firth launched a film and political activism website, Brightwide, along with his wife Livia.
During the 2010 General Election, Firth announced his support for the Liberal Democrats, having previously been a Labour supporter, citing asylum and refugees' rights as a key reason for his change in affiliation. In December 2010, Firth publicly dropped his support of the Liberal Democrats, citing their U-turn on tuition fees as one of the key reasons for his disillusionment. He also said that while he no longer supports the Liberal Democrats, he is currently without an affiliation. Firth appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons in the unsuccessful Alternative Vote referendum in 2011. In 2011, he stated despite playing King George VI in the King's Speech, he is a republican.
In 2009 Firth joined the 10:10 project, supporting the movement calling for people to reduce their carbon footprint. In 2010 Colin endorsed the "Roots & Shoots" education programme in the UK run by the Jane Goodall Institute (UK).
, 1h46 Directed byOliver Parker OriginUnited-kingdom GenresComedy, Adventure ThemesFilms about education, Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Cross-dressing in film ActorsRupert Everett, Colin Firth, David Tennant, Talulah Riley, Sarah Harding, Tamsin Egerton Roles Geoffrey Thwaites Rating53% One night, an unknown man telephones St. Trinian's and bribes a girl, Celia, to find an old ring in the school library. She is caught by the other girls, and forced to explain that the man offered her £20,000 for the ring. Annabelle, the new head girl of St. Trinian's, bartered for £100,000 from the man when he called back, but he refused and then proceeded to threaten them. Afterwards, the girls ask the headmistress, Camilla Fritton, about why the ring might be so valuable. She tells them a story about Pirate Fritton, her ancestor, who supposedly hid a great treasure somewhere in the world. He had two rings made, which when fitted together would reveal the location of the treasure.
, 1h32 Directed byAnand Tucker OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama, Biography ActorsJim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Matthew Beard, Carey Mulligan, Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee Roles Blake Morrison Rating67% The film is a series of flashbacks to various periods in the life of Blake Morrison as he remembers moments he shared with his father Arthur while he, his mother, and younger sister Gillian tend to him on his deathbed in his Yorkshire home. Despite Blake's success as a writer, poet, and critic, his father — a rural general practitioner - never accepted his decision to pursue a literary career nor was he willing to acknowledge his achievements in his field. Bullying, blustery, and boorish, Arthur blunders his way through fatherhood, regularly calling his son a fathead and intruding into the boy's private moments with a sense of entitlement. He has a penchant for exaggeration when he's not telling outright lies, and he publicly humiliates his long-suffering but passively complacent wife Kim with his shameless flirting with various women and an affair with Beaty, a friend of the family. At other times, he seems genuinely interested in bonding with his son, taking him camping so they can test supposedly waterproof sleeping bags he has made or allowing him to drive in the family's Alvis convertible on a wide expanse of deserted beach with reckless abandon. As a result, Blake is left with mixed feelings for the man, ranging from deeply rooted anger to compassionate acceptance. Only after Arthur's death is he able to set aside his resentment and recognize him as a father whose flaws ultimately helped mould his son into the better man he is.
, 1h40 Directed byHelen Hunt OriginUSA GenresDrama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romance ActorsBette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, Lynn Cohen, Ben Shenkman Roles Frank Rating58% Deeply religious April Epner, a 39-year-old Brooklyn elementary school teacher, finds her life derailed by a series of events over which she has no control. Her husband Ben abruptly leaves her, her abrasive adoptive mother Trudy passes away the following day, and shortly after she is contacted by Alan, a representative of Bernice Graves, the flamboyant host of a local talk show, who introduces herself as her biological mother.
, 1h23 Directed byDominic Savage OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama ActorsRobert Carlyle, Colin Firth, Nicholas Burns, Anne-Marie Duff, Emilia Fox, Charlie Creed-Miles Roles Mark Rating65% City banker Mark (Colin Firth) lives with his pregnant wife Laura (Emilia Fox) in a large house in an upper middle-class neighbourhood. Although he has just made a fortune in a financial deal, Mark refuses to give money to a beggar in an underground station, but later regrets this behaviour and begins to feel guilty about his success and opulent lifestyle. Another day, he returns to find the homeless man and gives him 100 pounds. Mark then resolves to use his wealth to help the indigent and volunteer as an outreach worker. As the film develops, it becomes clear that his newfound concern for the poor is also a form of escapism from his materialistic wife, and that he feels trapped and frightened by his life.
, 1h40 Directed byPeter Webber OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama, Biography, Romance ThemesPeinture, Films about the labor movement ActorsColin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Judy Parfitt, Alakina Mann Roles Johannes Vermeer Rating68% Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a shy girl living in the Dutch Republic in 1665. Her father, a Delftware painter, has recently gone blind, rendering him unable to work and putting his family in a precarious financial situation. To help matters, Griet is sent to work as a maid in the household of famed painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). Griet works hard, almost wordlessly, in the lowest position in a harsh hierarchy, doing her best despite spiteful treatment by one of Vermeer's children. While she is on a routine shopping trip outside the house, a butcher's son, Pieter (Cillian Murphy), notices Griet and falls in love with her, even though she is slow to return his affections.
, 1h33 Directed byMarc Evans OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama, Thriller, Horror ActorsColin Firth, Mena Suvari, Naomie Harris, Sean Harris, Neil Edmond, Tommy Flanagan Roles Ben Rating47% Ben (Colin Firth) awakens from a coma to discover his wife has been killed in a car accident. A few weeks later, Ben is out of the hospital and, attempting to start a new life, he moves home and is befriended by a beautiful young neighbour Charlotte (Mena Suvari). Haunted by visions of his dead wife, Ben starts to lose his grip on reality.
, 1h48 Directed byBeeban Kidron OriginUnited-kingdom GenresComedy, Romantic comedy, Romance ThemesFilms about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films ActorsRenée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Jacinda Barrett Roles Mark Darcy Rating60% The film begins shortly before Bridget's mother's (Gemma Jones) annual Turkey Curry Buffet. Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is ecstatic about her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). However, Bridget's confidence in her relationship is shattered when she meets Mark's colleague, the beautiful Rebecca Gilles (Jacinda Barrett). Bridget meets her ex, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), at her job for Sit-Up Britain and is offered a position as the "Smooth Guidess". Bridget initially refuses, quoting that Daniel Cleaver is a "deceitful, sexist, disgusting specimen of humanity". Bridget is delighted to be asked by Mark to go to the "Law Council Dinner", assuming he will propose afterwards, but because balding Tories quietly take offense at her ad hominem claim that depriving the poor of welfare is something advocated by balding Tories, the night does not end well.