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Mark Rylance is a Actor British born on 18 january 1960 at Ashford (United-kingdom)

Mark Rylance

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Birth name David Mark Rylance Waters
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 18 january 1960 (64 years) at Ashford (United-kingdom)
Awards Laurence Olivier Award

David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960), known professionally as Mark Rylance, is an English actor, theatre director, and playwright. He has appeared in films such as Prospero's Books (1991), Angels and Insects (1995), Institute Benjamenta (1996), and Intimacy (2001), and has won Olivier Awards, Tony Awards, and a BAFTA Award. He was the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, from 1995 to 2005. In 2015 he played Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, BBC Two's adaptation of Hilary Mantel's historical novels. He co-starred with Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's film Bridge of Spies, about the arrest and conviction of Russian spy, Rudolf Abel, and the exchange of Abel for the U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down and imprisoned by the Russians, in 1960.

Biography

Rylance is married to the musical director, director, composer and playwright Claire van Kampen. They started dating in 1987 while working on a production of The Wandering Jew at the National Theatre, and married in Oxfordshire on 21 December 1989. He has a sister named Susannah, an opera singer and author, and a brother, Jonathan, who works as a sommelier at Alice Waters' (no relation) restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, famous for creating the California cuisine using local organic food. His stepdaughter is actress Juliet Rylance, who is married to actor Christian Camargo. His younger stepdaughter, filmmaker Nataasha van Kampen, died in July 2012 at the age of 28, as a result of which Rylance withdrew from his planned participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. He was replaced by Kenneth Branagh.

Rylance has been a supporter of the indigenous rights organisation Survival International for many years. He is the creator and director of "We Are One", a fundraiser that took place at the Apollo Theatre in April 2010. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the world's leading actors and musicians. He has said: "As a child, I was enriched and inspired by the lives and stories of the world's tribal peoples. As an adult, I have also been inspired by the ceaseless work of the organisation Survival International, and their movement to protect these tribes – from the rainforest of the Amazon to the icy reaches of the Arctic. To celebrate 40 years of Survival's work and enjoy the beauty of the spoken word from such rich oral cultures, I am gathering my friends from the theatre on the set of Jerusalem for a wonderful spring afternoon of eloquent recitals and stunning images from 'We Are One'."

Rylance is a patron of Peace Direct. He performed the life and words of Henri, described as "an extraordinarily brave and charismatic man living in war-torn eastern Congo", during a presentation in New York City in 2011. He is also patron of The Outside Edge Theatre Company.It works from the perspective of creating theatre and drama with people affected by substance abuse. It provides theatre interventions in drug and alcohol treatment and general community facilities throughout Britain, as well as producing professional public theatre productions that take place in theatres, studio theatres, and art centres. Rylance believes it to be "proper initiatory old style theatre".

Rylance became a patron of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) in 2013. He said about the festival: "I feel LIFT has done more to influence the growth and adventure of English theatre than any other organisation we have."