Ralph Fiennes Appreciation #1



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Biography

Actor Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962 in Suffolk, England, to Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne (Lash), a novelist, and Mark Fiennes, a photographer. He is the eldest of six children. Four of his siblings are also in the arts: Martha Fiennes, a director; Magnus Fiennes, a musician; Sophie Fiennes, a producer; and Joseph Fiennes, an actor. He is of English, Irish, and Scottish origin.

A noted Shakespeare interpreter, he first achieved success onstage at the Royal National Theatre. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and then made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992), opposite Juliette Binoche. 1993 was his "breakout year". He had a major role in the controversial Peter Greenaway film The Baby of Mâcon (1993), with Julia Ormond, which was poorly received. Later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993). For this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He did not win, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role, as well as Best Supporting Actor honors from numerous critics groups, including the National Society of Film Critics, and the New York, Chicago, Boston, and London Film Critics associations. His portrayal as Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of Top 50 Film Villains. To look suitable to represent Goeth, Fiennes gained weight, but he managed to shed it afterwards. In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show (1994). In 1996, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Count Almásy the World War II epic romance, and another Best Picture winner, Anthony Minghella's The English Patient (1996), in which he starred with Kristin Scott Thomas. He also received BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, as well as two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations, one for Best Actor and another shared with the film's ensemble cast.

Since then, Fiennes has been in a number of notable films, including Strange Days (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), the animated The Prince of Egypt (1998), István Szabó's Sunshine (1999), Neil Jordan-directed films The End of the Affair (1999) and The Good Thief (2002), Red Dragon (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), In Bruges (2008), The Reader (2008), co-starring Kate Winslet, Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar®-winning The Hurt Locker (2008), Clash of the Titans (2010), Mike Newell's screen adaptation of Charles Dickens'Great Expectations (2012), with Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irvine, and Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

He is also known for his roles in major film franchises such as the Harry Potter film series (2005-2011), in which he played the evil Lord Voldemort. His nephew, Hero Fiennes Tiffin played Tom Riddle, the young Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). Ralph also appears in the James Bond series, in which he has played M, starting with the 2012 film Skyfall (2012).

In 2011, Fiennes made his directorial debut with his film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy political thriller Coriolanus (2011), in which he also played the title character, opposite Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave. Fiennes has won a Tony Award for playing Prince Hamlet on Broadway.

In 2015, Fiennes played a music producer in Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash (2015), starring opposite Tilda Swinton and Matthias Schoenaerts, and in 2016, Fiennes starred in Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! (2016).

Since 1999, Fiennes has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK.

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A Life in the Day: Ralph Fiennes on growing up poor and scaring kids as Voldemort in the Harry Potter films Fiennes, 55, is an English actor, director and producer. He earned Oscar nominations for his roles in Schindler’s List and The English Patient, and terrified children the world over as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films. In 2011, he made his directorial debut with Coriolanus. He married the actress Alex Kingston in 1993. They divorced in 1997, after Fiennes started a relationship with the actress Francesca Annis, 18 years his senior. He lives alone in Bethnal Green, east London. I get up quite early, at about six. I’ll have a cup of tea, no milk, then on alternate days I work out with a man who beats me up in a heavy training session. Or I do yoga. If I don’t start the day with exercise, I feel I’m in a bit of a knot. I’ve lived in Bethnal Green since 2000, before it became so popular. My house was once artisan craftsmen’s workshops, used by glaziers, carpenters and furniture restorers. It’s a great space, but has no garden. I have an unrealised ambition of moving to the country and getting a dog. I love breakfast and often have scrambled eggs. If I have to cycle to rehearsals, I’ll eat something quicker. When I’m doing a play, I keep the text near me constantly. At the moment I have scripts of Antony and Cleopatra all around the house, by the loo, by the bed … You need to be as inside and close to the play as you can be. I’m the oldest of six and grew up all over the place: West Cork, Dorset, Salisbury … We struggled financially and grew up with the refrain that we had a big overdraft. We had food, but it was often packets of soup and mashed potato. My father was a farmer who became a photographer. My mother was a writer. I think my love of the theatre comes from her and my approach to work from him. He loved using his hands and was very gifted at building shelves and things. He trained me in painting and decorating, how to replace a sash window and so on. He was very masculine, though I felt only a positive sense of wanting to answer to the role model. I wasn’t brought up to feel there is a definitive way of being a man. There are clichés of male tropes — competition, strength, vigour — that are always circling you. But received ideas of masculinity are now being challenged. I acted in plays at school and felt at home with language, spoken in a dramatic context. I had a wave of confidence at art school and decided to pursue acting. There are famous roles in the so-called canon, but now I just hope to do something original. My father died in 2004, about 10 years after my mother. At some level, a lot of the work I do now is for them. I tend to eat lunch out or at the National Theatre canteen. I avoid anything gloopy and tend to eat quite healthily. I am a worrier — I finish a project and never think it’s quite right. I am prone to anxiety and have had panic attacks. I’m becoming less comfortable in social situations, parties especially. I enjoyed playing Voldemort, although I wasn’t familiar with the books before. The part became richer as the films reached their conclusion. Children would visit the set and look at me with deep uncertainty as they were being introduced. I don’t think it’s easy to say whether one is happy. There are feelings of fulfilment, but the idea that there’s a rainbow somewhere of blissful happiness is misleading. When I’m doing a play, I’ll force myself to eat something beforehand — I’m not that hungry because of the adrenaline and anticipation. At home, I love a drink — a martini or a glass of wine. Am I in a relationship? Yes! With Antony and Cleopatra. It’s a great play. And I have an intense love affair with the theatre. WORDS OF WISDOM Best advice I was given Learn to be open all the time to others’ thoughts and ideas Advice I’d give From Hugh Cruttwell, then the principal of Rada: “Don’t make it happen, let it happen” What I wish I’d known That I would lose both my parents Source

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~My top ships:Brennan/Booth, Amy/Sheldon, Penny/Leonard, Angela/Hodgins, Gabrielle/Carlos, Piper/Leo, Buffy/Angel, Willow/Tara, Spike/Drusilla, Wesley/Fred, Janet/Steve, Clare/Steve, Kelly/Brandon, Kira/Odo, Ezri/Bashir, Jadzia/Worf, Troi/Riker, Hannah Caleb, Spencer/Toby, Bree/Trip~Thanks for 12 years of TBBT!~Aspie~ big Sheldon Cooper Fan~Icon by Code Green~I don´t care what complete strangers think of me because I don´t know them at all ~

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Originally Posted by heartღaflutter (View Post) you did?

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~My top ships:Brennan/Booth, Amy/Sheldon, Penny/Leonard, Angela/Hodgins, Gabrielle/Carlos, Piper/Leo, Buffy/Angel, Willow/Tara, Spike/Drusilla, Wesley/Fred, Janet/Steve, Clare/Steve, Kelly/Brandon, Kira/Odo, Ezri/Bashir, Jadzia/Worf, Troi/Riker, Hannah Caleb, Spencer/Toby, Bree/Trip~Thanks for 12 years of TBBT!~Aspie~ big Sheldon Cooper Fan~Icon by Code Green~I don´t care what complete strangers think of me because I don´t know them at all ~

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~My top ships:Brennan/Booth, Amy/Sheldon, Penny/Leonard, Angela/Hodgins, Gabrielle/Carlos, Piper/Leo, Buffy/Angel, Willow/Tara, Spike/Drusilla, Wesley/Fred, Janet/Steve, Clare/Steve, Kelly/Brandon, Kira/Odo, Ezri/Bashir, Jadzia/Worf, Troi/Riker, Hannah Caleb, Spencer/Toby, Bree/Trip~Thanks for 12 years of TBBT!~Aspie~ big Sheldon Cooper Fan~Icon by Code Green~I don´t care what complete strangers think of me because I don´t know them at all ~

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