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hisbelief inme Imight not havehad
the confidence tomove it along.”
Directingproved tobeanatural fit
forFiennes, having learnedat the feet
of suchnotablesasStevenSpielberg,
RobertRedford,AnthonyMinghella,
andKathrynBigelow. “I loved thepro-
cess,”heexplains, “ I loved creating
theworldof thefilm, findingand
shootingon location. Iwas supported
byanextraordinary teamof people!
Youbringpeople to the table, and they
support youandwant tohelpyou real-
izeon-screenwhat’s inyourhead. It
wasanamazingexperience.”Healso
enjoyed the collaboration, noting, “I
love sharing ideasandmaking choices.
Thehappiest experience isonewhere I
feel thedirectorhasa strongvision,
senseof story, includesyou, and col-
laborateswith theactors.”Known for
hisattention todetail, unique shot
framing influencedbyanearlyart-
school training, anda tremendous
passion forShakespeare, theproject
was tailor-made.
Tosay thecareerofRalphFiennes
isavariedonewouldbeanunderstate-
ment.Hehasconvincinglyportrayed
goodandevil—at extremeendsof the
spectrum—beginningwith theBBC’s
ADangerousMan: LawrenceAfterAra-
bia
in l992, at theageof 29. Since that
time, theactorwith the trademark
piercinggazehasplayedaseriesof tor-
mented individualssuchas thesadistic
Nazi commandantAmonGoeth in
1993’s
Schindler’sList
, (forwhichhe
receivedaBestSupportingActornod),
aprotégé of serial killerHannibal
Lecter in
RedDragon
(2002), andHar-
ryPotter’snemesisLordVoldemort in
thefinal threefilmsof the franchise.
Diverse rolesasanacademicAmeri-
cangame-showcontestant in
Quiz
Show
(1994), an ill-fatedgeographer in
TheEnglishPatient
(1996), aWorld
War IIwriter
in
TheEndof theAffair
(1999), andasenatecandidate in love in
Maid inManhattan
(2002),permanently
solidifiedhisplaceasnotonlya leading
manbuta (reluctant) sexsymbol as
well.Whenaskedabouthisstatusasa
Hollywoodheartthrob, he laughs,
“there is reluctanceas I creep toward
50.Theshuttersareabout toclose!”
Occasionally, thepersonalityofan
actorcanseep through theroles they
play, giving theaudiencesnippetsof
theirpersona.This isoftennot thecase
withRalphFiennes.Whenaskedof
arole thatwouldmirrorhis true
personality, hepoints to thediplomat,
gardener, andhusbandwhobecomes
embroiled inhiswife’smurder inJohn
leCarré’spolitical-thriller-turned-film
TheConstantGardener
. “Iwashappy to
openup in
TheConstantGardener,
as
thecharacterhasanattemptatdecency,”
hesays. “He isflawed, tentative,andhas
aquietdeliberation. It iswhat I aspire
tobe!”Fiennesalso feelshe can’t be
pigeonholed,as therearen’tanyroleshe
doesn’t loveandhasahard timesaying
no tosomanygreatparts.Besideshis
workon thebigscreen,he isobviously
justasmuchathomeandwell-knownon
the theaterstage—he“loves thebuzz
and theconnectionwith theaudience.”
Born inSuffolk,England, hewas the
eldestof sixchildren toparentsMark
(farmer-turned-photographer)andJen-
nifer“Jini”Lash (novelist); theFiennes
familywasaclose-knitone.MomJini
encouraged intellectual andcultural
pursuitsand it shows—sisterSophie is
aproducerandsisterMarthaadirector
(MarthaevendirectedFiennes inher
1999film
Onegin
).BrotherJoseph isan
actor (
Shakespeare inLove
, 1998)and
Magnus isacomposer. Fiennesstudied
at theChelseaCollegeofArtandDesign,
butquicklydecidedhewould ratherbe
onstage thandesigningone.Agradu-
ateof theRoyalAcademyofDramatic
Art, hebeganhisactingcareeron the
Londonstageandeventually joined the
Royal ShakespeareCompany for two
seasonswherehe, nodoubt, foundhis
truepassion.
WhileFienneswon’tnecessarily
admit tobeingaworkaholic, some47
filmsand30-plusplays in26yearswould
certainly indicateotherwise.Whenhe is
not in frontof—orbehind—acamera
orperforming topacked-theatercrowds,
hefinds the time to travel.Thispast
yearhe“tookabitof timeoff”and jour-
neyed toGreece,Russia, and Istanbul,
wherehevisited thesiteofTroy. India
wasalsoanotherstop, aswasGermany,
for theBerlin InternationalFilmFesti-
val.Currentlyreported tobesingle,
Fiennesresides inLondonandhasa
place inNewYork’sWestVillage.
Foramanwhogrewup insucha
largehouseholdandneverhadchil-
dren, a fewofhisactingchoicesprove
tobequiteaparadox.Hehasappeared
inchildren’s talessuchas
Nanny
McPheeReturns (2010),
as thevoices in
Wallace&Gromit:TheCurseof the
Were-Rabbit
(2005)and
ThePrinceof
Egypt
(1998), and inoneofhisbiggest
roles todate— theevil snake-faced
LordVoldemort in the
HarryPotter
series. “Thechild inme likesplaying
theextremevillain,”heexplainsof
hisPotterperformances. “Iwasn’t
sureaboutdoing the rolewhenfirst
approached, butawonderful casting
directorconvincedme,”hesays. Star-
ringalongsidehisnephewHero,
Fiennesknewhe lookedscarywhen the
childof ascript supervisorsawhim in
costumeandburst into tearson theset.
As the lifeandcareerofFiennes
comes full-circlesincehisfirst intro-
duction to theBardon theairwaves,
manycriticscomparehimwith the late
Olivier, anotheractorwhowasanatu-
ralwith the linesofWilliamShake-
speare.Ashis
Schindler’sList
director
StevenSpielbergdecidedlynotes, “Ifhe
picks the right rolesanddoesn’t forget
the theater, I thinkhecaneventuallybe
AlecGuinnessorLaurenceOlivier.”
Orperhapshe’salready there.
COVER STORY
Who is Ralph Fiennes?
29
celebratedliving.com
WINTER 2011
See the rivetingmovie trailer for
Coriolanus at celebratedliving.com.
