Colin Firth

He was romantically involved with actress Meg Tilly from 1989 and had a son with her. The couple broke up in 1994.

He married Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli in 1997. The couple has two sons.

He supports several charities and non-governmental organizations. He has been involved since long with Survival International, an NGO that supports the rights of tribal people. He also supports Refugee Council.

He was born in England to parents Shirley Jean and David Norman Firth. His mother was a comparative religion lecturer while his father was a history lecturer. As a young child he lived in Nigeria where his parents worked before returning to the U.K.

He attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School on his return to U.K. where he found it hard to fit in. He was constantly bullied by his classmates because of which he lost his interest in studies.

He loved acting from a young age and started attending drama classes when he was ten. He decided to become a professional actor when he was 14.

He spent two years at the Barton Peveril Sixth form college where he developed a love for English literature. However, he did not stay in the college for long and joined the National Youth Theatre in London.

His first job was in the wardrobe department at the National Theatre. After this stint, he went to study at the Drama Centre London where he started appearing in stage productions.

He played Hamlet in the Drama Centre’s production for which he got noticed by the playwright Julian Mitchell who cast him as Tommy Judd in the stage production ‘Another Country’ in 1983. He forayed into films by reprising the same role in the film adaptation of the play in 1984.

In 1988, he portrayed the real-life soldier Robert Lawrence in the BBC drama ‘Tumbledown’ which was about the story of a brave soldier who is severely injured at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. His role was highly acclaimed.

His breakthrough role happened in 1995. He was selected to play the haughty aristocrat Mr. Darcy in a television adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which finally got him the fame he deserved. This role catapulted him to the status of a sex symbol.

He played Lord Wessex in the 1998 romantic comedy drama ‘Shakespeare in Love’ that tells of a love affair involving Shakespeare while he was writing a play. It is a fiction though there are numerous references to the life of the real-life playwright.

He is best known for portraying King George in the epic drama ‘The King’s Speech’ in which he convincingly portrays the anguish and anxiety faced by someone suffering from a stammer as he tries to overcome it.