BBC's Pride and Prejudice
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"Well, there was a time when a beautiful person was considered something fine and to be celebrated. Now a beautiful person is assumed to be shallow and flaky. If you are beautiful in today's society, you are presumed to have no substance. I think a lot of talented and very bright people who are also physically beautiful have to work very hard if they don't want to just lean on their looks." Colin Firth set hearts aflutter with his portrayal of the mysterious Mr. Darcy in the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. In addition to being recognized for his dreamy looks, he's also been lauded for his acting chops on television, in film, and on stage.
Colin Firth may have become a household name for his turn as Mr. Darcy, but the years after have cemented his status -- both as a sex symbol and as an acclaimed actor. Here's a closer look at the actor's journey from his childhood in Nigeria to Hollywood heartthrob.
A Rootless Childhood
Colin Andrew Firth was born on September 10, 1960 in Hampshire, England. His earliest years were spent in Nigeria, where both of his parents were school teachers. Firth's family briefly returned to the UK, but relocated again -- this time to the US -- before he was a teen.
This nomadic upbringing led to Firth feeling somewhat rootless. "The family moved around a lot. My mum came to England to have me. My dad was in Nigeria. My father was teaching history. My sister was born in Nigeria. There was some sort of system where you could get posts abroad, and that interested him. He got a job in America for a year - St Louis. My father went to public school and to Cambridge. My mother is university-educated. I had a state education down the line, secondary mod, so I felt a little bit of an outsider," he told Hello magazine.
Still, Firth has argued that it wasn't an unhappy childhood. "There were times when I was a bit dislocated, but it has given me as many benefits as disadvantages," he said.
Even after the family moved back to England later, Firth struggled to fit in. And while he loved to read as a child, academia was never his strong suit. Firth decided to become an actor at the age of 14 after seeing Paul Schofield in A Man For All Seasons. He joined the National Youth Theatre before moving to London on his own at 18 to enroll in the Drama Centre London.
Firth made his London stage debut in the play Another Country, which also helped launch the careers of other actors including Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Rupert Everett, before finishing drama school. He was then cast in the show's film adaptation, which was followed by numerous television and stage roles.
The Road to Mr. Darcy
Firth's first really big break came with a high-profile part in The Secret Garden. Unfortunately, this success was followed by a part in the commercial flop Milos Forman's Valmont, which has been described as director Milos Forman's "tarnished jewel." This led to Firth moving to the wilderness for an extended hiatus, during which time he raised his son with actress Meg Tilly and made furniture.
While Firth experienced some success in his early career, including a BAFTA nomination for his role in the British television film Tumbledown, he did not attain true international stardom until 1995 when he was cast as Fitzwilliam Darcy, AKA "Mr. Darcy," the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. He then went on to do two Academy Award-winning films the following year: The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love.
Firths star rose even higher when he starred in the hit romantic comedy Bridget Jones's Diary alongside Renee Zellweger. His character? An uptight lawyer modeled after Austen's Mr. Darcy. Firth later reprised the role in the subsequent sequels: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones's Baby.
Since Bridget Jones, Colin Firth has also appeared in diverse roles in a number of films including Circle of Friends, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones' Diary, 'Girl with a Pearl Earring, What a Girl Wants, Love Actually, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and A Single Man. The latter earned Firth a BAFTA win as well as his first Oscar nomination.
One noteworthy departure for Firth from his usual fare? The musical film adaptation of Mamma Mia! He later joked of the performance, "I'm afraid this causes a lot of tension between me and the rest of the world, you know my enthusiasm for singing and the rest of the world's enthusiasm for me not singing. I sang at my wife's birthday the other day to cries of 'less,' but I loved it."
2010 marked another career high for Firth. He took home the BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and the Oscar for his portrayal of the stuttering King George VI in The King's Speech. Raved The Hollywood Reporter of Firth's performance in the flick, "Colin Firth, following up on his Oscar-nominated role in A Single Man, now can claim a place among Britain's finest film actors with his performance as the man who became King George VI."
The subsequent decade was filled with more movie roles for Firth, including The Railway Man, Before I Go to Sleep, Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Happy Prince, The Mercy and Mary Poppins Returns.
Having played so many different types of roles already, it makes sense to wonder what unexplored characters Firth would still like to play. He told The Talks, however, that he's not a planner and doesn't think that way. Rather, he follows life's lead. "Philosophically I suppose I am quite good at believing that things lead you to where you are and that's the way it is; you live with it and what has happened in the past is unchangeable. I consider myself very lucky in my life so there is nothing I would change really – but I do have a slight tendency to cringe at some of the memories," he shared.
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