Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes
Biographical information
Birth name	Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes
Born	22 December 1962 (age 62)
Nationality	English
Gender	Male
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Brown
Height	5' 11"
Family	Alex Kingston (ex-wife, 1993-1997) Mark Fiennes (father) † Jennifer Lash (mother) † Joseph Fiennes (brother) Martha Fiennes (sister) Magnus Fiennes (brother) Sophie Fiennes (sister) Jacob Fiennes (brother) Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (nephew)
Career
Years active	1990-present
In Harry Potter	Lord Voldemort
Other roles	Amon Göth in Schindler's List Count László Almásy in The English Patient Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon Harry Waters in In Bruges Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardner Lenny Nero in Strange Days William Cavendish in The Duchess Michael Berg in The Reader Contractor Team Leader in The Hurt Locker Hades in Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans Caius Marcius Coriolanus in Coriolanus Gareth Mallory/M in Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die
Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor nomination (Schindler's List, 1993) Best Actor nomination (The English Patient, 1996)
Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie nomination (Bernard and Doris, 2008)

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, professionally known as Ralph Fiennes (pronounced Raif Fines), is an English actor who plays Lord Voldemort in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Part 2.

Career

Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988. He is the only actor ever to have won a Tony Award for playing Hamlet on Broadway. In 2001, Fiennes received the William Shakespeare Award from the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Fiennes made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, for which he received substantial acclaim and praise throughout Europe. But it was in the following year that he became known internationally, portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Göth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He did not win the Oscar, but he did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role.

In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show, and in 1996, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the World War II epic romance The English Patient.

Fiennes' work has ranged from thrillers (Red Dragon (film), (Harry Potter) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to campy nostalgia (The Avengers ) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan) and offbeat dramedy (Oscar and Lucinda). In 2002, Fiennes and Miranda Richardson received several awards for their performances in David Cronenberg's award-winning thriller Spider.

Ralph Fiennes in costume as Lord Voldemort

The Constant Garender was released in 2005, with Fiennes as the title role. The film is set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity. His recent performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2006 Tony Award.

In 2008, Fiennes co-starred in the film In Bruges as a hitman boss. Brendan Gleeson, who plays Mad-Eye Moody, also was featured in the film along with Clémence Poésy, who acts as Fleur Delacour in the film adaptations of Harry Potter.

Fiennes also has a small role in 2010 film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, which starred Emma Thompson as the title character. Maggie Smith also had a supporting role in the film. He recently played Hades, God of the underworld, in the 2010 epic Clash of the Titans.

In 2011 Fiennes made his directorial debut with a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, in which he also played the title role.

In 2012, Fiennes made his debut in the James Bond series with the 23rd James Bond film Skyfall as Gareth Mallory, the head of the Intelligence and Security Committee and a former British Military officer, who in the climax of the film becomes the new head of MI6 as M after the previous M (played by Judi Dench) is killed in action during the final battle. He reprised his role as M for the following Bond film Spectre that was released in 2015 and No Time to Die in 2020.

In 2014, Fiennes starred in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel as the protagonist Monsieur Gustave H., the charismatic, philandering concierge of the titular hotel.

In 2017, Fiennes voiced Alfred Pennyworth in the animated film The LEGO Batman Movie, co-starring Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and featuring a cameo by Fiennes's character, Lord Voldemort, voiced by Eddie Izzard.

In 2018, Fiennes portrayed Professor Moriarty in the comedy film Holmes & Watson, the cast of which included Kelly Macdonald and Pam Ferris as Queen Victoria.

Personal life

Born in 1962 in Suffolk, England to photographer Mark Fiennes and novelist Jennifer Lash, Fiennes is a third cousin of the adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The eldest of six children, he was raised a Roman Catholic. The actor Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Luther (film)) is his brother. His sister Martha Fiennes works as a director (in her film Onegin, he acted the title role). His brother Magnus Fiennes is a composer. His other sister, Sophie Fiennes is also a filmmaker. His other brother, Jacob Fiennes, is a conservationist. Fiennes is a UNICEF ambassador. The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork and County Kilkenny for some years, where Fiennes attended St Kieran's College for one year and Newtown, a Quaker school in Waterford city. They then moved to Salisbury in England where Fiennes finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworth's School before attending Chelsea College of Art.

He married actress Alex Kingston (Elizabeth Corday from ER) in 1993, but they divorced in 1997. In 1995, Fiennes started dating Francesca Annis, his much-older (18 years) co-star in Hamlet. In February 2006, the couple separated. This came after tabloid reports that said Fiennes had an affair with Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan. In late 2006, sources reported that Fiennes is dating American actress Ellen Barkin, who is eight years his senior. On February 11, 2007, Lisa Robertson, a Qantas flight attendant was suspended and subsequently fired from both Qantas and a Sydney brothel after having sex with Fiennes in a business class toilet during a flight from Darwin to Mumbai on January 24, 2007 while on duty. Robertson admitted to the encounter in an interview with the Daily Mail. She used to be an undercover policewoman. Fiennes has not denied the incident took place but his spokesperson said on his behalf he claimed he was not the "aggressor" in the relationship. Because the story was not widely reported, the controversy was only minor.

Behind the scenes

Ralph having a laugh with Daniel Radcliffe

• Fiennes' nephew, Hero, portrayed the eleven-year-old Tom Riddle in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
• Fiennes disliked the first and second films, and was initially hesitant about playing Voldemort because of this.
• Fiennes appeared in the BBC Masterpiece Contemporary episode "Page Eight" with both Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and Bill Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour). David Tennant (Barty Crouch, Jr) acts as host for this programme.
• Lord Voldemort is Fiennes' fifth villain role. The first being Amon Goth in Schindler's List, the second being Rameses in The Prince of Egypt, the third being Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon, and the fourth being Victor Quartermaine in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
• The films kept Fiennes' natural eye colour, as Voldemort's eyes are depicted as red in the novels. This decision was made because many felt that giving the character red eyes would take away from the emotion that Fiennes was bringing into his performance.
• Played Alfred Pennyworth in the Lego Batman Movie, which Voldemort appeared in - however, he did not voice Voldemort.
• He won a Scream award for his portrayal as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
• In an interview on 6 February 2025, at the Santa Baraba International Film Festival, Fiennes had said before he was cast as Voldemort, he had been "just ignorant" about the Harry Potter franchise. He had never read the books nor seen the films, but were aware of the big success. he had partly attributed to this fact to the misplaced snobbery of witches, goblins, and things associated to them. When he was offered the role of Voldemort, he was convinced by his sister Martha to take the role.

Quotes

On Voldemort: He is, of course, a rejected person. It's quite basic: the rejected child who's emotionally been denied affection turns violent. You have to suggest there's more there, a life, a spirit, a mind. It isn't just a creepy voice and makeup. I always think you can find more in something. It's good to just keep asking questions until someone says cut.

External links

• Ralph Fiennes at the Internet Movie Database
• Ralph Fiennes on Wikipedia
• 3D Timeline of Ralph Fiennes at Kronomy