Colin Andrew Firth, CBE (born 10 September 1960) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In 2011, Firth received an Academy Award for his portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, a performance that also earned him the Golden Globe, BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, amongst others. The previous year, he received his first Academy Award nomination, for his leading role in A Single Man, a performance that won him a BAFTA Award.

 

In 2011, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also selected as one of The Time 100 for that year.

 

Early life

Firth was born in Grayshott, Hampshire. His mother, Shirley Jean (née Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at King Alfred's College, Winchester (now the University of Winchester), and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, was a history lecturer (also at King Alfred's) and education officer for the Nigerian Government.Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother, Jonathan, who is also an actor. Firth's parents were raised in India,because his maternal grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an Anglican priest, performed missionary work abroad.Firth spent part of his childhood in Nigeria, where his father was teaching.

 

He lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11. He later attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School (now Kings' School), which at the time was a state secondary modern school in Winchester, Hampshire. Reflecting on his time at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, he said "My two years at Barton Peveril were among the two happiest years of my life"

 

Personal life

Firth lives in Chiswick, London. In 1989, he entered into a romantic relationship with actress Meg Tilly, his co-star in Valmont. In 1990, she gave birth to a son, William "Will" Joseph Firth, and they made their home near the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Firth remains in contact with Will and with Tilly's two other children. In 1994, after he and Tilly had separated, Firth became involved with actress Jennifer Ehle, his co-star in Pride and Prejudice; however, the two broke up and in 1997 Firth married Italian film producer/director Livia Giuggioli, and now lives in both London and Italy.They have two sons, Luca (born March 2001) and Matteo (born August 2003).Firth started to learn Italian when he and Giuggioli began to date and he now is fluent in the language. This was life echoing art, as in "Love Actually" Firth's character started to learn the language before proposing to a Portuguese girl. Firth is a supporter of Southampton F.C..

 

On 13 January 2011, he was presented with the 2,429th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

In April 2011, Time magazine included Firth in its list of the world's 100 Most Influential People.

 

Firth was made a Freeman of the City of London on 8 March 2012.