39 Facts About Colin Firth

1. Colin Firth was identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in A Month in the Country, Tumbledown (1988) and Valmont (1989).

2. In 2009, Colin Firth received international acclaim for his performance in Tom Ford's A Single Man, for which he won a BAFTA Award and received his first Academy Award nomination.

3. Colin Firth is known for his performances in television including the BBC film Conspiracy, and HBO's The Staircase (2022), receiving Primetime Emmy Award nominations for each.

4. Colin Firth commissioned and co-authored a scientific paper on a study of the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations.

5. Colin Firth is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

6. In 2011, Colin Firth was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his services to drama.

7. Colin Firth was born in the village of Grayshott, Hampshire to parents who were academics and teachers.

8. Colin Firth is the eldest of three children; his sister Kate is an actress and voice coach, and his brother Jonathan is an actor.

9. Colin Firth lived in St Louis, Missouri when he was 11, which he has described as "a difficult time".

10. Colin Firth was still an outsider and the target of bullying.

11. Colin Firth began attending drama workshops at age 10, and by 14 had decided to be a professional actor.

12. In 1984, Colin Firth made his film debut as Tommy Judd, Guy Bennett's straight, Marxist school friend in the screen adaptation of the play.

13. Colin Firth starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of J B Priestley's novel.

14. Colin Firth portrayed real-life British soldier Robert Lawrence MC in the 1988 BBC dramatisation Tumbledown.

15. Colin Firth was, therefore, reluctant to accept similar roles and risk becoming typecast.

16. Colin Firth accepted the part as he saw it as an opportunity to lampoon his Mr Darcy character.

17. Colin Firth featured in the ensemble all-star cast of Richard Curtis' Love Actually, another financial success which divided critics.

18. Colin Firth played painter Johannes Vermeer opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2003 release Girl with a Pearl Earring; some critics praised the film's subtlety and sumptuous visuals, whilst others found it almost restrained, tedious and bereft of emotion.

19. In 2005 Colin Firth appeared in Nanny McPhee with Emma Thompson, in which he plays a struggling widowed father, it was a rare venture for him into the fantasy genre.

20. Colin Firth appeared as senior British secret agent Bill Haydon in the 2011 adaptation of the John le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson and co-starring Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and John Hurt.

21. Deborah Young in The Hollywood Reporter thought Colin Firth got "all the best dialogue", which he delivered "sardonically".

22. Leslie Felperin in Variety wrote that all the actors brought their "A game" and Colin Firth was in "particularly choleric, amusing form.

23. In May 2011, Colin Firth began filming Gambit—a remake of a 1960s crime caper, in the part originally played by Michael Caine.

24. Stephen Dalton in The Hollywood Reporter said, "To his credit, Colin Firth keeps his performance grounded in downbeat realism while all around are wildly mugging in desperate pursuit of thin, forced laughs.

25. In 2012, Colin Firth co-founded Raindog Films with British music industry executive and entrepreneur Ged Doherty.

26. Colin Firth played British naval commander David Russell in Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk, a film about the true story of the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster, in which he starred alongside Matthias Schoenaerts.

27. Colin Firth was seen as Ewen Montagu in Operation Mincemeat, in April 2022.

28. Colin Firth met Hornby during the filming of the original Fever Pitch.

29. Colin Firth contributed to the book We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, which explores the cultures, diversity and challenges of indigenous peoples around the world.

30. Colin Firth was an executive producer for the film In Prison My Whole Life, featuring Noam Chomsky and Angela Davis.

31. In December 2010, Colin Firth was guest editor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, where he commissioned research to scan the brains of volunteers to see if there were structural differences that might account for political leanings.

32. Colin Firth said of the San, "These people are not the remnants of a past era who need to be brought up to date.

33. Colin Firth said: "To me, it's just basic civilisation to help people.

34. In 1989, Colin Firth began a relationship with Meg Tilly, his co-star in Valmont.

35. Colin Firth was a vocal opponent of the Brexit initiative for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

36. Colin Firth said, "I will always be extremely British.

37. Colin Firth received an honorary doctorate on 19 October 2007 from the University of Winchester.

38. Colin Firth was made a Freeman of the City of London on 8 March 2012, and was awarded an honorary fellowship by the University of the Arts London in 2012.

39. Colin Firth was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to drama.