Colin Firth

The tall, dark, and handsome English actor with brooding eyes is most known as Mr. Darcy from the hit 1995 BBC mini-series Pride and Prejudice, as well as the similar character Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones’ Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. However, English actor and heartthrob Colin Firth was featured in many plays, series, and films before then. 

Firth was born on September 10, 1960, in Grayshott, Hampshire, England, although he spent part of his early life in Nigeria where his father was a teacher, as well as in St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to Hampshire. Firth began his acting career with a starring role as Tommy Judd in the successful, critically acclaimed, and award-winning London stage production of Another Country in 1981, a role which he reprised three years later for the film adaptation, in which Firth starred alongside Rupert Everett. 

In 1987, Firth starred in A Month in the Country, which was based on author J.L. Carr’s novel of the same name, and co-starred Kenneth Branagh, Jim Carter, and Patrick Malahide. In 1989 he starred in Valmont, opposite Annette Bening. 

However, it wasn’t until he snagged the coveted role of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in 1995’s wildly successful BBC television mini-series adaptation of the Jane Austen’s famed Pride and Prejudice that Firth finally received the praise and recognition he deserved, and gave him the label of heartthrob.  The hit mini-series also starred Jennifer Ehle as Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Susannah Harker, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Alison Steadman, and Benjamin Whitrow. 

After his success with Pride and Prejudice, Firth went on to take supporting roles in both Circle of Friends in 1995, which starred Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver; and in The English Patient in 1996, which starred Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, and Willem Dafoe. Firth went on to take lead roles in Fever Pitch in 1997; and Shakespeare in Love in 1998, co-starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Then in 2001 he landed his second most beloved role, which bears a striking resemblance to his first, as Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones’ Diary, opposite Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant.  Firth reprised the role in the 2004 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, but in between he starred in both The Importance of Being Earnest in 2002, with Everett again and also Reese Witherspoon, Frances O’Connor, and Judi Dench; What a Girl Wants in 2003, opposite Amanda Bynes; as well as in Love Actually in 2003, alongside Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, and Bill Nighy. In 2005, Firth starred opposite Thompson in Nanny McPhee. 

Firth is currently married to Livia Giuggioli, an Italian documentary filmmaker, and has two sons with her. He was previously romantically linked to two of his co-stars: Meg Tilly (from Valmont), with whom he had a son, and also Jennifer Ehle, who played Lizzie Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Firth is slated to appear in a number of different films in the near future, including The Accidental Husband, in which he stars opposite Uma Thurman.

YUDDY