Colin Firth’s Career

“I like playing strange characters. Some people might say it has something to do with a hidden part of myself, but I think it's a lot simpler than that: normal people are just not very interesting.”

-Colin Firth

 Colin Firth is one of the most well-beloved British actors to make his way across the pond and star in American films. His newest film is titled Kingsman: The Secret Service and it promises to be Firth’s first full-on action role and comic book movie. Now the real question is where did this unlikely middle-aged action hero come from?

Birth and Early Life

Colin Firth was born in Grayshott, Hampshire, England to a mother, Shirley Jean, and a father, David Norman Lewis Firth, who were both respected academics at Open University and Winchester University College, respectively. The young Firth caught the acting bug when he was only an infant when he starred as Jack Frost in a Christmas pantomime production.

An interesting fact about Firth is that he spent the first five years of his life in Nigeria with his missionary grandparents. After returning to England, Firth attended a comprehensive school in Winchester and then spent two years at the Drama Centre in Chalk Farm.

Early Career

While at Chalk Farm he was discovered playing the titular character Hamlet. After his discovery he performed in his first professional production as Bennet in Another Country. He went on to play a different role in the film adaptation of the play.

Firth has since worked steadily for years in character parts on both television and film. His first major award came in 1989 when he was recognized for his portrayal of Robert Lawrence in the TV production Tumbledown. He also received the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award and a BAFTA nomination.

Breakout Roles

He truly stood out to American audiences though in his breakout role as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 TV version of Pride and Prejudice. He received his second BAFTA nomination for this role. Finally Firth received what he deserved as an actor in 2010 when he accepted the Oscar for Best Actor for his stirring performance in The King’s Speech. Firth has since starred in films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a brilliant slow-burning espionage tale, and Magic in the Moonlight, his first Woody Allen film.

Colin Firth’s most well-known films:

• The English Patient
• Shakespeare in Love
• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Love Actually
• A Single Man

To see Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, and a cameo from Mark Hamill, make sure you buy tickets to the action spectacle of the year in Kingsman: The Secret Service. For more information on this film (as well as all our new releases) check out our website and Facebook page! See you at the movies!