Colin Firth's Biography

Colin Firth - A Self Made Actor
Colin Firth is an actor who has worked hard to achieve the stardom that he has attained. He was no overnight success, and even had to make a comeback after losing the initial fame he enjoyed the first time.
His perseverance in fact is a lesson to all struggling actors, and to his legions of fans everywhere, not to give up.

History
Firth was born in Grayshott, Hampshire, England, the son of Shirley Jean (née Rolles), a comparative religion lecturer, and David Norman Lewis Firth, a history lecturer 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 born and raised in India, because his maternal grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an Anglican priest, performed missionary work abroad.

At two weeks old, his parents took him to Nigeria, where Colin spent his early years.
He also lived in St. Louis, Missouri USA when he was 11. He attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School, a state comprehensive school in Winchester, Hampshire, and then Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

Colin was not very happy at school and rebelled against learning things which he considered of no interest to him. He failed his school exams and did not continue beyond his compulsory education.
He had his first taste of acting as a child when he appeared in a school play. He soon discovered that he enjoyed acting, which seemed to be the only thing for which he was praised - according to his own recollection. As a result, from the age of 14 he was determined to become an actor.
After school, he went to London where he found work as a stage door keeper at the Shaw Theatre and a workroom assistant at the National Theatre.

He also attended the National Youth Theatre and finally managed to enrol with the Drama Centre, one of the renowned London drama schools. (Drama schools in Great Britain accept students purely on the strength of their abilities.)
In the course of his drama studies, he played the title roles in Moliere's "Tartuffe", Hamlet, and Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Shakespeare's "King Lear": and in his final year in 1983 (this soon led to talent scouts and stage success), he was tapped to replace Daniel Day-Lewis in a West End production called “Another Country.”
Early Career and stardom
Colin then decided to take off from more glamorous roles and focus on developing his art by doing more theatre.
His next big role was the title role in Valmont, a sumptuous, multi-million dollar reproduction of a French novel, and then Tumbledown, an important British work.

He explored varied opportunities in theatre, television, and film, both in London and in Hollywood. He took on many different types of roles to challenge his abilities with psychologically intense roles.

He then starred in a string of Hollywood films, including “Wings of Fame,” with Peter O’Toole, then “Femme Fatale” and “Out of the Blue,” neither of which was highly successful.
His personal life became somewhat complicated when he fell in love with his "Valmont" co-star, Canadian actress Meg Tilly. They lived together near Vancouver in Canada for some years and have a son, William. But Colin returned to England around 1993 and Will now lives with his mother in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, Colin is known to take his fatherhood extremely seriously and insists on contact with his son as often as possible. When that relationship ended, his career had lost momentum and he went back to smaller-town theatre and TV.

Colin and William (Will) just like to "hang out" when Colin is in L.A. (where Colin owns a condo): "There's nothing unconventional about our activities."
Comeback
As he continued to get back into acting, he went back to Hollywood and starred in the well-received film “Circle of Friends” with Minnie Driver. His breakthrough role came in the form of Mr. Darcy in the Jane Austen classic, “Pride and Prejudice.” This was a role he had turned down many times, as it played toward the predictable, snobby, British role, which he wanted to avoid. After his previous film failures, he decided to try it, and it was a huge success.

Colin also had a well publicized personal relationship with Jennifer Ehle who played Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, but apparently they were not well suited together in real life, and parted about a year later.

He used his new fame to pick his roles carefully, with the next one being “The English Patient.”

In 1995, whilst filming "Nostromo" on location in Colombia, Colin met and fell deeply in love with an Italian lady, Livia Giuggioli (she was taking time off from her Ph.D. studies at the University of Rome to work as a producer's assistant), 9 years his junior, who was working for the Italian co-producers of the program. They married in Italy in 1997, live in London and have two sons, Luca and Mateo, born 29-Mar-2001 in Rome and August 2003 respectively.