Profession: Actor, Voice Actor, Film Producer, Film Director

“As an actor, there’s a bit of you that’s decided you want to be looked at and watched, but there’s a paradoxical bit that wants to run away”- Ralph Fiennes

He is lord of all things dark and scary. He is the God of the underworld and death, he is an evil nazi and he is He-who- must- not- be- named. And He-who-must-not-be-named’s name happens to be- Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes.

Ralph Fiennes is a British actor who is well known for portraying dark, dangerous, villain roles to such perfection that a lot of people are afraid to meet him in person.

Early Life-

Fiennes was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England on 22 December 1962 to Mark Fiennes and Jennifer Lash. His father is a farmer and photographer and his mother is a writer. He is the eldest of six children and he has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His family moved to Ireland in 1973. Fiennes was educated at St Kieran’s College and Newtown School in County Waterford. He finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworth’s School when his family moved back to England. He went to Chelsea College of Art to learn painting before deciding to take up acting.

Acting career-

Fiennes began his acting career onstage and is a noted Shakespeare interpreter. He achieved success onstage at the Royal National Theatre before achieving prominence in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes has portrayed various major and minor  Shakespearean characters in stage productions like Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet and many more.

He made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.  In 1993, he achieved international prominence for portraying the role of a Nazi commandant Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List. In 2005, Fiennes became popular for playing the role of Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He played Voldemort in the rest of the Harry Potter films. Coriolanus, The Duchess, Bernard and Doris, The Constant Gardener, The Prince of Egypt, The English Patient are some of his notable films.

Personal life-

Fiennes married English actress Alex Kingston in 1993, after dating her for ten years. They met while they were both students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. They divorced in 1997.

Fiennes had an affair with Francesca Annis- she played his mother Gertrude in the play Hamlet. The couple separated in February 2006 after 11 years together.

Richness-

Ralph Fiennes has an estimated net worth of approximately $25 million. Predictably, his money came from a long and quality-filled career in stage and more specifically, films. He is also into voice acting, directing and production. Ralph Fiennes is a much sought after ‘villain’. And after playing such intense and dark roles as Hades and Voldemort to perfection, he is proven that he is any director’s best bet of a villain.

Assets-

Ralph Fiennes keeps an apartment in New York and is said to have bought a 1,220-square-foot condo unit in the Gansevoort building in Greenwich Village for $2 million.

Richmond House-

This blushing pink town house is the Fiennes family house, situated in one of the loveliest towns in Suffolk, England. The houses here are ancient and the area is said to be once inhabited by cloth workers and sheep farmers. Richmond House is on the market for £855,000.

Causes-

Ralph Fiennes supports the following charities and trust:

The Constant Gardener Trust-

The trust was set up by the cast and crew of the film The Constant Gardener during filming in Kenya. It aims to help improve basic sanitation and education for those that are most in need of help.

Active Conservation Awareness Program(ACAP)-

ACAP has been working with governments, celebrities, media and other partners to reduce consumer demand for threatened wildlife products globally since 1996.

Artist Against Racism-

The foundation teaches youths to avoid adopting prejudiced attitudes rooting from differences in religion, ethnicity, nationality or skin colour.

Environmental Investigation Agency-

EIA is a UK-based Non Governmental Organisation and charitable trust that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone-altering chemicals.

Shakespeare Schools Festival –

Fiennes is also a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.

Fun facts-

-          Ralph Fiennes convinced producers of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to cast his nephew- Hero Fiennes-Tiffin- for the role of young Tom Riddle.

-          He lost the part of Robert Langdon to Tom Hanks in the movie “The Da Vinci Code”.

-          He holds the record of being the first actor to ever receive a Tony Award for playing the part of “Hamlet”.

-          He almost turned down the role of Voldemort as he was not impressed with the style of the first three films.

-          Ralph Fiennes is the 8th cousin of Prince Charles.

 Fun quote-

-          So much of movie acting is in the lighting. And in loving your characters. I try to know them, and with that intimacy comes love. And now, I love Voldemort.

The post Ralph Fiennes- Net Worth, Money and More appeared first on Rich Glare.