Matthew Macfadyen Biography
Summary
"Matthew Macfadyen" (born October 17, 1974) is a British actor, known for his role as MI5 agent Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series "Spooks" and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice".
Biography
Career
After having studied at the renowned RADA aka the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1992 to 1995, Matthew Macfadyen quickly became a well-known actor in British theatre, due primarily to his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for whom he played Antonio in "The Duchess of Malfi", Charles Surface in "The School for Scandal", and Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing". His Benedick was particularly memorable, played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. In 2005, he played to further great acclaim the part of Prince Hal in "Henry IV, Parts One" and "Two" at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the lead. He has recently accepted to portray Clay, a stay at home father with a liberal attitude in the play "The Pain and the Itch". It opened on June 21 and will be running until August 4, 2007.
Macfadyen's major TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in a television adaptation of the Emily Brontė novel "Wuthering Heights", screened on the ITV network in 1998. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas "Warriors" (1999) and "The Way We Live Now" (2001), both for the BBC. Also in 2001, he earned much critical acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial "Perfect Strangers", which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. In 2002, he starred in "The Project", a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power, and he took his highest-profile role to date, when he was picked to star in "Spooks", which went on to become a huge popular and critical success when screened on BBC One. A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in the autumn of 2004, with him leaving the series in the second episode. The series also found a following on cable television in the United States, where it aired as "MI-5" on the A&E Network.
Macfadyen has appeared in several films, most notably "Enigma" (released in 2001), in which he was cast as a battle-scarred submarine commander, and the starring role as Fitzwilliam Darcy in a highly acclaimed adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice", released in the UK in September 2005.
He stars in Frank Oz's "Death at a Funeral" with Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan and Keeley Hawes.
In 2007 he appeared in the one-off Channel 4 drama "Secret Life", which dealt with the controversial subject of paedophilia. He also appeared in a short sketch for Comic Relief as the groom in "Mr Bean's Wedding", alongside Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Ryan.
He has accepted a part in "Incendiary", which is based on Chris Cleave's novel about a woman whose life is torn apart when her husband and infant son are killed in a suicide bombing at a soccer match whilst she was committing adultery. He plays a senior anti-terrorist police officer alongside Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. He has also been cast in Ron Howard's next film "Frost/Nixon", in which he will play John Birt.
Personal life
In 2003, he began a relationship with his Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes. They were subsequently married on 8 October 2004. Their first child, daughter Maggie, was born in December 2004. The couple announced the birth of a baby boy, Ralph, in September 2006. Matthew Macfadyen is stepfather to Keeley Hawes' son, Myles, born in 2000 from a previous marriage.
Filmography
"Wuthering Heights" (1998) (TV)
"Warriors" (1999) (TV)
"Maybe Baby" (2000)
"Enigma" (2001)
"Perfect Strangers" (2001) (TV)
"The Way We Live Now" (2001) (miniseries)
"The Project" (2002) (TV)
"Spooks" (2002-04) (TV series)
"The Reckoning" (2003)
"In My Father's Den" (2004)
"Pride and Prejudice" (2005)
"Middletown" (2006)
"Death at a Funeral" (2007)
"Secret Life" (2007) (TV)
"Incendiary" (2007)
"Grindhouse" - segment "Don't"
"Frost/Nixon" - John Birt "
External links
(BBC Drama Faces: Matthew Macfadyen)
(Page on the official "Spooks" site at BBC.co.uk, including an interview)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Matthew Macfadyen.
