| Jonathan Firth | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 April 1967 Essex, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | White British |
| Years active | 1990-present |
| Relatives | Colin Firth (brother) Kate Firth (sister) |
| Awards | 2004 CFT Excellence Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Luther |
Jonathan Firth (born 6 April 1967) is a British actor best known for his roles in such noted British television productions as Middlemarch, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Victoria & Albert.
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Jonathan Firth was born in Essex, England.[1] His mother, Shirley Jean (née Rolles), and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, were both children of Methodist missionaries in Nigeria, and both worked as teachers in Nigeria after their marriage.[2] He is the younger brother of actor Colin Firth and voice coach Kate Firth. The family moved many times, from Essex to Billericay and Brentwood, and then to St. Louis in the U.S. for a year when Jonathan was five.[3] Upon returning to England the family settled in Winchester, where his father became a history lecturer at King Alfred's College and his mother was a comparative religion lecturer at King Alfred's College Winchester (now the University of Winchester).[4] Firth's desire to become an actor surfaced, he said, when he performed in a school play at the age of eleven.[5]
Firth studied at Central School of Speech and Drama and Peter Symonds College in Winchester. His flatmate at one time was actor Rufus Sewell.[6] After graduation, he toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company,[7] where he made his debut at the age of twenty-seven as Henry VI (1994).[8]
In addition to his roles in the theatre, Firth has acted in cinematic movies and radio dramas,[9] narrated audiobooks, and has also made notable television appearances, such as Linton Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992); Fred Vincy in Middlemarch (1994); Sergeant Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd, for which he received a nomination for best actor;[10] Lord Arthur Goring in An Ideal Husband (2000); and Prince Albert in Victoria & Albert (2001), which he considered one of his most difficult roles.[11] His favorite film location was the Sahara Desert when he portrayed Joshua in the 2000 biblical film, In the Beginning.[12] In 2003, he acted in the BBC's dramatized documentary Pompeii: The Last Day.[13] That same year, Firth played a part in the motion picture Luther, in which he portrayed Cardinal Aleander, the papal advisor who sought Luther's excommunication and death, and for which he received the CFT Excellence Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.
He has also guest-starred in Inspector Morse (1987); Covington Cross (1992); Poirot(1994); Cadfael (1994); Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock (1995); Tales from the Crypt (1996);[14] Midsomer Murders (1996); Kangaroo Palace (1998), an Australian drama set in the 1960s; The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999); The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002); Sparkling Cyanide (2003); and Jericho: The Hollow Men (2005).[15] He appeared in The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding (2006), The Prince and Me 3: Royal Honeymoon (2008) and The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure (2010).
In 2008, Firth starred as the chef in a short film, The Chef's Letter,[16] played Evan in the radio production of Daphne du Maurier's September Tide.,[17] and was also featured as a Houdini style illusionist in episode #118 of the American television series Ghost Whisperer.[18] In 2009 he portrayed Dr. David Fuller in the German film production of Albert Schweitzer.
Firth lives in Islington, North London.[19][20]