Colin Firth

Identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, he had leading roles in A Month in the Country (1987), Tumbledown(1988) and Valmont (1989). His portrayal of Mr Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice drew widespread attention. It led to roles in more prominent films such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), and Love Actually (2003). He starred as Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones film series (2001–2025). Also, he acted in the musical comedy Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel.

Firth won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George VI in the historical drama The King's Speech (2010). He was previously Oscar-nominated for his role as a grieving gay man in the romantic drama A Single Man (2009), which earned him the BAFTA Award and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. He subsequently played secret agent Harry Hart in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its 2017 sequel. He also performed in films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), 1917 (2019), The Secret Garden, Supernova (both 2020), and Operation Mincemeat (2021). For his roles on television, he received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his portrayals of Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart in the BBC film Conspiracy (2001) and Michael Peterson in the HBO limited series The Staircase (2022).

In 2012, he founded the production company Raindog Films, under which he served as a producer for Eye in the Sky (2015) and Loving (2016). His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide. Firth has campaigned for the rights of Indigenous people and is a member of Survival International. He has also campaigned on issues such as asylum seekers, refugees' rights, and the environment. He commissioned and co-authored a scientific paper on differences in brain structure between people with different political orientations.