British actor Matthew MacFadyen studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before beginning his career on the stage. He joined the renowned theater company Cheek and Jowl, with whom he participated in productions of The School for Scandal, Much Ado About Nothing, The Duchess of Malfi, and other plays. In 1998, he made a much-noticed transition to the screen with the role of Hareton Earnshaw in a television adaptation of Wuthering Heights. He would go on to appear in such films as Enigma and Almost Strangers before being cast in the lead role of Tom Quinn in the spy series MI-5 (aka Spooks) in 2002. He stayed with the series until 2004, and the next year he made yet another foray into #92;period #92;drama, playing the male lead of Mr. Darcy in a big-screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, opposite Keira Knightley. He soon followed it up with a turn in the quirky #92;comedy Death at a Funeral in 2007, before signing on for the 2008 Ron Howard film Frost/Nixon. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Born:
October 17, 1974 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
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Job Titles:
Actor
Family
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Brother: James MacFadyen. Younger
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Daughter: Maggie MacFadyen. Born in December 2004; mother, Keeley Hawes
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Father: Martin MacFadyen.
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Mother: Menir MacFadyen.
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Son: Ralph MacFadyen. Born in September 2006; mother, Keeley Hawes
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Step-son: Myles. Born in 2000; from Keeley s previous marriage to a cartoonist
Significant Others
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Wife: Keeley Hawes. Met in 2002 when they co-starred on the BBC series Spooks ; married Oct. 8, 2004; mother of his two children; also has a son, Myles (born in 2000) from a previous marriage to a cartoonist
Education
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Oakham School, Rutland, Leichestershire, drama
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Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA)
Milestones
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1995 Joined the Cheek By Jowl theater company; toured with The Duchess of Malfi
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1998 Cast in the TV movie Warriors (BBC America) by Peter Kosminsky, about soldiers in Bosnia
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1998 Cast in the TV production of Wuthering Heights by David Skynner
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1998 Toured with Cheek By Jowl in the production of Much Ado About Nothing
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2002 Appeared in The Way We Live Now by David Yates
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2003 Portrayed governent agent Tom Quinn in Spooks (BBC) (aired as MI-5 on A&E)
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2005 Played Prince Hal opposite Sir Michael Gambon in Henry IV at Nicholas Hytner s National Theatre
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2005 Portrayed Mr. Darcy, opposite Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice, an adaptation of the Jane Austen classic
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2007 Co-starred in the Frank Oz directed, Death at a Funeral
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2008 Portrayed David Frost s producer, John Birt in the film adaption of Peter Morgan s Frost/Nixon
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2009 Cast as the male lead Arthur Clennam in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens Little Dorrit
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Toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of A Midsummer Night s Dream and School for Scandal