British actor Ralph Fiennes, who graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, is now in his 60s with a celebrated career as a leading star and character actor.
He often plays compromised men on the big screen such as his Austrian Nazi Amon Göth, who oversees the building of a concentration camp in Poland in “Schindler’s List.” In 2011, Fiennes made his big-screen directorial debut and also starred in Shakespeare’s tragedy “Coriolanus.” He starred, produced and directed 2013’s “The Invisible Woman,” where he portrayed Charles Dickens. Most notably, Fiennes has been in several Best Picture Oscar winners including 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” 1996’s “The English Patient” and 2009’s “The Hurt Locker.” His 2022 movie “The Menu” has already brought him a Golden Globe nomination in the comedy/musical category.
In our photo gallery, enjoy our ranking of his 12 best films.
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12. A BIGGER SPLASH (2016)
Image Credit: Courtesy of StudioCanal Director: Luca Guadagino
Writer: David Kajganich
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Mathias Schoenaerts, Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson
A world-famous rock singer Marianne Lane (Swinton) is on holiday at an isolated villa on a small island with her at an isolated villa on a small Italian island with her filmmaker lover Paul (Schoenaerts). She is recovering from surgery and has lost her voice. He is in recovery from alcohol addiction and a suicide attempt. But their solitude is broken when obnoxious music producer Harry Hawke comes by. With him is his daughter Penelope (Johnson). Harry decides to dance provocatively to the Rolling Stones hit “Emotional Rescue” and ends up skinny dipping by the pool. Alas, Paul and Harry both start to fight while Paul holds Harry underwater too long and he drowns. Soon, the authorities stop by.
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11. THE READER (2008)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Stephen Daldry
Writer: David Hare
Starring: Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes, Lena Olin
The drama tells the story of Michael Burg, a German lawyer who, as 15-year-old boy in 1958 engaged in a sexual relationship with Winslet’s older woman, Hanna Schmitz. She disappears only to resurface years later in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp. The older Michael, played by Fiennes, realizes that Hanna is keeping a personal secret that she believes is worse than her past– namely, she can’t read. Winslet finally won a Best Actress Oscar after five previous nominations while the Holocaust drama earned a Best Picture nomination.
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10. IN BRUGES (2008)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes
The black comedy-drama focuses on two London- based Irish hitmen. Carrying out orders, a rookie hit man Ray (Farrell) shoots a priest during a confession, but then he accidentally kills a young boy who is also in church. He and his mentor Ken (Gleeson) are sent to Bruges by their employer Harry Waters (Fiennes). Ken finds the Belgium town to his liking, but Ray finds it boring. The black comedy-drama was treasured for its cheekiness amongst the gun fire and crimes committed on screen. The film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay Oscar. For his performance, Farrell won the Golden Globe Award for Motion Picture Musical and Comedy.
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9. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Wes Anderson
Writer: Wes Anderson
Starring: Tilda Swinton, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Swartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Tony Revolori
In this comedy-drama, Fiennes headlines while working with a slew of Anderson stalwarts as he plays Monsieur Gustave H., a famed concierge of a 20th century mountainside resort in a fictional Eastern European country of Zubrowka. When Gustave is framed for the murder of a wealthy dowager (Swinton), he and his recently befriended protégé Zero (Revolori) embark on a quest for fortune and a priceless Renaissance painting amidst the backdrop of a fascist regime. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, while picking up the gold for Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Costume Design.
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8. THE HURT LOCKER (2009)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Summit Entertainment Director: Kathlyn Bigalow
Writer: Mark Boal
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christin Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce
This war movie is based on the experiences of Boal, who was a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a U.S. Army EOD team in Iraq. Fiennes plays the leader of a Private Military Company unit. Critic Roger Ebert wrote at the time that “The Hurt Locker” was a great film, an intelligent film, shot so clearly so that we know who everybody is and where they are going and what they are doing and why.” He also thought Renner would be shoo-in for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The war drama received nine Oscar nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and won for Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay. As for Bigelow, she made history by being the first female director to win the award.
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7. QUIZ SHOW (1994)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Robert Redford
Writer: Paul Attansio
Starring: John Turturro, Rob Morrow Ralph Fiennes, David Paymer, Paul Scofield
In 1958, the questions and answers to be used for the latest broadcast of NBC’s quiz show “Twenty-One” are transported from a secure bank vault to the studio. The reigning champ is Queens resident Herb Stempal (Turturro). The producers on the show are surprised when Columbia University instructor Charles Van (Fiennes), son of a prominent literary family, who wants to audition for “Tic-Tac-Dough,” a less difficult show by the same producers. Van Doren’s game-winning streak make him a makes him a national celebrity. Meanwhile, Stempel, having lost his prize money to a unscrupulous bookie, starts legal action against NBC after weeks go by without his return to TV. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting role for Scofield and the Best Screenplay based on already published material.
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6. WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (2005)
Image Credit: Courtesy of DreamWorks Animation Director: Nick Park, Steve Box
Writers: Steve Box, Nick Park, Mark Burton, Bob Baker
Starring: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay
This stop-motion animated supernatural from Aardman and Dreamworks is a parody of classic monster movies made by Hammer Horror flicks. The film centers on good-natured yet cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his intelligent quiet dog, Gromit, in their latest venture as post control agents. They come to the rescue of his town plagued by rabbits before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition. Fiennes as Lord Victor Quartermaine, a cruel upper-class bounder and a prideful hunter who is courting Bonham Carter’s Lady Tottington. He wears a toupee and he despises Wallace and Gromit. Philip is Victor’s vicious and dimwitted hunting dog who resembles a Bull Terrier. He is too cowardly to face the Were-Rabbit so he targets Gromit. The cartoon claimed Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.
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5. THE HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE (2001-2007)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures Directors: Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, David Yates
Writer: Steve Kloves, Michael Goldberg
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Michael Gambom
Voldermort, who lends his likeness and voice on screen appears in in every movie in the series with the exception of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” Voldermort’s manifestation is as a face on the back of Professor Quirrill’s head. As in the book, he who must not be named is shown clad in dark black robes. He is tall and emaciated with no hair and yellowish teeth. His fingers are long and pale blue. And his eyes are blue so his evil wouldn’t be seen and would not fill the audience with fear. As for Fiennes, he has stated that he had had two weeks to shoot the climatic showdown scene with Radcliffe’s Harry. The actor said with a chuckle: “I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren’t before.”
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4. THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Anthony Minghella
Writer: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth
Fiennes plays the title role as a man burned beyond recognition who speaks with a British accent. He recalls his history in a series of flashbacks, revealing his true identity to the audience, but not his caretaker about the love affair he had before his plane crashed. His French-Canadian combat nurse Hana (Binoche) we learn at the end of the war. He does not reveal his identity to her. We learn that he that he is Laszlo Almasy, who is a Hungarian cartographer. His nurse decides to move into a bombed-out monastery with her patient to make her patient more comfortable and they are joined by Lt. Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Indian Army. Hana and Kip shyly try out their feelings about each other. “The English Patient” gave Fiennes a Best Supporting Oscar nomination.
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3. THE CONSTANT GARDENER (2005)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Fernando Meirelles
Writer: Jeffrey Caine
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite
Justin Quayle (Fiennes) is a British diplomat and avid horticulturist, is confronted by Amnesty International activist Tessa during a lecture in London. They strike up a romance and marry after she accompanies him to his posting in Kenyan where she befriends Kenyan doctor Arnold Bluhm, leading to rumors of an affair. Tessa has no qualms confronting corruption, to the chagrin of his superiors and they lose a child late in her pregnancy. Connecting local deaths to trials of a new drug, conducted by Kenyan-based company Three Bees. She gives it to Justin’s colleague Sandy Woodrow, the British High Commissioner, who sends it to s Sir Bernard Pellegrin, head of the Africa Desk at the Foreign Office.
Sandy informs Justin that a white woman and a black driver were killed near lake Turkana and that Tessa and Arnold shred a room before hiring a car. Justin and Sandy identify his wife’s mutilated body. After Tessa’s burial, he learns that Tessa kept Arnold’s secret that he was gay, which is illegal in Kenya. Roger Ebert declared the movie one of the year’s best. Weisz won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. The topical drama was also nominated for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing. -
2. THE MENU (2022)
Image Credit: Eric Zachanowich Director: Mark Mylod
Writer: Seth Reiss, Will Tracy
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Judith Light, John Leguizamo
It’s probably best to watch this dark comedy on an empty stomach as Fiennes cooks up some deadly dishes as he plays celebrity chef Julian Slowik, who owns an exclusive restaurant on a private island. The group of people invited apparently were selected because they either contributed to him losing his passion for his craft or because they make a living off exploiting the works of artisans like himself. To end the dinner, Julian pays tribute to s’mores by covering his guests with small capes made of marshmallows and hats made out of chocolate. He then sets the restaurant ablaze, detonating the barrel and killing the guests, staff and himself.
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1. SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Steven Zaillian
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle, Embeth Davidtz, Ralph Fiennes
Fiennes was cast as Amon Goth after Spielberg after he viewed some of his early films. In his audition, he said he saw sexual evil. “It’s all about subtlety” adding that there were moments of kindness that move across his eyes and then instantly run cold.” Fiennes packed on 28 pounds to play the role. He watched historic newsreels and talked to Holocaust survivors who knew Goth. The actor said about his real-life character, saying “I got close to his pain. Inside him is a fractured, miserable human being. According to some doctors, Goth is a classic psychopath. Fiennes looked so much like Goth in his costume, a cast member got freaked out by his appearance on the set. The actor earned a Supporting Actor nomination. The Holocaust drama won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
