Richard E. Grant Profile - World Stuff

Richard E. Grant Profile:

Richard E. Grant

Profile:
Birth Name: Richard Grant Esterhuysen
Date of Birth: 5 May 1957
Place Of Birth: Mbabane, Swaziland
Nickname: Reg
Height: 6? 2? (1.88 m)
Spouse: Joan Washington (1 November 1986 ? present) 2 children

Richard E. Grant young photo

Biography:
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. Grant came to public attention for playing Withnail in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship. Tall, gangly, and possessed of a frenetic intensity that lends itself to the highly eccentric and often borderline insane characters he plays, British actor Richard E. Grant is nothing if not one of the more distinctive performers to have gained celluloid immortality. His wild eyes and high-strung demeanor occasionally giving him an uncanny resemblance to a meerkat on speed.

Richard E. Grant family photo

Early life:
Grant was born Richard Esterhuysen in Mbabane, Swaziland. He adopted his stage name when he moved to England as an adult and registered with the British Actors? Equity Association. His father, Henrik Esterhuysen, was head of education for the British government administration in the British Protectorate of Swaziland. His South African mother, Leonne, was a local ballet teacher. His father had Dutch/Afrikaner and Hungarian ancestry and his mother was of German descent. As a boy, Grant went to primary school at St Mark?s, a local government school in Mbabane that had only recently become racially integrated. When Grant was only nine years old, he witnessed an adulterous relationship between his mother and another man that subsequently led to the break-up of his parents? marriage. This event inspired Grant to keep a daily diary, which he has continued to do ever since. Grant wears a watch on each wrist, one given to him by his dying father, permanently set on Swaziland time. Grant attended secondary school at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (UWCSA), an independent school just outside Mbabane, where he was a day scholar. He studied English and drama at the University of Cape Town.

Love Hurts movie still

Career:
Grant was a member of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town before moving to London in 1982. He later stated: I grew up in Swaziland when it was mired in a 1960s sensibility. The kind of English spoken where I grew up was a period English sound and when I came to England people said ?how strange?. Charles Sturridge, who directed Brideshead Revisited for TV, said ?you speak English like someone from the 1950s?. Grant?s first film role was the perpetually inebriated title character in Withnail and I, which has established a large cult following. During the story his character drinks from a bottle of lighter fluid, which the set crew had intentionally filled with vinegar prior to filming. His reaction in the film was genuine.

Following his film Withnail and I, Grant began appearing in Hollywood films, and quickly established himself as a powerful character actor in a wide array of films, from blockbuster studio movies to small independent projects. Over the past twenty years, Grant has had strong supporting roles in the films Henry & June, L.A. Story, The Player, The Age of Innocence, The Portrait of a Lady, Spice World, Gosford Park, Bright Young Things, and Penelope. Grant has twice portrayed the Doctor from Doctor Who, unofficially on both occasions. In the comedy sketch Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, he portrayed a version of the Tenth Doctor, referred to as the Quite Handsome Doctor. He also voiced a now non-canonical Ninth Doctor for the BBC original animated webcast Scream of the Shalka.

The Nutcracker in 3D movie still

On 1 December 2006, Grant turned real life investigator when, with the help of BBC Newsnight, he exposed a $98 million scam to sell a bogus AIDS cure. Grant appeared as ?The Voice? in 2+2+2 at American Nights at The King?s Head Theatre, from 3 July to 29 July 2007, and also recently co-starred in the London-based comedy Filth and Wisdom, a film which marks the directorial debut of pop singer Madonna.

On 22 November 2007, he gave a keynote speech at North London Collegiate School in North London as part of their Performing Arts Centre Opening Festival, and presented the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards.

In 2008, he made his musical theatre debut with Opera Australia, playing the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. Grant is also an author, having written an autobiography and a novel called By Design that is set in Hollywood. Richard E. Grant is a mentor on the British Airways Great Britons Programme,[16] and will mentor a British talent to write a script that will be produced into a short film and shown on BA flights and at the pre-opening of the Olympic Games ceremony.

Richard E. Grant, Taryn Fiebig

Wah-Wah:
Grant wrote and directed the 2005 film Wah-Wah, loosely based on his own childhood experiences. A screenwriter recommended he write a screenplay, after reading Grant?s memoirs of his Withnail and I experience. The film took him over seven years to complete, and starred Nicholas Hoult in the lead role, with Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Julie Walters and Emily Watson. Grant kept a diary of the experience, later published as a book (The Wah-Wah Diaries). The book received positive reviews from critics, many of whom were impressed at the honesty of the tale, especially in regard to his difficult relationship with the ?inexperienced? producer Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar.

Richard E. Grant, Roger Allam

Grant stated in subsequent interviews that she was a ?control freak out of control?, and that he would ?never see her again as long as lives?. In a BBC interview, he again mentioned his ?disastrous? relationship with Mention-Schaar. He related that he had received only five emails from her in the last two months of pre-production, and that she rarely turned up on the set at all. She failed to obtain clearance firstly for song rights, and secondly to actually film in Swaziland. For the last infraction Grant was eventually forced to meet with the King of Swaziland to seek clemency. During an interview with an Australian chat show, he mentioned that Wah-Wah was not released in France, and as a result, his producer did not make money out of it.

Richard E. Grant at 2011 Chortle Live Comedy Awards

Personal life:
Grant married voice coach Joan Washington in 1986 and has one daughter with her (Olivia) and a stepson (Tom). Grant is a teetotaller. He is intolerant to alcohol, having no enzymes in the blood to metabolise it. If he does drink alcohol, he can keep it down for 10 minutes and is then violently ill for 24 hours afterward. After casting him as the alcoholic Withnail, director Bruce Robinson made Grant drink a bottle of champagne and half a bottle of vodka during the course of a night so that he had experience of the sensation. He also appeared on BBC1?s show Saturday Kitchen on 14 July 2007, where he stated he detests dairy products, while his favourite food is giant prawns on a bed of rice. In October 2008, he told The Times that he is an atheist. He is an avid follower of West Ham United, and appeared on Sky Sports? Soccer AM to show his support for the team on the morning of the 2006 FA Cup Final.

Richard E. Grant at FiFi UK Fragrance Awards 2012

Filmography:
First Night
Horrid Henry: The Movie
The Iron Lady
The Nutcracker in 3D
Love Hurts
Cuckoo
Filth and Wisdom
Hemingway?s Garden of Eden
Jackboots on Whitehall
Above and Beyond
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
Penelope
Color Me Kubrick
Tim Burton?s Corpse Bride
Tooth
Bustin? Bonaparte
Monsieur N.
Case of Evil
Hildegarde
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Gosford Park
Robert Louis Stevenson?s St. Ives
Strictly Sinatra
The Drew Carey Show: Drew Can?t Carey a Tune
The Little Vampire
The Miracle Maker
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death
A Christmas Carol
The Scarlet Pimpernel
A Merry War
Spice World
The Match
Captain Star [Animated TV Series]
Food of Love
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
The Serpent?s Kiss
Treasure Island
Karaoke
The Portrait of a Lady
Twelfth Night
Jack and Sarah
The Cold Light of Day
Absolutely Fabulous: Hospital
Hard Times
Pr
Franz Kafka?s It?s a Wonderful Life
The Age of Innocence
Bram Stoker?s Dracula
Suddenly, Last Summer
The Player
Hudson Hawk
L.A. Story
Henry & June
Mountains of the Moon
Codename: Kyril
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Killing Dad
Hidden City
Warlock
After Pilkington
Withnail & I
Honest, Decent and True

Director:
2005 Wah-Wah

Screenwriter:
2005 Wah-Wah

Richard E. Grant awards

Awards:
British Independent Film Awards
2005
Nominated
Douglas Hickox Award
for: Wah-Wah (2005).

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
2002
Won
Critics Choice Award
Best Acting Ensemble
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

Florida Film Critics Circle Awards
2002
Won
FFCC Award
Best Ensemble Cast
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

National Board of Review, USA
1994
Won
NBR Award
Best Acting by an Ensemble
for: Pr?t-?-Porter (1994).
Shared with: Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Kim Basinger, Chiara Mastroianni, Stephen Rea, Anouk Aim?e, Rupert Everett, Rossy de Palma, Tara Leon, Georgianna Robertson, Lili Taylor, Ute Lemper, Forest Whitaker, Tom Novembre, Anne Canovas, Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins, Lauren Bacall, Lyle Lovett, Tracey Ullman, Sally Kellerman, Linda Hunt, Teri Garr, Danny Aiello, Jean Rochefort, Michel Blanc

Online Film Critics Society Awards
2002
Won
OFCS Award
Best Ensemble
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen,Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas,, Maggie, Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
2002
Nominated
PFCS Award
Best Acting Ensemble
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

Razzie Awards
1992
Nominated
Razzie Award
Worst Supporting Actor
for: Hudson Hawk (1991).

Satellite Awards
2002
Won
Special Achievement Award
Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

Screen Actors Guild Awards
2002
Won
Actor
Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture
for: Gosford Park (2001).
Shared with: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby

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