Jonathan Firth
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Firth 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
.
, England. 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. 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. 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). Firth's desire to become an actor surfaced, he said, when he performed in a school play at the age of eleven.
Firth studied at Central School of Speech and Drama
and Peter Symonds College
in Winchester
. His flatmate at one time was actor Rufus Sewell
. After graduation, he toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company
, where he made his debut at the age of twenty-seven as Henry VI
(1994).
(1992); Fred Vincy in Middlemarch
(1994); Sergeant Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd
, for which he received a nomination for best actor; Lord Arthur Goring in An Ideal Husband
(2000); and Prince Albert in Victoria & Albert
(2001), which he considered one of his most difficult roles. His favorite film location was the Sahara Desert when he portrayed Joshua in the 2000 biblical film, In the Beginning. In 2003, he acted in the BBC
's dramatized documentary Pompeii: The Last Day
. 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); 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). 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, played Evan in the radio production of Daphne du Maurier
's September Tide., and was also featured as a Houdini style illusionist in episode #118 of the American television series Ghost Whisperer
. In 2009 he portrayed Dr. David Fuller in the German film production of Albert Schweitzer
.
Middlemarch (1994 TV serial)
George Eliot's novel Middlemarch has been adapted for television twice. The most recent version in 1994 was directed by Anthony Page from a screenplay by Andrew Davies...
, Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1998 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1998 drama television film adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel of the same name....
, and Victoria & Albert
Victoria & Albert (TV serial)
Victoria & Albert is a 2001 British-US historical television serial. It focused on the early life and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Victoria, Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert and Peter Ustinov as King William IV. It was directed by John Ermant....
.
Early life
Jonathan Firth was born in EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, England. His mother, Shirley Jean (née Rolles), and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, were both children of Methodist missionaries in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and both worked as teachers in Nigeria after their marriage. He is the younger brother of actor Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
and voice coach Kate Firth
Kate Firth
Kate Firth is a professional voice coach and stage actress, and sister to actors Colin Firth and Jonathan Firth. She has a therapeutic counselor background in the field of human communication, and extensive experience in theatre, psychology and applied linguistics.-Life and Work:Kate Firth was...
. 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. 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). Firth's desire to become an actor surfaced, he said, when he performed in a school play at the age of eleven.
Firth studied at Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
and Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. It is one of the largest sixth form colleges in Britain.-Admissions:...
in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. His flatmate at one time was actor Rufus Sewell
Rufus Sewell
Rufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
. After graduation, he toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, where he made his debut at the age of twenty-seven as Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
(1994).
Acting career
In addition to his roles in the theatre, Firth has acted in cinematic movies and radio dramas, narrated audiobooks, and has also made notable television appearances, such as Linton Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was a 1992 feature film adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights directed by Peter Kosminsky....
(1992); Fred Vincy in Middlemarch
Middlemarch (1994 TV serial)
George Eliot's novel Middlemarch has been adapted for television twice. The most recent version in 1994 was directed by Anthony Page from a screenplay by Andrew Davies...
(1994); Sergeant Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1998 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1998 drama television film adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel of the same name....
, for which he received a nomination for best actor; Lord Arthur Goring in An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...
(2000); and Prince Albert in Victoria & Albert
Victoria & Albert (TV serial)
Victoria & Albert is a 2001 British-US historical television serial. It focused on the early life and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Victoria, Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert and Peter Ustinov as King William IV. It was directed by John Ermant....
(2001), which he considered one of his most difficult roles. His favorite film location was the Sahara Desert when he portrayed Joshua in the 2000 biblical film, In the Beginning. In 2003, he acted in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's dramatized documentary Pompeii: The Last Day
Pompeii: The Last Day
Pompeii: The Last Day is a 2003 dramatized documentary that tells of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 24 August 79 AD. This eruption covered the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash and pumice, killing all those trapped between the volcano and the sea. The documentary portrayed the...
. That same year, Firth played a part in the motion picture Luther
Luther (2003 film)
Luther is a 2003 biopic about the life of Martin Luther . It was an independent biopic and was partially funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, starring Joseph Fiennes....
, 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
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
(1987); Covington Cross (1992); Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
(1994); Cadfael
Cadfael
Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England,...
(1994); Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock (1995); Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt may refer to:* Tales from the Crypt , a comic book published by EC Comics during the 1950s** Tales from the Crypt , a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Richardson partially based on the comic book...
(1996); Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
(1996); Kangaroo Palace
Kangaroo Palace
Kangaroo Palace is a 1997 drama television movie which aired on Seven Network.- Plot summary :In 1966, Catherine Macaleese is counting the days until she meets her father, a distant childhood memory, and starts a new life with him in England...
(1998), an Australian drama set in the 1960s; The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999); The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
(2002); Sparkling Cyanide
Sparkling Cyanide
Sparkling Cyanide is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1945 under the title of Remembered Death and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the December of the same year under Christie's original title...
(2003); and Jericho: The Hollow Men (2005). He appeared in The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding
The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding
The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding is a 2006 romantic comedy film, directed by Catherine Cyran, which was released direct-to-video. It stars Luke Mably as Prince Edvard, Kam Heskin as Paige Morgan, and Clemency Burton-Hill as Princess Kirsten....
(2006), The Prince and Me 3: Royal Honeymoon
The Prince and Me 3: Royal Honeymoon
The Prince and Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon is a 2008 romantic comedy film, directed by Catherine Cyran, which was released direct-to-video.- Plot :...
(2008) and The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure
The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure
The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure is a 2010 romantic comedy film, directed by Catherine Cyran.-Plot:...
(2010).
In 2008, Firth starred as the chef in a short film, The Chef's Letter, played Evan in the radio production of Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's September Tide., and was also featured as a Houdini style illusionist in episode #118 of the American television series Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...
. In 2009 he portrayed Dr. David Fuller in the German film production of Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
.
Theatre
- Eden End (Farrant), Royal Theatre, June 2011
- Henry VI, Part III (Henry), Royal Shakepeare Co.
- The Lulu Plays (Schwartz), Almeida,London
- Bad Company (Ian), National Theatre Studio
Audio Books
- War and PeaceWar and PeaceWar and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
. Narrator, BBC Audiobooks, 1997 - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Narrator, BBC Radio Collection, 1999
- Shadows of Glory by William Woodruff. Narrator, 2003
- Twelfth Night by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. Narrator, BBC Audiobooks, 2005 - The Two Noble Kinsmen: Arkangel Complete Shakespeare. Narrator, BBC Audiobooks, 2006
- Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare. Narrator, 2006
- Nobody True by James HerbertJames HerbertJames Herbert, OBE is a best-selling English horror writer who originally worked as the art director of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity.-Family:...
. Narrator, 2007 - Sepulchre by James Herbert. Narrator, 2008
- I'll Never Be Young Again by Daphne Du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
. Narrator - In Search for Lost Time by Marcel ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
. Narrator, BBC Audiobooks, 2009 - Short Stories: The Thinking Man's Collection. Narrator, 2010
- Heathrow Nights by Jan Mark. Narrator, 2011