ALAN RICKMAN Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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ALAN RICKMAN

      Alan Rickman... Villain extraordinaire, comedic personality, romantic         
      leading man. All this and more. He has performed in London's West End, on     
      Broadway, in film and on radio and television.                               
      Born on February 21, 1946 in Hammersmith, London, Rickman attended the       
      Royal College of Art and made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. He         
      received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which he         
      attended from 1972 - 1974. While there, he won the Emile Litter Prize, the   
      Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.                         
      Rickman has worked extensively with various British repertory and             
      experimental theater groups including The Seagull, Snoo Wilson's The Grass   
      Widow at the Royal Court and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh       
      International Festival.                                                       
      During this period, he did occasional television work, in roles from         
      Shakespearean drama to LeCarré's international intrigue.                     
      While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company he starred in, among         
      other things, As You Like It. His casting in The Royal Shakespeare           
      Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses as Le Vicomte de Valmont     
      won him critical and popular acclaim as the elegant and heartless seducer.   
      When the show came across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman came with it to       
      Broadway and there earned a Tony nomination for his performance.             
      It was during his stint on Broadway that he was approached by Joel Silver     
      and offered a role in the first Die Hard film in which Rickman's unique       
      interpretation of the villainous Hans Gruber garnered worldwide attention     
      and set a chilling new standard for screen "bad guys." Since then, Rickman   
      has appeared in over two dozen films.                                         
      Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which he plays Professor Snape, is   
      in post production and will hit theaters in Nov. 2005. He will continue       
      playing the Potions Master in the 4th installment, Harry Potter and the       
      Order of the Phoenix, which is currently being filmed in England. He will     
      also be very busy this year with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver &           
      Carrie-Anne Moss) scheduled to start filming in April 2005 in Canada and     
      Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), this Summer in       
      Germany and Barcelona. We can also look forward to seeing him in the new     
      film, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, released at theaters on April     
      29th (please check the News & Schedule page, FAQ and Guestbook for more       
      details).                                                                     
      Mr. Rickman will also direct the play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April     
      2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London. His performance on stage in Noel     
      Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which had transferred to Broadway     
      after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre, ended in           
      September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses       
      co-star, Lindsay Duncan, and director, Howard Davies for this Tony Award     
      winning production.                                                           
      His previous stage performance was as Marc Antony, opposite Helen Mirren     
      as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and       
      Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran October 20th through   
      December 3rd, 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at   
      the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production   
      of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. And even directing The         
      Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995 (of which he also           
      directed the film version in 1996).                                           
      In 1993, he did the voice-over on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Part         
      II... the voice that introduces the individual instruments that eventually   
      come together so magnificently. And is one of the many artists who recites   
      Shakespearian sonnets on the newly released (Feb. 4, 2002) When Love         
      Speaks CD. He is also featured prominently in a music video, In Demand, by   
      the Scottish band, TEXAS, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000.       
      Mr. Rickman currently makes his home in England.