Matthew Macfadyen Biography

David Matthew Macfadyen (born 17 October 1974) is a BAFTA award-winning English actor, known for his roles as MI5 Intelligence Officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks, Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice and Daniel in the Frank Oz comedy Death at a Funeral. He is also known for portraying John Birt in the political drama Frost/Nixon.

Early life

Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil executive. His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh. Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father's profession. He attended schools in England (including in Louth, Lincolnshire), Scotland and Indonesia, and went to Oakham School in Rutland, before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 17.

Career

After having studied at the RADA from 1992 to 1995, Macfadyen became known in British theatre due primarily to his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for whom he played Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. His Benedick was played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. In 2005, he played Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts One and Two at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the role of Falstaff. In 2007, he returned to the stage, portraying an American, Clay, a stay at home father with a liberal attitude in the play The Pain and the Itch.

A TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, screened on the ITV network in 1998. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas Warriors (1999) and The Way We Live Now (2001), both for the BBC. Also in 2001, he earned acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial Perfect Strangers, which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. In 2002, he starred in The Project, a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power. He starred in Spooks, which became a success when screened on BBC One. A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in autumn 2004, with him leaving the series in the second episode. The series was aired as MI-5 on the A&E Network. In 2007 he appeared in the one-off Channel 4 drama Secret Life, which dealt with the controversial subject of paedophilia. Matthew won the 'Best Actor' award at the Royal Television Society 2007 Awards for this part, and was nominated for a BAFTA. He also appeared in a short sketch for Comic Relief as the groom in Mr Bean's Wedding, alongside Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Ryan.

Macfadyen appeared in films including Enigma (released in 2001), and In My Father's Den, for which he received the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Actor. He stars as the romantic lead Fitzwilliam Darcy in an acclaimed adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, released in the UK in September 2005.

Macfadyen starred in Frank Oz's "Death at a Funeral" and the film Incendiary, based on Chris Cleave's novel alongside Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. He has also appeared in Ron Howard's film Frost/Nixon, in which he played John Birt.

In 2008, he played the male lead Arthur Clennam in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit. In 2009 Macfadyen appeared alongside Academy Award nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter in the BBC Four movie Enid, based on the life of Enid Blyton, as Hugh Pollock, Blyton's publisher and first husband.

In 2010, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood. He starred as Prior Philip in the TV serial The Pillars of the Earth, and was the middle-aged Logan Mountstuart in Any Human Heart.

In June 2010, Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Criminal Justice.

In 2011, Macfadyen made a final cameo in the BBC show Spooks, and in 2012, he played Oblonsky in Joe Wright's film, Anna Karenina. In December 2012 he played Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in BBC One's Ripper Street.

Personal life

In 2002, he began a relationship with his then-married Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes. They were married in November 2004. The couple have two children, daughter Maggie (b. December 2004) and son Ralph (b. September 2006). Macfadyen is stepfather to Hawes's son, Myles, from her previous marriage. The couple are both patrons of the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.

Theatre

• 1994 : The Crimson Island, by Mikhail Bulgakov [ R.A.D.A. ] (Dymogatsky)
• 1994 : Lorca's Death, by Ben Benison [ R.A.D.A. ] (Rafael/Intellect)
• 1994 : The Feigned Inconstancy, by Marivaux [ R.A.D.A. ] (Chevalier)
• 1994 : The Beggar's Opera, by John Gay [ R.A.D.A. ] (Macheath)
• 1995 : One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Dale Wasserman [ R.A.D.A. ] (Chief Bromden)
• 1995 : The Libertine, by Stephen Jeffreys [ R.A.D.A. ] (John Wilmot), with My Funny Valentine
• 1995 : The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster [ Cheek by Jowl ] (Antonio Bologna)
• 1996 : A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Shakespeare [ Royal Shakespeare Company ] (Demetrius)
• 1998 : Much Ado About Nothing, by Shakespeare [ Cheek by Jowl ] (Benedick)
• 1998 : The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan [ Royal Shakespeare Company ] (Charles Surface)
• 1999 : Battle Royal, by Nick Stafford [ Royal National Theatre ] (Mr. Brougham)
• 2005 : Henry IV, by Shakespeare [ Royal National Theatre ] (Prince Hal)
• 2006 : Total Eclipse, by Christopher Hampton [ rehearsed reading at the Royal Court Theatre ] (Paul Verlaine)
• 2007 : The Pain and the Itch, by Bruce Norris [ Royal Court Theatre ] (Clay)
• 2010 : Private Lives, by Noël Coward [ Vaudeville Theatre ] (opposite Kim Cattrall)

Filmography

Television

• 1997 : Holding the Baby, by Paul Jackson (Marcus) [ TV series on ITV ]
• 1998 : Wuthering Heights, by David Skynner (Hareton Earnshaw) [ ITV ] " based on the novel by Emily Brontë
• 1999 : Warriors, by Peter Kosminsky (Alan James) [ BBC ]
• 2000 : Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, by Paul Seed (Brian Waller) [ BBC ]
• 2001 : Perfect Strangers, by Stephen Poliakoff (Daniel Symon) [ BBC Two ]
• 2001 : The Way We Live Now, by David Yates (Sir Felix Carbury) [ BBC ] " based on the novel by Anthony Trollope
• 2002 : The Project, by Peter Kosminsky (Paul Tibbenham) [ BBC ]
• 2002"2004,: Spooks (Tom Quinn) [ BBC ]
• 2007 : Mr Bean's Wedding (Daniel, the groom) [ sketch for the show The Big One for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on 16 March 2007, BBC One ]
• 2007 : Secret Life, by Rowan Joffe (Charlie Webb) [ Channel 4 ]
• 2008 : Ashes to Ashes, by Bille Eltringham (Gil Hollis) [ BBC One ]
• 2008 : Little Dorrit, by Adam Smith & Dearbhla Walsh (Arthur Clennam) [ BBC One ]
• 2008 : Agatha Christie's Marple A Pocket Full of Rye, by Charles Palmer (Inspector Neele) [ ITV ]
• 2009 : Enid, by James Hawes (Hugh Pollock) [ BBC Four ]
• 2009 : Criminal Justice II, by Yann Demange (Joe Miller) [ BBC One ]
• 2010 : The Pillars of the Earth, by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Prior Philip) [ CBC ]
• 2010 : Any Human Heart, by William Boyd (Logan Mountstuart) [ Channel Four ]
• 2011 : Spooks, a one off appearance in the series finale.
• 2012 : Ripper Street by Richard Warlow (Detective Inspector Edmund Reid) BBC One.

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Maybe Baby	Nigel
2001	Enigma	Lt. Cave
2003	The Reckoning	King's Justice
2004	In My Father's Den	Paul Prior
2005	Pride & Prejudice	Mr. Darcy	Nominated " London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Newcomer of the Year
2006	Middletown	Gabriel Hunter
2007	Grindhouse	Eye Gouging Victim	Segment: Don't
2007	Death at a Funeral	Daniel Howells
2008	Incendiary	Terence Butcher
2008	Frost/Nixon	John Birt	Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010	Robin Hood	Sheriff of Nottingham
2011	The Three Musketeers	Athos
2012	Anna Karenina	Oblonsky

Voice work

• 2000 : The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin [ Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
• 2001 : Trampoline, by Meredith Oakes [ Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 ] (Skeggs)
• 2003 : Essential Poems (To Fall In Love With) [ TV programme on BBC Two ] (actor/reader)
• 2004 : The Coma, by Alex Garland [ audio book ] (reader)
• 2004 : Getting Away From It: The Island, by Tim Pears [ Afternoon Reading on BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
• 2004 : The Hungerford Massacre [ TV documentary on BBC One ] (narrator)
• 2005 : Stories We Could Tell, by Tony Parsons [ audio book ] (reader)
• 2006 : The 9/11 Liars [ TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
• 2006 : Nuremberg: Nazis On Trial [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC Two ] (narrator)
• 2007 : Robin Hood's Quest & The Quest for Aladdin's Treasure [ video games by Oxygen Games ] (narrator)
• 2007 : The Making of Music [ BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
• 2007 : The Blair Years [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC One ] (narrator)
• 2007 : Last Party at the Palace [ TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
• 2008 : Dangerous Jobs for Girls [ 4-part TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
• 2008 : Words of War [ TV documentary on ITV1 ] (narrator)
• 2009 : Wine [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC Four ] (narrator)
• 2009 : Inside MI5 [ TV documentary on ITV1 ] (narrator)
• 2011: M&S food adverts
• 2011: Bupa healthcare adverts