Ralph Fiennes is an English actor who has starred in film and television since the early 90s, becoming one of the most recognized celebrities in the world.
For a whole generation or more, Ralph Fiennes will always be Lord Voldemort, the creepy villain of the Harry Potter film series, his impressive presence in those movies hard not to have some impact. However, for those willing to explore his deep filmography, there’s an even more impressive catalog of very diverse characters, proving the actor has quite the range, from an Oscar-nominated turn in the 1996 melodrama The English Patient to his chuckle-inducing work in the recent The Grand Budapest Hotel. But before all that, Fiennes had a truly impressive run at the box office very early in his career, 3 in a Row in fact that deserve a closer look, starting with a bad guy to out-do all other bad guys …
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SCHINDLER’S LIST
SCHINDLER’S LISTIn 1993, director Steven Spielberg swung the pendulum of his gifted abilities and released two films that couldn’t be further apart in terms of themes and action. There was of course the dinosaur adventure Jurassic Park, but also, the historical World War II-era drama Schindler’s List, about a German businessman (played by Liam Neeson) who saved more than a thousand Jewish people from extermination. Fiennes plays Amon Goeth, an SS Commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in a chilling performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination. Based on the real Goeth, it’s a troubling and haunting take on a truly horrifying figure in history. By all accounts an unknown name in movies at the time, Fiennes immediately changed that, with everyone walking away wondering who the man was and where else could they see him. They didn’t have to wait long.
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QUIZ SHOW
QUIZ SHOWThe very next year, Fiennes was back in theaters in a big way, starring as the lead in another historical drama, this time from director Robert Redford. Quiz Show examines a brief moment in television during the late 1950s when it was discovered that game shows on TV weren’t all that honest, shining a light on a show called ‘Twenty-One’ that proved some contestants were given answers. Fiennes plays handsome and wealthy Charles Van Doren, who falls prey to the lure of celebrity and easy money and ends up on the wrong side of an investigation. Another terrific performance, Fiennes humanizes the man who struggles with what’s laid at his feet and the moral questions that surround it. If there were any concerns if the actor was a flash-in-the-pan star with Schindler’s List, they were put to bed here in a wholly different spin that proved he was here to stay. And into the future …
STRANGE DAYS
The next year, Fiennes was riding his success into science fiction, starring in director Kathryn Bigelow and writer James Cameron‘s visionary future epic Strange Days, a movie that didn’t quite strike with the same universal critical praise as his previous efforts but is nonetheless a great movie. He plays Lenny Nero, a former Los Angeles cop on the eve of the year 2000, who now makes a living selling SQUIDs, illegal electronic devices that records wearer’s memories and the physical sensation of their actions for others to experience. Trouble is, one of these SQUIDs has some very bad memories and a massive conspiracy spirals Nero into his own personal hell. Surely a movie that divides viewers, for those who fall on the fan side, it’s a relentlessly fun action thriller with a smart style and plenty of dark moments led by another inventive performance from Fiennes.
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THE AFTERMATH
THE AFTERMATHThe following year, Fiennes would cement his success with The English Patient, guaranteeing him a long career in the business. Fearless in his roles, able to invite audiences into his portrayals with an uncanny knack for metamorphosis, Fiennes has become a beloved actor the world over. From Red Dragon to The Constant Gardener to In Bruges and Wrath of the Titans, Fiennes continually reinvents himself, assuring fans and movie-goers that when we see his name in the credits, we’re gonna see something special. What are your favorite Ralph Fiennes movies?