50 Fun Facts About Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes's first name is not said the way it is spelled: it rhymes with which of these words?

Safe is the rhyme: the name is said 'Rafe', and the surname sounds like 'Fines'. A 1994 magazine profile of the newly famous actor used the pronunciation as its headline.

Ralph Fiennes first appeared as Lord Voldemort in which Harry Potter film, when the villain regains a body?

Goblet of Fire keeps Voldemort as a weak, scratchy voice until its climax. Fiennes wore no nose makeup on set: his nose was erased digitally in post-production.

Ralph Fiennes took over the role of James Bond's boss M from which actress, who had held it since GoldenEye?

Judi Dench's M dies at the end of Skyfall, her seventh Bond film in the part, and the job passes to Fiennes's Gareth Mallory.

Ralph Fiennes won a BAFTA and his first Oscar nomination as SS commandant Amon Göth in which Holocaust drama?

Schindler's List made Fiennes a star. He looked so much like Göth in costume that a Holocaust survivor trembled with fear when she met him on set.

Ralph Fiennes leads the cast as Monsieur Gustave H. in which Wes Anderson comedy set in fictional Zubrowka?

The Grand Budapest Hotel cast Fiennes as its fussy concierge. To build Gustave he drew on his own brief time as a young porter at Brown's Hotel in London.

In the 1994 film Quiz Show, Ralph Fiennes plays Charles Van Doren, a champion on which rigged 1950s game show?

Twenty-One coached its contestants like actors and handed them the answers. Van Doren's winning streak made him a national celebrity before his confession to Congress.

In the romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan, Ralph Fiennes plays a Senate candidate who falls for a maid played by whom?

Jennifer Lopez plays Marisa Ventura, a single mother who is trying on a guest's designer coat when Fiennes's politician first meets her.

Ralph Fiennes made his feature film debut in 1992 as which brooding Emily Brontë hero, opposite Juliette Binoche?

Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights was his first film role, with Binoche as Cathy. The dark performance helped persuade Steven Spielberg to cast him as a Nazi officer.

In The Menu, which simple dish does Margot ask Ralph Fiennes's Chef Slowik to cook, winning her freedom?

A cheeseburger with fries is her request, and Slowik takes real joy in making it himself. After one bite she asks to take the rest to go, and he lets her walk out.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a distant cousin of the actor Ralph Fiennes, became famous in which field?

Polar exploration made Sir Ranulph's name: his Transglobe Expedition circled the world through both Poles using surface transport only. He is the actor's third cousin once removed.

Which Hollywood star directed Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show, having watched the real rigged broadcasts as a young actor?

Robert Redford was in his early twenties, taking art and acting classes in New York, when the programme aired. He recalled that the contestants looked like actors to him, yet he never doubted them.

Which actor plays Herb Stempel, the champion ordered to lose to Ralph Fiennes's Charles Van Doren, in Quiz Show?

John Turturro gained 25 pounds and reshaped his voice to match Stempel's. The real Stempel worked on the production as a technical adviser.

In Quiz Show, which English stage actor plays the poet Mark Van Doren, father of Ralph Fiennes's character?

Paul Scofield earned an Oscar nomination for the part. Paul Newman had been considered for it first, but he declined.

Which celebrated film director acts in Quiz Show, starring Ralph Fiennes, as the soft-spoken boss of the show's sponsor?

Martin Scorsese was cast partly for his rapid way of talking. The idea was that a tough character played gently, and fast, would come across as extremely menacing.

In Quiz Show, Herb Stempel must lose to Ralph Fiennes's Van Doren by missing a question on which Best Picture winner?

Marty was one of Stempel's own favourite films, which made the order to miss it especially humiliating. On the real broadcast, that round actually ended in a tie.

To study Charles Van Doren for Quiz Show, Ralph Fiennes turned up at the real man's Connecticut home posing as what?

A lost motorist was the cover story when Fiennes found Van Doren reading on his front porch. He later called the encounter crucial for nailing the man's transatlantic accent.

Quiz Show, with Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren, was nominated for Best Picture but beaten by which 1994 hit?

Forrest Gump won six Oscars that night, Best Picture among them. Quiz Show converted none of its four nominations.

In Quiz Show, which health tonic sponsors the rigged programme that makes a star of Ralph Fiennes's Charles Van Doren?

Geritol's maker sponsored the real programme too. For legal reasons the film gives the company's chief, Matthew Rosenhaus, an invented name.

Charles Van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show, taught English at which university during his winning streak?

Columbia employed him as an English instructor, and he resigned the post after admitting the fix. His father, Mark Van Doren, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

Which star of TV's Northern Exposure plays investigator Richard Goodwin opposite Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show?

Rob Morrow had rejected several film offers before this one, and read four of Goodwin's books to prepare. A chapter of the real Goodwin's memoir was the basis for the script.

Ralph Fiennes, the eldest of six children, was born in 1962 in which East Anglian town?

Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, is where he was born. His father, Mark, was a farmer and photographer, and his mother was a writer.

Which brother of Ralph Fiennes played the title playwright in the Oscar-winning comedy Shakespeare in Love?

Joseph Fiennes rose to stardom as the young Shakespeare in the 1998 film. His twin, Jacob, is a conservationist, and their brother Magnus is a composer.

Ralph Fiennes's nephew Hero Fiennes Tiffin played the 11-year-old Tom Riddle in which Harry Potter film?

Half-Blood Prince cast Hero, the son of Fiennes's sister Martha, out of thousands of boys who auditioned. He grew up to lead the After series of romance films.

Before switching to acting, Ralph Fiennes studied which subject at London's Chelsea College of Arts?

Painting came first, until he decided that acting was his true passion and won a place at RADA. He graduated from the drama school in 1985.

Which actress, later River Song in Doctor Who, married Ralph Fiennes in 1993 after they met at drama school?

Alex Kingston met Fiennes when both were students at RADA, and they were together for ten years before marrying. She later played the surgeon Elizabeth Corday in ER.

In 2017 Ralph Fiennes was granted citizenship of which country, where he had shot his first film as director?

Serbia made him a citizen by decision of its prime minister, Ana Brnabić. He had filmed his directing debut, a Shakespeare adaptation, in the capital, Belgrade.

Ralph Fiennes's first screen lead, in the television film A Dangerous Man, was as which British war hero?

T. E. Lawrence is shown after his desert campaign, pressing the Arab cause at the Paris Peace Conference. Steven Spielberg watched the film before casting Fiennes in his breakthrough role.

In The English Patient, Ralph Fiennes's badly burned mapmaker Count László Almásy actually comes from which country?

Hungary is the homeland of the so-called English patient, a cartographer surveying the Sahara in the late 1930s. The part brought Fiennes a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Ralph Fiennes won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Actor for playing which Shakespeare title role on Broadway?

Hamlet was his Broadway debut, so the Tony came at his first attempt. He was nominated again in 2006 for playing a travelling faith healer in a Brian Friel play.

In the 1998 film of TV's The Avengers, Ralph Fiennes plays which secret agent opposite Uma Thurman's Emma Peel?

John Steed was played on television by Patrick Macnee, who has a voice cameo in the film as Invisible Jones. Sean Connery is the villain bent on controlling the weather.

In DreamWorks' animated The Prince of Egypt, Ralph Fiennes voices which pharaoh, the adoptive brother of Moses?

Rameses grows up beside Moses, voiced by Val Kilmer, and is named prince regent by their father, Seti. The film turns the Exodus into a quarrel between brothers.

Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore play wartime lovers in The End of the Affair, based on which English author's novel?

Graham Greene published the novel in 1951, and Neil Jordan's film was its second screen version. Moore earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for it.

Ralph Fiennes starred in the sci-fi thriller Strange Days and later appeared in The Hurt Locker for which director?

Kathryn Bigelow cast him in Strange Days as Lenny Nero, a black-market dealer in recorded memories. It was a major commercial failure that nearly derailed her career.

In Red Dragon, Ralph Fiennes plays the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde, who is known by which nickname?

The Tooth Fairy strikes during full moons, driven by an alter ego he names after a William Blake artwork that is tattooed across his back.

Ralph Fiennes plays diplomat Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardener, a thriller adapted from which spy novelist's book?

John le Carré published the novel in 2001. After filming in Kenya, the cast and crew set up a trust to give village children a basic education, and Fiennes is a patron.

Which actress won an Oscar as Tessa, the murdered activist wife of Ralph Fiennes's character in The Constant Gardener?

Rachel Weisz won Best Supporting Actress as an Amnesty International campaigner looking into deadly drug trials. It was the film's only win from four Oscar nominations.

Ralph Fiennes voices the pompous hunter Victor Quartermaine in an Oscar-winning 2005 film starring which animated duo?

Wallace and Gromit's first feature won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, a first for a stop-motion film. Fiennes's cad is courting Lady Tottington for her fortune.

Ralph Fiennes plays Harry, the furious boss of hitmen played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, in which film?

In Bruges was Martin McDonagh's first feature, and its screenplay won him a BAFTA. Harry sends the pair to the Belgian city to sightsee and await his instructions.

Which actress won the Best Actress Oscar for The Reader, in which Ralph Fiennes plays the older Michael Berg?

Kate Winslet almost missed out: a scheduling clash made her leave the film, and a replacement was cast before the studio was able to bring her back.

In the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, Ralph Fiennes plays which Greek god opposite Liam Neeson's Zeus?

Hades reunited the two stars of a famous 1993 Holocaust drama as feuding divine brothers. Fiennes played the god again in the sequel, Wrath of the Titans.

Ralph Fiennes earned his third Oscar nomination for playing a British cardinal in which 2024 Vatican thriller?

Conclave follows the secretive election of a new pope, as Fiennes's dean of the College of Cardinals uncovers scandals among the favourites. It won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ralph Fiennes was cast as President Snow, a tyrant earlier played by Donald Sutherland, in a prequel to which series?

The Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the first film, when a 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy is picked to fight in the arena.

In Wes Anderson's short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Ralph Fiennes plays which real-life author?

Roald Dahl wrote the 1977 story that the film adapts. The short won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.

Ralph Fiennes directed The Invisible Woman and starred in it as which Victorian novelist in love with a young actress?

Charles Dickens kept up his affair with the actress Nelly Ternan for thirteen years, until his death in 1870. Felicity Jones plays Ternan in the film.

Ralph Fiennes made his directing debut with a modern-dress film of which Shakespeare tragedy, opposite Gerard Butler?

Coriolanus keeps Shakespeare's language but moves the Roman general's story into a modern political and military setting. It earned Fiennes a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut.

Ralph Fiennes directed The White Crow, a 2018 drama about the 1961 defection of which Soviet ballet star?

Rudolf Nureyev is played by the dancer Oleg Ivenko. Fiennes, who speaks some Russian, took the supporting part of the young star's teacher, the ballet master Alexander Pushkin.

Ralph Fiennes's Amon Göth lost the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to which actor, cast as a US marshal hunting a fugitive?

Tommy Lee Jones won for The Fugitive. Fiennes did collect the BAFTA for the role, and the AFI later ranked his commandant 15th among the top film villains.

In The Lego Batman Movie, Ralph Fiennes voices Alfred the butler, but which comedian voices Lord Voldemort?

Eddie Izzard took the part, even though the man who played Voldemort on the big screen was already in the cast. Sauron and King Kong also turn up among the film's villains.

Ralph Fiennes plays music producer Harry Hawkes in A Bigger Splash, a film named after a 1967 canvas by which artist?

David Hockney created it in California: a swimming pool disturbed by the splash of an unseen diver. The film is set on the Italian island of Pantelleria and loosely remakes the 1969 film La Piscine.

Which American actress played Tatiana opposite Ralph Fiennes in Onegin, the 1999 film directed by his sister Martha?

Liv Tyler won a Russian critics' prize for the part. The film was a family affair: Martha Fiennes directed, brother Magnus wrote the music and sister Sophie took a small role.