Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is an English actor of stage and screen. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His breakout performance was as the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Rickman is known for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Sheriff Of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1991, Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, Éamon de Valera in Michael Collins, and Metatron in Dogma.

Rickman has also had a number other notable film roles such as Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply, P.L. O'Hara in An Awfully Big Adventure and Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee's 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. More recently, he played Judge Turpin in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In 1995, he was awarded the Golden Globe, Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Rasputin in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. He has been named one of the best actors to have never received an Academy Award nomination in 2010.

As of 2012, Rickman has won a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Rickman was born in South Hammersmith, London, to a working class family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker.^[1] Rickman's mother was from Wales and a Methodist, and his father was of Irish Catholic background.^[2] He has one elder brother, David (b. 1944), a graphic designer, a younger brother, Michael (b. 1947), a tennis coach, and a younger sister, Sheila (b. 1949).^[2][3] Rickman attended Derwentwater Primary School, in Acton, a school that followed the Montessori method of education.^[4]

When he was eight, his father died, leaving his mother to bring up four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life," Rickman later said.^[2] Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After leaving Latymer, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and then the Royal College of Art. This education allowed him to work as a graphic designer for the radical newspaper the Notting Hill Herald,^[5] which he considered a more stable occupation than acting. "Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at 18," he said.

After graduation, Rickman and several friends opened a graphic design studio called Graphiti, but after three years of successful business, he decided that if he were to ever explore acting professionally, it was now or never. This led him to write a letter to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) requesting an audition^[6] and was awarded a place in RADA which he attended from 1972–74. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself by working as a dresser for Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson,^[7] and left after winning several prizes, including the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

Personal life

In 1965, at the age of 19, Rickman met his girlfriend Rima Horton, a Labour party councillor on Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council 1986–2006.^[41][42][43] They began living together in 1977.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Romeo and Juliet	Tybalt	BBC Television Shakespeare
1980	Thérèse Raquin	Vidal	BBC Miniseries
	Shelley	Clive	Episode No. 1.7
1982	Busted	Simon	BBC TV film
	Smiley's People	Mr. Brownlow	Episode No. 1.2
	The Barchester Chronicles	The Rev. Obadiah Slope	BBC Miniseries
1985	Return of the Native	Narrator	British Audiobook Publishing Association's "Talkie Award" for Best Unabridged Classic Recording
	Summer Season	Croop	BBC TV Series
	Girls On Top	Dimitri / Voice of RADA	CIT TV Series
1988	Die Hard	Hans Gruber
1989	Revolutionary Witness	Jacques Roux	BBC TV Short
	The January Man	Ed, the painter
	Screenplay	Israel Yates	BBC TV Series
1990	Quigley Down Under	Elliot Marston	London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actor of the Year
1991	Truly, Madly, Deeply	Jamie	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actor of the Year Seattle International Film Festival: Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Sheriff of Nottingham	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actor of the Year Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Close My Eyes	Sinclair Bryant	Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actor of the Year Seattle International Film Festival: Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor
	Closet Land	The Interrogator
1992	Bob Roberts	Lukas Hart III
1993	Fallen Angels	Dwight Billings	Propaganda Films TV Series
1994	Mesmer	Franz Anton Mesmer	Montreal World Film Festival for Best Actor
1995	An Awfully Big Adventure	P.L. O'Hara
	Sense and Sensibility	Colonel Brandon	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1996	Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny	Grigori Rasputin	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
	Michael Collins	Éamon de Valera	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	Castle Ghosts of Ireland	Tyde	Documentary
1997	The Winter Guest	Man in street (uncredited)	Also director and co-writer Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival: Audience Award Chicago International Film Festival: Gold Hugo Award for Best Film Venice Film Festival: 'CinemAvvenire' Award and OCIC Award Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Director Nominated — Czech Lion Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nominated — Golden Lion Award
1998	Judas Kiss	Detective David Friedman
	Dark Harbor	David Weinberg
1999	Dogma	The Metatron	Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
	Galaxy Quest	Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2000	Help! I'm a Fish	Joe	Voice
2001	Play	Man
	Blow Dry	Phil Allen
	Land of the Mammoth	Cro Magnon hunter	Documentary
	The Search for John Gissing	John Gissing
	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Severus Snape	Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Severus Snape	Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
	King of the Hill	King Philip	Voice
2003	Love Actually	Harry	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2004	Something the Lord Made	Dr. Alfred Blalock	Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Severus Snape
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Marvin the Paranoid Android	Voice
2006	Perfume: The Story of a Murderer	Antoine Richis
	Snow Cake	Alex Hughes
2007	Nobel Son	Eli Michaelson
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Severus Snape
	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	Judge Turpin	Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008	Bottle Shock	Steven Spurrier	Seattle International Film Festival: Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Severus Snape	Scream Award for Best Ensemble[44]
2010	Alice in Wonderland	Absolem the Caterpillar	Voice
	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1	Severus Snape
	The Wildest Dream	Noel Odell	National Geographic documentary Voice
	The Song of Lunch	Himself	BBC Drama Production[45]
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	Severus Snape	MTV World Cup Award for Favorite Harry Potter Character Portrayal[46] People's Choice Award for Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated — Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role[29] Nominated — IGN Movie Award for Best Ensemble Cast[47] Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor[27] Nominated — Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor[26] Nominated — Scream Award for Best Ensemble Nominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor[28] Nominated — Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics' Association Award for Best Cast
	The Boy in the Bubble	Narrator	Animated short film
2012	Gambit	Lord Shahbandar
2013	CBGB	Hilly Kristal	post-production
	The Butler	Ronald Reagan	filming
	A Promise