Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London on February 21 1946, and is of Irish and Welsh parentage. After attending the Royal College of Art he made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. At the age of 26 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. Alan is the second of four children in his family. He has an older brother, a younger brother and a younger sister. When he was a child, he had a speech disability: his lower jaw was very tight, causing his words to be indistinctive and muffled. He has been in a relationship with economics lecturer Rima Horton since the 1960s but the two don't live together, as she has to stay in the district she represents in order to retain her Council seat. Alan lives in another part of the city.Alan 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.During the two years 1985/1986 Alan worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and London. His two Shakespeare productions were As You Like Itas Jaques alongside Juliet Stevenson and Fiona Shaw; and Troilus and Cressida as Achilles again with Juliet Stevenson and Anton Lesser. 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 travelled across the Atlantic in 1986, Alan went with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony nomination for his performance. During his stint on Broadway he was approached by Joel Silver and offered the role of Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard film (1988). Since then, Alan has appeared in a great number of films including The January Man (1989); Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) as the Sherrif of Nottingham; Closet Land (1991); Close My Eyes (1991); Quigley Down Under (1991); Truly Madly Deeplywith Juliet Stevenson (1992); Bob Roberts (1992); Mesmer (1994); An Awfully Big Adventure (1995); Sense and Sensibility (1995) as Colonel Brandon; and in Michael Collins as Eamon De Valera alongside Liam Neeson (1996).Alan made his directorial debut in 1997 in a screen adaptation of a play he has previously directed, The Winter Guest, by Sharman McDonald. The film stars Emma Thompson and her real-life mother Phyllida Law. Since then, in 1998, he has appeared as Detective David Friedman in Judas Kiss also with Emma Thompson; Dark Harboras David Weinberg (1999); Dogma as Metatron with Ben Afflick and Matt Damon (1999); and Galaxy Quest as Sir Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver (1999). This was followed in 2001 by the film Blow Dry in which he played Phil, alongside Natasha Richardson and Warren Clarke. In the same year Alan appeared in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as Professor Severus Snape with Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Fiona Shaw; and in The Search for John Gissing in which he plays John Gissing. He is to return to his role as Professor Severus Snape when he appears in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. Alan has been busy on stage, in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End; the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet alongside Julia Ford, David Burke and Geraldine McEwan, directed by Robert Sturua (1992); and even directing The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre.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.His many television appearances include Romeo and Juliet (1978); Smiley's People (1982); The Barchester Chronicles(1984); Spirit of Man(1989); Revolutionary Witness (1989); Fallen Angels (1993); and Rasputin (1996). He has also made guest appearances in Girls on Top in 1985. In 2000 Alan appeared on television in an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Play, directed by Anthony Minghella. This was part of the Channel 4 season of Samuel Beckett films and also starred Kristin Scott Thomas and Juliet Stevenson. In the play only the heads of the actors are visible as they sit in funerary urns. Both Juliet and Kristin had to have their urns specially adapted because they were both pregnant at the time of filming.In October 1998 Alan played Antony to Helen Mirren's Cleopatra in Trevor Nunn's Antony Cleopatra at the National Theatre. You can read my opinion of Antony & Cleopatra and see more pictures from the play. Click on the picture on the right for more.Alan returned to British television screens on Christmas Day 2000 when he appeared alongside many other stars, including Robert Lindsay, Michael Gambon, Michael Parkinson, Richard E. Grant, and Derek Jacobi in Victoria Wood's Christmas Special, Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings.In September 2001 Alan returned to the West End stage when he starred alongside Lindsay Duncan in a new production of Noel Coward's Private Lives at the Albery Theatre, for which he received a nomination in the 2002 Oscars in the category of Best Actor. Unfortunately the award went to Roger Allam for his performance in Privates on Parade.Alan has recently appeared in a short drama called Standing Room Only in which he stars alongside Michael Gambon and Hugh Jackman. His will shortly start filming the romantic comedy Love Actually written and directed by Richard Curtins. The film also stars Liam Neeson, Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. In 2004 he appeared in on US television in Something The Lord Made, in which he plays Alfred Blalock. This was a dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas and also starred Mos Def as Vivien Thomas.Alan's films for 2004 are Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. 2006The Goblet of Fire.  Alan's new films are Snow Cake.2007 Harry Potter 5.