Ralph Fiennes

One of Britain’s most versatile and magnetic, over the course of his career Ralph Fiennes has excelled in everything from broad comedy to the bleakest of dramas.

An graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his name interpreting Shakespeare on the London stage before graduating to Hollywood in the mid 90s. He earned his first Oscar nomination as the monstrous Nazi commandant Amon Göth in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, only his third appearance in a feature film. The film won seven Oscars in total, but Fiennes lost Best Supporting Actor to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive.

Two years later he was nominated in the Leading Actor category for his role as Count László de Almássy in Anthony Minghella’s epic romance The English Patient. That film won nine Oscars, but again Fiennes was pipped at the post, this time by Geoffrey Rush in Shine.

Remarkably, that remains the final Oscar nomination to date for Ralph Fiennes, although the quality of his work continued to go from strength to strength. He was probably close to nominations in 1999 for The End of the Affair, for which his co-star Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Actress, and in 2014 many were scratching their heads when he was surprisingly left out after his brilliant performance in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

In 2005 he made his first appearance in the role that he may ultimately be best remembered for – Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise. He joined another iconic franchise in 2012 when he replaced Dame Judi Dench as M in the James Bond movies Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die.

In 2024 he starred in the acclaimed Edward Berger drama Conclave as a morally compromised Cardinal. The role finally broke his streak of near misses in 2025, netting Fiennes his third Oscar nomination.