Mark Rylance English actor, theater director and playwright Date of Birth: 18.01.1960 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Mark Rylance

Mark Rylance is an English actor, theatre director, and playwright. He was born on January 18, 1960, in Ashford, Kent, to David Waters and Anne Skinner Waters, both English teachers. Rylance adopted the name Mark Rylance because the name Mark Waters was already registered with the actors' union. When he was two years old, his parents moved to Connecticut and then to Wisconsin in 1969, where his father taught English at the prestigious University School of Milwaukee. It was in this school that Rylance began his acting career, playing the role of Hamlet in a school production in 1976.

In the following year, Rylance portrayed Puck in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" during the first Shakespeare festival at his father's school. Already an experienced young actor, Rylance won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London from 1978 to 1980 under the renowned theatre educator Hugh Cruttwell. In 1980, he landed his first professional acting job at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre.

From 1982 to 1983, Rylance performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. In 1988, he played Hamlet in a notable production directed by Ron Daniels, which toured England and Ireland. He also alternated the role of Hamlet with Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Swan Theatre. Rylance spent two more years touring the United States with "Hamlet." In 1990, Rylance and Claire van Kampen, who later became his wife, founded their own theatre company called "Phoebus' Cart." Their first production was a unique interpretation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

In 1991, Rylance received critical acclaim for his leading role in Gillies MacKinnon's film "The Grass Arena" and was awarded the BBC Radio Times Award for Best Debut. His work in theatre also garnered prestigious awards such as the Olivier Award and Tony Award. Notably, his performance as Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Queen's Theatre earned him an Olivier Award. Rylance also won a BAFTA Award for his role as David Kelly in the television drama "The Government Inspector." In 2010, he received another Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Johnny Byron in the play "Jerusalem."

Rylance has also had notable roles in film and television, including Ferdinand in "Prospero's Books" (1991), Jay in "Intimacy" (2001), Jakob von Gunten in "Institute Benjamenta" (1995), and Thomas Boleyn in "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008). From 1995 to 2005, he served as the first artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe in London.