Matthew Macfadyen’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro British actor
A.K.A. David Matthew Macfadyen
Is Actor 
Stage actor 
Film actor 
From United Kingdom 
Type Film, TV, Stage & Radio 
Gender male
Birth 17 October 1974, Great Yarmouth
Age: 45 years
Star sign Libra
Family
Mother: Meinir Macfadyen
Father: Martin Macfadyen
Spouse: Keeley Hawes
Children: Maggie MacfadyenRalph Macfadyen
Stats
Height: 1.905 m

David Matthew Macfadyen (born 17 October 1974) is a BAFTA award-winning English actor, known for his roles as MI5 Intelligence Officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks, Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice and Daniel in the Frank Oz comedy Death at a Funeral. He is also known for portraying John Birt in the political drama Frost/Nixon, as well as Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in the BBC series Ripper Street. In 2015 he starred in the Sky Living series The Enfield Haunting as Guy Lyon Playfair.

Early life

Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil executive. His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh. Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father’s occupation. He attended schools in England (including in Louth, Lincolnshire), Scotland and Indonesia, and went to Oakham School in Rutland, before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 17.

Career

After having studied at the RADA from 1992 to 1995, Macfadyen became known in British theatre primarily for his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for whom he played Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. His Benedick was played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. In 2005, he played Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts One and Two at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the role of Falstaff. In 2007, he returned to the stage, portraying an American, Clay, a stay at home father with a liberal attitude in the play The Pain and the Itch.

A TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, screened on the ITV network in 1998. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas Warriors (1999) and The Way We Live Now (2001), both for the BBC. Also in 2001, he earned acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial Perfect Strangers, which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. In 2002, he starred in The Project, a BBC drama charting New Labour’s rise to power. He starred in Spooks, which became a success when screened on BBC One. A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in autumn 2004, with him leaving the series in the second episode. The series was aired as MI-5 on the A&E Network. In 2007 he appeared in the one-off Channel 4 drama Secret Life, which dealt with the controversial subject of paedophilia. Matthew won the ‘Best Actor’ award at the Royal Television Society 2007 Awards for this part, and was nominated for a BAFTA. He also appeared in a short sketch for Comic Relief as the bridegroom in Mr. Bean’s Wedding, alongside Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Ryan.

Macfadyen appeared in films including Enigma (released in 2001), and In My Father’s Den, for which he received the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Actor. He stars as the romantic lead Fitzwilliam Darcy in an acclaimed adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, released in the UK in September 2005.

Macfadyen starred in Frank Oz’s “Death at a Funeral” and the film Incendiary, based on Chris Cleave’s novel alongside Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. He has also appeared in Ron Howard’s film Frost/Nixon, in which he played John Birt. In 2008, he played the male lead Arthur Clennam in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. In 2009 Macfadyen appeared alongside Academy Award nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter in the BBC Four movie Enid, based on the life of Enid Blyton, as Hugh Pollock, Blyton’s publisher and first husband.

In 2010, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood. He starred as Prior Philip in the TV serial The Pillars of the Earth, and was the middle-aged Logan Mountstuart in Any Human Heart. In June 2010, Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Criminal Justice.

In 2011, Macfadyen made a final cameo in the BBC show Spooks, and in 2012, he played Oblonsky in Joe Wright’s film, Anna Karenina. In December 2012 he began portraying Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in BBC One’s Ripper Street.

In 2013-14 he played Jeeves in the award-winning production of Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York’s theatre in the West End of London. The play won the 2014 Olivier award for Best New Comedy.

In 2015 Amazon Prime picked up Ripper Street and after good reviews, it has been recommissioned for a fourth and fifth seasons, starring Matthew Macfadyen, who said he was “delighted to be embarking on another dose of Ripper Street – blood and guts, pocket watches and Victorian headgear, wonderfully dark, moving and mysterious story lines from Mr Richard Wardlow.” The series also airs in the U.S. on BBC America.

Personal life

In 2002, he began a relationship with his then-married Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes. They were married in November 2004. The couple have two children, daughter Maggie (b. December 2004) and son Ralph (b. September 2006). Macfadyen is stepfather to Hawes’s son, Myles, from her previous marriage. The couple are both patrons of the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.

Theatre

  • 1994 : The Crimson Island, by Mikhail Bulgakov [ RADA ] (Dymogatsky)
  • 1994 : Lorca’s Death, by Ben Benison [ RADA ] (Rafael/Intellect)
  • 1994 : The Feigned Inconstancy, by Marivaux [ RADA ] (Chevalier)
  • 1994 : The Beggar’s Opera, by John Gay [ RADA ] (Macheath)
  • 1995 : One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Dale Wasserman [ RADA ] (Chief Bromden)
  • 1995 : The Libertine, by Stephen Jeffreys [ RADA ] (John Wilmot), with My Funny Valentine
  • 1995 : The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster [ Cheek by Jowl ] (Antonio Bologna)
  • 1996 : A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by Shakespeare [ Royal Shakespeare Company ] (Demetrius)
  • 1998 : Much Ado About Nothing, by Shakespeare [ Cheek by Jowl ] (Benedick)
  • 1998 : The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan [ Royal Shakespeare Company ] (Charles Surface)
  • 1999 : Battle Royal, by Nick Stafford [ Royal National Theatre ] (Mr. Brougham)
  • 2005 : Henry IV, by Shakespeare [ Royal National Theatre ] (Prince Hal)
  • 2006 : Total Eclipse, by Christopher Hampton [ rehearsed reading at the Royal Court Theatre ] (Paul Verlaine)
  • 2007 : The Pain and the Itch, by Bruce Norris [ Royal Court Theatre ] (Clay)
  • 2010 : Private Lives, by Noël Coward [ Vaudeville Theatre ] (opposite Kim Cattrall)
  • 2013 : Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, by David and Robert Goodale, Duke of York’s (as Jeeves opposite Stephen Mangan’s Wooster)
  • “Au théâtre : The Crimson Island”. 
  • “Au théâtre : Lorca’s Death”. 
  • “Au théâtre : The Feigned Inconstancy”. 
  • “Au théâtre : The Beggar’s Opera”. 
  • “Au théâtre : One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”. 
  • Cheek by Jowl
  • RSC’s official archives
  • Cheek by Jowl
  • RSC’s official archives
  • “National Theatre”. 
  • “National Theatre”. 
  • “London Theatre Tickets, Theatre News and Reviews – WhatsOnStage”. whatsonstage. 
  • “The Pain and the Itch at The Royal Court Theatre”. 
  • “Vaudeville Theatre”. London Theatreland. 

Filmography

Television

  • 1997 : Holding the Baby, by Paul Jackson (Marcus)
  • 1998 : Wuthering Heights, by David Skynner (Hareton Earnshaw)
  • 1999 : Warriors, by Peter Kosminsky (Alan James)
  • 2000 : Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, by Paul Seed (Brian Waller)
  • 2001 : Perfect Strangers, by Stephen Poliakoff (Daniel Symon)
  • 2001 : The Way We Live Now, by David Yates (Sir Felix Carbury)
  • 2002 : The Project, by Peter Kosminsky (Paul Tibbenham)
  • 2002–2004: Spooks (Tom Quinn)
  • 2007 : Mr. Bean’s Wedding (Daniel, the groom) sketch for the show The Big One for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day on 16 March 2007,
  • 2007 : Secret Life, by Rowan Joffe (Charlie Webb)
  • 2008 : Ashes to Ashes, by Bille Eltringham (Gil Hollis)
  • 2008 : Little Dorrit, by Adam Smith & Dearbhla Walsh (Arthur Clennam)
  • 2008 : Agatha Christie’s Marple A Pocket Full of Rye, by Charles Palmer (Inspector Neele)
  • 2009 : Enid, by James Hawes (Hugh Pollock)
  • 2009 : Criminal Justice II, by Yann Demange (Joe Miller)
  • 2010 : The Pillars of the Earth, by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Prior Philip)
  • 2010 : Any Human Heart, by William Boyd (Logan Mountstuart)
  • 2011 : Spooks, a one off appearance in the series finale.
  • 2012–2016 : Ripper Street by Richard Warlow (Detective Inspector Edmund Reid).
  • 2013 : Ambassadors as Prince of Darkness
  • 2015 : The Enfield Haunting (Guy Playfair).
  • 2015 : The Last Kingdom (Uhtred Uhtredsson, Lord of Bebbenburg)
  • 2016 : Churchill’s Secret (Randolph Churchill).

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Maybe Baby Nigel
2001 Enigma Lt. Cave
2003 The Reckoning King’s Justice
2004 In My Father’s Den Paul Prior Nominated – BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film
2005 Pride & Prejudice Fitzwilliam Darcy Nominated – London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Newcomer of the Year
2006 Middletown Gabriel Hunter
2007 Grindhouse Eye Gouging Victim Segment: Don’t
2007 Death at a Funeral Daniel Howells
2008 Incendiary Terence Butcher
2008 Frost/Nixon John Birt Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 Robin Hood Sheriff of Nottingham
2011 The Three Musketeers Athos
2012 Anna Karenina Oblonsky
2014 Lost in Karastan Emil Forester
2017 The Current War Filming

Voice work

  • 2000 : The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin [ Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
  • 2001 : Trampoline, by Meredith Oakes [ Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 ] (Skeggs)
  • 2003 : Essential Poems (To Fall In Love With) [ TV programme on BBC Two ] (actor/reader)
  • 2004 : The Coma, by Alex Garland [ audio book ] (reader)
  • 2004 : Getting Away From It: The Island, by Tim Pears [ Afternoon Reading on BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
  • 2004 : The Hungerford Massacre [ TV documentary on BBC One ] (narrator)
  • 2005 : Stories We Could Tell, by Tony Parsons [ audio book ] (reader)
  • 2006 : The 9/11 Liars [ TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
  • 2006 : Nuremberg: Nazis On Trial [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC Two ] (narrator)
  • 2007 : Robin Hood’s Quest & The Quest for Aladdin’s Treasure [ video games by Oxygen Games ] (narrator)
  • 2007 : The Making of Music [ BBC Radio 4 ] (reader)
  • 2007 : The Blair Years [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC One ] (narrator)
  • 2007 : Last Party at the Palace [ TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
  • 2008 : Dangerous Jobs for Girls [ 4-part TV documentary on Channel 4 ] (narrator)
  • 2008 : Words of War [ TV documentary on ITV1 ] (narrator)
  • 2009 : Wine [ 3-part TV documentary on BBC Four ] (narrator)
  • 2009 : Inside MI5 [ TV documentary on ITV1 ] (narrator)
  • 2011: M&S food adverts
  • 2011: Bupa healthcare adverts
  • 2014: Horse Power Documentary on Scuderia Ferrari / Shell Motorsport on Sky Atlantic (narrator)
  • 2015: “The Enfield Haunting” a three part dramatisation of the terrifying and bizarre real events that took place at an ordinary house in Enfield during the autumn of 1977. Sky Living
  • TV.com. “Holding the Baby”. TV.com. CBS Interactive. 
  • “Masterpiece Theatre: Wuthering Heights”. 
  • Warriors, l’impossible mission sur Arte
  • “Home”. Masterpiece – PBS. 
  • “Perfect Strangers – by Stephen Poliakoff, starring Michael Gambon,Lindsay Duncan and Matthew MacFadyen”. 
  • “Masterpiece Theatre – The Way We Live Now”. 
  • “BBC – Drama – The Project”. 
  • “projectreview”. 
  • “BBC – Spooks – Matthew Macfadyen Actor Info”. 
  • BBC One – Comic Relief – Mr. Bean’s Wedding. 22 March 2007 – via YouTube. 
  • Secret Life on Channel 4
  • “BBC – Error 404 : Not Found”. 
  • “BBC – Press Office – Little Dorrit, a Dickensian drama for BBC One”. 
  • Miss Marple on ITV
  • Khan, Urmee. Helena Bonham Carter to play Enid Blyton in new BBC biopic, The Telegraph, March 7, 2009. Accessed September 15, 2013.
  • “BBC – Press Office – Criminal Justice returns to BBC One and stars Maxine Peake as a woman in desperate trouble”. 
  • “Tandem Communications Press release”. 
  • “Channel 4 Sales News , Star studded cast start filming epic TV adaptation Any Human Heart”. Channel4.com. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2011. 
  • “Matthew Macfadyen and Jerome Flynn get to work on the set of bloody new series Ripper Street… as 19th century London is recreated in Dublin”. The Daily Mail. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012. 
  • “Ripper Street will return for two new seasons”. Telegraph.co.uk. 13 May 2015. 
  • “Watch – Sky.com”. Sky. 
  • RadioListings Database
  • RadioListings Database
  • “BBC – Press Office – BBC TWO Essential Poems (To Fall in Love With)”. 
  • “Login”. 
  • RadioListings Database
  • “BBC NEWS – UK – Magazine – How a gun massacre changed Britain”. 
  • “Audiobook is not available – Audible.com”. 
  • 9/11 The Five Year Anniversary on Channel 4
  • “BBC – History – World Wars: Nuremberg: Nazis On Trial”. 
  • High Score Productions
  • “BBC – Radio 4 The making of music – Homepage”. 
  • “BBC – Press Office – The Blair Years part three: Blair in Power”. 
  • Last Party at the Palace on Channel 4
  • Dangerous Jobs for Girls on Channel 4
  • The Words of War on ITV
  • “Wine News”. Decanter. 
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