Mark Rylance | |
|---|---|
 Rylance promotingThe BFG at the2016 Cannes Film Festival | |
| Born | David Mark Rylance Waters (1960-01-18)18 January 1960 (age 65) Ashford, Kent, England |
| Education | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Susannah Waters (sister) Juliet Rylance (stepdaughter) |
| Awards | Full list |
Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (/raɪləns/; born 18 January 1960) is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. Known for his work onstage and screen, he has receivednumerous awards including anAcademy Award, threeBAFTA Awards, twoOlivier Awards and threeTony Awards. In 2016 he was included in theTime 100 list of the world's most influential people. In 2017 he was made aknight byQueen Elizabeth II.
Between 1995 and 2005 Rylance was the first artistic director ofShakespeare's Globe in London. He appeared in theWest End productions ofMuch Ado About Nothing in 1994 andJerusalem in 2010, winning theOlivier Award for Best Actor for both. He has also appeared onBroadway, winning threeTony Awards: two for Best Actor forBoeing Boeing in 2008 andJerusalem in 2011, and one for Best Featured Actor forTwelfth Night in 2014. He was Tony-nominated for his roles inRichard III in 2014 andFarinelli and the King in 2017.
Rylance's film roles includeProspero's Books (1991),Intimacy (2001),The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) andSteven Spielberg'sBridge of Spies (2015), for which he won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently collaborated with Spielberg acting inThe BFG (2016) andReady Player One (2018). He also appeared inDunkirk (2017),The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020),Bones and All (2022) andThe Outfit (2022).
On television, Rylance won theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role asDavid Kelly in the 2005Channel 4 dramaThe Government Inspector and for playingThomas Cromwell in the 2015BBC Two mini-seriesWolf Hall; for the latter role, he also receivedEmmy Award andGolden Globe Award nominations. Rylance is a patron of theLondon International Festival of Theatre; of the London-based charityPeace Direct, which supports peace-builders in areas of conflict; and of theStop the War Coalition.
Rylance was born as David Mark Waters on 18 January 1960 inAshford, Kent,[1] to Anne (née Skinner) and David Waters, both teachers of English. One of his grandmothers was Irish.[2] Both of his grandfathers were BritishPOWs of the Japanese in the Second World War.[3] His maternal grandfather, Osmond Skinner, spent decades as a banker with theHong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC). After being shot in the stomach during theBattle of Hong Kong, Skinner was recuperating when he witnessed theSt. Stephen's College massacre.[4]
Rylance's parents moved to the US in 1962; first toConnecticut, then toWisconsin in 1969, where his father and mother taught English at theUniversity School of Milwaukee, which Rylance attended until his graduation in 1978,[5] when he returned to England. Rylance has a sister namedSusannah, an opera singer and author, and a deceased brother, Jonathan, who was asommelier atChez Panisse.[6]
When in Milwaukee, acting mentor Dale Gutzman cast Rylance in a variety of roles before he relocated to London to train at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1978 to 1980.[1][7] Due to his time in Wisconsin Rylance had developed an American accent, claiming, "when I arrived in London at RADA, I was treated as the American".[8] He took thestage name of Mark Rylance because his given name, Mark Waters, was already taken by someone else registered withEquity.[citation needed]
In 1980 Rylance gained his professional acting debut in theShaun Lawton playDesperado Corner at theGlasgow Citizens' Theatre[9] inGlasgow, Scotland, where he acted in a variety of plays as well as organising his ownexperimental theatre group.[1]
In 1982 and 1983 he performed in numerous productions at theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC) inStratford-upon-Avon and London. During this time he acted in productions ofThe Taming of the Shrew,The Tempest andA Midsummer Night's Dream.[10] He received his firstLaurence Olivier Award nomination in theBest Supporting Actor in a Play category for his portrayal of Michael inArden of Faversham at the1983 Laurence Olivier Awards. In 1988 Rylance playedHamlet with the RSC inRon Daniels' production that toured Ireland and Britain for a year. The play then ran inStratford-upon-Avon.Hamlet toured the US for two years. In 1990 Rylance andClaire van Kampen (later his wife) founded "Phoebus' Cart", their own theatre company. The following year, the company stagedThe Tempest on the road.[citation needed]
In 1995 Rylance became the first artistic director ofShakespeare's Globe Theatre, a post he held until 2005. Rylance directed and acted in every season, in works by Shakespeare and others, including an all-male production ofTwelfth Night, in which he played Olivia, andRichard III in the title role.[citation needed] Under his directorate, new plays were also performed at the Globe, the first beingAugustine's Oak (referring toAugustine of Canterbury and Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England) byPeter Oswald, the writer-in-residence, which was performed in 1999. A second play by Oswald followed in 2002:The Golden Ass or the Curious Man.[citation needed]
Rylance played the lead inGillies MacKinnon's filmThe Grass Arena (1991), and won theRadio Times Award for Best Newcomer. In 1993 he starred inMatthew Warchus' production ofMuch Ado About Nothing at theQueen's Theatre, produced byThelma Holt. His Benedick won him anOlivier Award for Best Actor.[citation needed]
For his role as Jay inIntimacy (2001), directed by Patrice Chéreau, he received real, rather than simulated,fellatio.[11][12] He took the leading role as British weapons expertDavid Kelly inPeter Kosminsky'sThe Government Inspector (2005), an award-winningChannel 4 production for which he won theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2005. That same year, Oswald's third play written for the Globe was first performed:The Storm, an adaptation ofPlautus's comedyRudens (The Rope) – "argu[ably]" one of the sources of Shakespeare'sThe Tempest.[13][14] Other historical first nights were organised by Rylance while director of the Globe includingTwelfth Night performed in 2002 atMiddle Temple, to commemorate its first performance there exactly 400 years before, andMeasure for Measure atHampton Court in summer 2004. In 2007 he received aSam Wanamaker Award together with his wifeClaire van Kampen, Director of Music, andJenny Tiramani, Director ofCostume Design, for the founding work during the opening ten years at Shakespeare's Globe.[citation needed]
In 2007 Rylance wrote (co-conceived by John Dove) and starred inThe BIG Secret Live 'I am Shakespeare' Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show (A comedy of Shakespearean identity crisis), which toured England in 2007. On 8 September 2007Derek Jacobi and Rylance unveiled aDeclaration of Reasonable Doubt on the authorship ofWilliam Shakespeare's work, after the finalmatinée performance ofThe Big Secret Live "I am Shakespeare" Webcam Daytime Chat-Room Show inChichester. The actual author of Shakespeare's plays is variously proposed to beChristopher Marlowe;Francis Bacon;Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford; orMary Sidney (Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke). The declaration named 20 prominent doubters of the past, includingMark Twain,John Gielgud,Charlie Chaplin and actorLeslie Howard (later withdrawn from the list), and was made by the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition duly signed online by 300 people to begin new research. Jacobi and Rylance presented a copy of the document to William Leahy, head of English atBrunel University London.
In 2016 the writerBen Elton delivered a riposte to this "batty" premise in the episode "If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed" of his television comedyUpstart Crow.[15] The great but "self-regarding and pretentious" actor Wolf Hall (played byBen Miller) joinsBurbage's acting company to playShylock. The character Wolf Hall confronts Shakespeare (played byDavid Mitchell) with the suggestion that he didn't write his own plays; it is a satirical portrait of Rylance and his opinion.[16][17][18]
In 2007 Rylance performed inBoeing-Boeing in London. In 2008 he reprised the role on Broadway and wonDrama Desk andTony Awards for his performance.[citation needed] In 2009 Rylance won theCritics' Circle Theatre Award Best Actor, 2009 for his role of Johnny Byron inJez Butterworth's playJerusalem at theRoyal Court Theatre in London.[citation needed]
In 2010 Rylance starred in a revival ofDavid Hirson's verse playLa Bête. The play ran first at London'sComedy Theatre before transferring to theMusic Box Theatre on Broadway, on 23 September 2010.[citation needed] Also in 2010 he won anotherOlivier award for best actor in the role of Johnny Byron inJerusalem at theApollo Theatre in London. In 2011 he won his second Tony Award for playing the same role in the Broadway production.[citation needed] In 2013 Shakespeare's Globe brought two all-male productions to Broadway, starring Rylance as Olivia inTwelfth Night and in the title role inRichard III, for a limited run in repertory. He won his thirdTony Award for his performance as Olivia and was nominated for his performance asRichard III.[citation needed]
He playedThomas Cromwell inWolf Hall (2015),BBC Two's adaptation ofHilary Mantel's historical novelsWolf Hall andBring Up the Bodies.[19] For his performance, he was nominated for numerous accolades including thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and theScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. Rylance was featured as the castaway on theBBC radio programmeDesert Island Discs on 15 February 2015.[20]
Rylance co-starred in the biographical dramaBridge of Spies, released in October 2015, directed bySteven Spielberg and starringTom Hanks,Amy Ryan, andAlan Alda. The film is about the1960 U-2 Incident and the arrest and conviction ofSoviet spyRudolf Abel and the exchange of Abel for U-2 pilotGary Powers. Rylance, who had previously turned down a role offered by Spielberg in the 1987 filmEmpire of the Sun,[21] plays Abel and has received unanimous universal acclaim for his performance, with many critics claiming it as the best performance of 2015. TheSt. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted, "As the deeply principled Donovan, Hanks deftly balances earnestness and humour. And Rylance's spirited performance is almost certain to yield an Oscar nomination."[22] David Edelstein fromNew York cited 'It's Rylance who keepsBridge of Spies standing. He gives a teeny, witty, fabulously non-emotive performance, every line musical and slightly ironic – the irony being his forthright refusal to deceive in a world founded on lies."[23] Rylance won theAcademy Award,BAFTA Award, andNew York Film Critics Circle Award in the Best Supporting Actor categories, as well as receivingGolden Globe Award andScreen Actors Guild Award nominations, among other wins and nominations.
Rylance played the title role in Spielberg'sThe BFG, a film adaptation of thechildren's book byRoald Dahl. Filming took place in 2015, and the film was released in July 2016.[24] In 2016 Rylance co-wrote and starred in the new comedy playNice Fish atSt. Ann's Warehouse, New York. The production subsequently transferred to theHarold Pinter Theatre in London's West End.[25][26] Rylance had a major role inChristopher Nolan's 2017 action-thrillerDunkirk, based on the Britishmilitary evacuation of the French city of Dunkirk in 1940 during theSecond World War.[27] The film co-starredTom Hardy,Kenneth Branagh,Cillian Murphy andHarry Styles.[28] In 2018 Rylance made his third collaboration with Spielberg acting playing James Halliday in the science-fiction epic filmReady Player One. That same year Rylance starred inFarinelli and the King on the Broadway stage earning aTony Award for Best Actor in a Play, his fifth careerTony Award nomination.[29] Later that year 2018, he appeared inWaiting for the Barbarians, alongsideJohnny Depp andRobert Pattinson.[30] In June 2019, he resigned from the Royal Shakespeare Company due to its sponsorship deal withBP. He last appeared on stage for the RSC in 1989.[31]
On 8 September 2019 Rylance revealed toAlloCiné that he was cast to playSatan in the American filmmakerTerrence Malick's upcoming filmThe Last Planet (since renamedThe Way of the Wind).[32] In 2020 Rylance appeared inAaron Sorkin's legal dramaThe Trial of the Chicago 7 which premiered onNetflix. He portrayedWilliam Kunstler, defence counsel, co-founder of theCenter for Constitutional Rights, board member of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, and active member of theNational Lawyers Guild. The film received near universal praise and was nominated for sixAcademy Awards.[citation needed]
In the 2021 American political satire and science fiction filmDon't Look Up, directed byAdam McKay, Rylance portrayed Peter Isherwell, a fictional eccentric billionaire CEO of tech company BASH and top supporter of President Janie Orlean.[33] Delayed by theCOVID-19 pandemic,Dr Semmelweis, a new play, based on the life ofIgnaz Semmelweis, written byStephen Brown and Rylance completed an extended run at theBristol Old Vic in January and February 2022.[34] Rylance played the lead role of Dr Semmelweis throughout the run in Bristol.[35][36] In 2022 Rylance appeared inThe Outfit,[37] an American crime drama thriller film directed byGraham Moore (his directorial debut), as an English tailor, or, as he prefers to be called, a "cutter", in Chicago whose main clients are a family of gangsters.[38] In the same year, he appeared in theLuca Guadagnino-directed horror filmBones & All, which premiered at the79th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2022,[39] andInland, a British drama directed by Fridtjof Ryder in his directorial debut.[40] In 2023 Rylance once again took the lead role inDr Semmelweis as it transferred to theHarold Pinter Theatre in London's West End.[41][42] For BBC television he concluded his earlier portrayal of Cromwell by taking the leading role inWolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024), the drama series adaptation ofthe final novel in Hilary Mantel's Tudor trilogy.[43] In 2024 he also starred oppositeJ. Smith-Cameron in the West End revival ofJuno and the Paycock at theGielgud Theatre.[44]
In 1989 Rylance married the composer and playwrightClaire van Kampen, whom he met in 1987 while working on a production ofThe Wandering Jew at theNational Theatre. They were married inOxfordshire.[45] Through this marriage, he became a stepfather to her two daughters from a previous marriage, actressJuliet Rylance and filmmaker Nataasha van Kampen. Nataasha died in July 2012 at the age of 28, following which Rylance withdrew from his planned participation in the2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London and was replaced byKenneth Branagh.[46][47] Claire van Kampen died from cancer in 2025.[48]
Rylance's brother, Jonathan Waters, died in May 2022 following a collision with a vehicle while cycling.[49]
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Rylance became a patron of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) in 2013. He said about the festival: "I feel LIFT has done more to influence the growth and adventure of English theatre than any other organisation we have."[50] Rylance became patron of the London Bubble Speech Bubbles project in 2015. "I found a voice through making theatre and am proud to be the patron of Speech Bubbles, which helps hundreds of children to do the same."[51]
Rylance has been a supporter of the indigenous rights organisationSurvival International for many years.[52] He is the creator and director of "We Are One", a fundraiser that took place at theApollo Theatre in April 2010. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the world's leading actors and musicians. Rylance is a patron of the London-based charityPeace Direct which supports grassroots peacebuilders in areas of conflict, and of the BritishStop the War Coalition.[53] He is a member of thePeace Pledge Union, a network of pacifists in the UK. He performed the life and words of Henri, a man living in war-torn eastern Congo, during a presentation in New York City in 2011. He is also patron of The Outside Edge Theatre Company.[54] It works from the perspective of creating theatre and drama with people affected by substance abuse. It provides theatre interventions in drug and alcohol treatment and general community facilities throughout Britain, as well as producing professional public theatre productions that take place in theatres, studio theatres, and art centres.
Rylance has long been an enthusiastic supporter ofConscience: Taxes for Peace not War, which works to change British tax law to allowconscientious objectors the right to redirect that portion of their taxes which would usually go to the military into non-violent methods of conflict resolution.[55] In November 2019, along with other public figures, Rylance signed a letter supportingLabour Party leaderJeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism,xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the2019 UK general election.[56] In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 United Kingdom general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[57][58]
In 2020 he cut ties with theRoyal Shakespeare Company due to its sponsorship byBP stating, "I came to the incontrovertible conclusion that BP is neither sincere nor serious in addressing the climate crisis."[59] He has supported makingecocide a crime at theInternational Criminal Court, saying, "I believe that ecocide law is very much needed and inevitably on its way. It will be an important step towards a deep connection with Nature. It will provide the moral impetus to change 'business as usual' and lead us towards a true humble love for our home, the Earth."[60]
Rylance has expressed much interest incrop circles[61] and bonded withKing Charles III over them.[62] He rejects criticism of his views:
But I've met Prince Charles a number of times now – because he's a great lover of Shakespeare – and I think he's a very conscious person and a good influence. ... Partly, in the end, I felt that because I have an interest in a number of subjects that people try to write off, like Shakespeare's authorship or crop circles – they say I'm insane or not mentally stable – that somehow, a knighthood makes it a little less easy to write me off.[63]
Rylance has citedArt Carney andRobert Mitchum as favourite actors and the 1975Akira Kurosawa filmDersu Uzala as his favourite film.[64][42][65]
At the88th Academy Awards, Rylance won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal ofRudolf Abel inBridge of Spies, in addition to winningBAFTA in the same category.[66] He has received threeTony Awards (2008,2011,2014), making him one of only eight actors with twoLead Actor in a Play wins, while his nominations forRichard III andTwelfth Night in 2014 make him one of only six to be nominated in two acting categories in the same year.[67][68]
In 2016 he was included in theTime 100 list of the world's most influential people.[69]
Rylance was created aKnight Bachelor in the2017 New Year Honours for services to theatre.[70]
I argue that theRudens, by Plautus,…serves as Shakespeare's principal source.
