Timeline

1983 London stage debut, Another Country ; replaced Rupert Everett in the role of Guy Bennett
1984 American TV-movie debut, Camille (CBS)
1984 Film debut, Another Country ; played Tommy Judd opposite Rupert Everett s Guy Bennett
1986 Cast as an aspiring artist in the British miniseries Lost Empires (aired on PBS in 1987)
1987 Won critical acclaim for A Month in the Country
1988 Played a film buff who takes in a mysterious boarder in Apartment Zero
1989 First starring role, playing the lead in Milos Forman s Valmont
1989 Offered a harrowing portrayal of real-life Scottish soldier Robert Lawrence who had been left paralyzed in Tumbledown
1993 Co-starred in the HBO TV drama Hostages
1995 Breakthrough role as Mr. Darcy in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen s classic Pride and Prejudice
1995 Played pivotal role of Simon Westward in Circle of Friends
1996 Had featured role as Kristin Scott Thomas husband in Anthony Minghella s The English Patient
1997 Portrayed a foul-mouthed soccer player in Fever Pitch
1998 Played Wessex, the intended groom of Gwyneth Paltrow s Viola, in Shakespeare in Love
1999 Received raves for his stage performance in the London premiere of Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg
2000 First published work The Department of Nothing a short story that appeared in Speaking with the Angel
2000 Had featured role in Relative Values a film adaptation of a Noel Coward play
2001 Played Mark Darcy opposite Renee Zellwegger s title character in Bridget Jones Diary
2001 Portrayed the Nazi secretary of state who took part in the Wannsee Conference in the historical drama Conspiracy (HBO); received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Played Jack Worthing in the remake of The Importance of Being Earnest
2003 Co-Starred with Scarlett Johansson as painter Johannes Vermeer in Girl with a Pearl Earring
2003 Joined the Richard Curtis ensemble, Love Actually
2004 Reprised his role as Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
2005 Co-starred with Kevin Bacon as a showbiz duo whose career was ended abruptly amid scandal in Where the Truth Lies
2006 Co-starred with Emma Thompson and Angela Lansbury in Nanny McPhee ; scripted by Emma Thompson
2007 Portrayed general Aurelius in The Last Legion
2008 Cast as Uma Thurman s fiancée in the romantic comedy, The Accidental Husband
2008 Cast as one of the potential fathers in the the film version of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!
2008 Featured in Helen Hunt s directorial debut, Then She Found Me
Family briefly moved to St Louis, MO when he was in his early teens
Joined the National Theater doing odd jobs for the wardrobe department
Lived in Nigeria with parents, until the age of four
Trained at the Drama Centre in North London, where he performed his first amateur Hamlet