Richard E Grant

Born: 5th May 1957
Where: Mbabane, Swaziland

Richard Grant Esterhusyen was born and raised in South Africa, where he studied English and Drama at University in Cape Town.

While at univeristy, he decided to drop his surname.

After graduation, he formed a touring Troupe Theatre Company with actors from Cape Town University and Cape Town's Space Theatre.

Richard moved to London in 1982 and worked on Jonathan Miller's production of Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse, and as a waiter in Covent Garden.

He gradually worked in theatre and on TV before making his British TV-film debut in a short film about advertising called Honest, Decent and True.

Richard made his American feature film debut with Warlock and quickly followed this with many other film credits in the early 90s.

He worked with one of cinema's titans, Martin Scorsese, in The Age of Innocence, and then with Robert Altman for Pret-a-Porter.

One of his less memorable roles was as the manager of the Spice Girls in their movie Spice World.

1998 was a successful year for Richard, as he published his first novel, By Design, and signed to play The Scarlet Pimpernel for a TV-movie remake and two sequels.

More recently Grant took a cameo role in Stephen Fry's directorial debut Bright Young Things.

He also featured prominently in Robert Altman's Oscar winning Gosford Park.