- Born
- Birth nameEdward John David Redmayne
- Height5′ 11¼″ (1.81 m)
- British actor Eddie Redmayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor (for The Theory of Everything (2014)).
Edward John David Redmayne was born and raised in London, England, the son of Patricia (Burke) and Richard Charles Tunstall Redmayne, a businessman. His great-grandfather was Sir Richard Augustine Studdert Redmayne, a noted civil and mining engineer. He has English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry. Redmayne is the only member of his family to follow a career in acting, and also modeled during his teen years. He was educated at Eton College before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied History of Art. Encouraged by his parents, Redmayne took drama lessons from a young age. His first stage appearance was in the Sam Mendes production of "Oliver!", in London's West End. He played a workhouse boy. Acting continued through school and university, including performing with the National Youth Music Theatre.
Redmayne's first professional stage performance came in 2002 at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre where he played Viola in "Twelfth Night". In 2004, he won the prestigious Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award for his working in Edward Albee's play "The Goat". Further stage successes followed, and in 2009, he starred in John Logan's "Red" at the Donmar Warehouse in London. He won huge critical acclaim for his role, winning an Oliver Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The play transferred to Broadway in 2010, and Redmayne went on to win a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.
Alongside his stage career, Redmayne has worked steadily in television and film. Notable projects include Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008), The Pillars of the Earth (2010) and My Week with Marilyn (2011). He co-starred as Marius Pontmercy in the musical Les Misérables (2012). He played scientist Stephen Hawking in the biographical drama The Theory of Everything (2014), opposite Felicity Jones, as Stephen's wife Jane Hawking. For his performance, Redmayne won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. As such, he became the first man born in the 1980s to win an acting Oscar. He received further critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, in The Danish Girl (2015). For his performance, he was nominated for multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2014, Redmayne married publicist Hannah Bagshawe.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges
- SpouseHannah Redmayne(December 15, 2014 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenIris Mary RedmayneLuke Richard Bagshawe Redmayne
- ParentsPatricia BurkeRichard Charles Tunstall Redmayne
- RelativesJames Redmayne(Sibling)Thomas Redmayne(Sibling)Eugenie Redmayne(Half Sibling)Charles Redmayne(Half Sibling)
- Eddie Redmayne is good friends with Benedict Cumberbatch. Both actors have portrayed Professor Stephen Hawking in different productions. Cumberbatch in Hawking (2004) and Redmayne in The Theory of Everything (2014).
- Was asked to audition for the role of Kylo Ren in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). He revealed that his audition was horrible. The role eventually went to Adam Driver.
- Attended Eton College (a boarding school for high school boys), where he had classes with Prince William of Wales.
- While he was as Eton College, he auditioned for the role of Tom Marvolo Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). However, he did not get the call back from the casting director.
- Won the Laurence Olivier Best Supporting Actor Award in March 2010 for his role in "Red" (Donmar Warehouse, London).
- [on being an actor] I think all actors have a similar deal. You want some people who understand. Although it looks great - and is great - there are also shoddy moments when you feel really rotten, and when it's going well, you're not allowed to complain. Your actor friends will understand the nuances of a painful director, or the loneliness of being... okay, in a beautiful hotel room somewhere exotic. But you're by yourself for six months, and you're thinking, "Oh God, I wish I could share it with someone." I'm trying to buy a house and set some sense of roots because otherwise you're constantly chasing one job after another, and you look back and you've had all these very extraordinary experiences with extraordinary people, but there's not a line of continuity to it. [Interview with Fran Babb, November 2011]
- [on the process of learning lines] That's what's been keeping me up at night. What I love about this, though, is that Daniel Day-Lewis and Ryan Gosling have to learn lines, too. Do you know what I mean? However, genius Ryan Gosling is on the ukulele, however brilliant other people are, it's reassuring to know that even Ben Kingsley has to walk around his room learning lines. It's the great leveller.
- [on his favorite color] The color that Yves Klein does. Wet paint has a luminosity that dies when it dries and it loses the gloss. So Yves created this color scientifically that retains that luminosity. He was a big showman, so he got it copyrighted. The color is called IKB-International Klein Blue. And it sounds all bullshit-y and ridiculous, but when you stand in front of those canvases, the color is sublime and dumbfounding. So that specific color is my favorite color in the world. Are you going to follow this up with a colorblind question? (No, wasn't planning on it, but if you want to discuss it. [interviewer vs. salisbury]) No, I talk passionately about that color and then people go "But you're colorblind." And I go, "I know. I don't know what I see but I see it and I like it.".
- I had auditioned to play in Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren. This thing involved me horse riding, which I was asked in audition, whether I could do. And it is a common truth, that as an actor, if you're asked if you can horse ride, you say yes. But then cut to a month later, on the set in Lithuania, and there I am, on a horse, having not even set on a horse since I was four, blazing into things - I nearly killed myself and app. 43 Lithuanian extras. But at the audition of The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), they were like "So Eddie, how is your horse riding?" And I said, "Well, there is a little story I should probably tell you." And they sent me off on a two-month training camp, and I literally learned to horse ride!
- When I started acting professionally, it was always theater. I'm so ignorant about films, but m getting slightly better - after having been chastised by many co-actors. While we were shooting The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Scarlett Johansson compiled a whole list of the films I should watch.
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