Actor Richard Grant has a very interesting background - he comes from an Afrikaner family. They are descendants of South African colonists who live mainly in South Africa. They consider Africa their ethnic homeland, because their ancestors settled here for a very long time.
Now more and more Afrikaners are emigrating to English-speaking countries, as did the family of Richard Grant.
Biography
The real surname of the actor is Esterhuisen, and English, Dutch and German blood flows in his veins. He was born in 1957 in the South African city of Mbabane, in the Kingdom of Swaziland. His father was an important person in South Africa - the colonial minister of education in the administration of the British protectorate of Swaziland. Mom was a ballet teacher. Richard Esterhuissen also has a brother Stewart, but they do not communicate - his brother lives in Johannesburg and works there as a guide.
Richard studied in different schools: first in Mbabane, where he was born, then in high school in Kamhlaba, and after graduation he studied at the University of Cape Town. Grant changed his last name when he moved to England, but he is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Swaziland.
Already in Cape Town, Richard played in the "Space Theater", performing various roles. In his native environment, everything was fine, and when he arrived in England, he started having problems with the language, because in his speech there was a strong South African accent.
Actor's career
However, this did not prevent him from starring in the 1986 film "Wintail and Me" which became very popular in England. After this picture, Grant began to appear in Hollywood films and very quickly established himself as an excellent actor who can be trusted with both the main and cameo roles, and everywhere he will be at his best.
Over the past 20 years, Grant has appeared in films such as Henry and June, Los Angeles Story, The Gambler, Age of Innocence, Portrait of a Lady, Spice World, Gosford Park, Bright young things”and“Penelope”.
During the filming of Los Angeles Story, a funny episode happened: screenwriter Steve Martin sent Richard faxes with the following scenes and accompanied them with humorous comments. The actor was very happy about this correspondence and collected a whole collection of faxes with Steve's original, vivid, inimitable language. It is not without reason that after the release of the film, viewers quoted the characters' statements, for example: "Everyone has their own half, even if you need a hoe and a compass to find it."
In 1995, Grant starred in Peter Capaldi's short film This Wonderful Life of Franz Kafka. The film won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1995. In 1996, he portrayed the cheerful Sir Andrew Aguechek in Trevor Nunn's film Twelfth Night or Whatever, a fairy tale based on Shakespeare.
Grant portrayed the Doctor from Doctor Who twice in two episodes. In the comedy sketches for Doctor Who and The Curse of Mortal Death, he portrayed a version of the Tenth Doctor called "Pretty Handsome Doctor." He also voiced the version of The Ninth Doctor for the original BBC animated webcast. Grant made his first appearance in Doctor Who in the 2012 Christmas special titled The Snowmen, in which he plays the villainous Walter Simeon.
This work made him a very popular actor, and when London was hosting the Performing Arts Festival, he gave a welcome speech at the University of London and presented the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award winners.
In 2008, he made his musical theater debut at Opera Australia, playing the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Royal Theater in Sydney. He played the same role later in 2017 in the "Lyric Opera of Chicago". In 2009, he played Alain Reil in Yasmina Reza's one-act play "God of Carnage" at the Royal Theater in Bath, and later played the same role on tours to Cheltenham, Canterbury, Richmond, Brighton and Milton Keynes.
In March 2013, Grant starred as intelligence analyst Brian Jones in the David Morley drama Dossier in Iraq, opposite Peter Firth, Anton Lesser, David Caves and Lindsay Duncan. It described how Jones, an intelligence expert at the British Department of Defense, tried to warn that his government's September dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was inaccurate.
In 2017, he played the role of Zander Rice, Logan's main antagonist in Logan, where his co-stars were Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Daphne Keane, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Elizabeth Rodriguez and other celebrities.
Directing
As a child, Richard experienced a great shock: the divorce of his parents because of his mother's betrayal. After that, he began to keep a diary. And when he became an actor, he decided to write a script and make a biographical film about his childhood. In 2006, this film was released, which Grant called "Wow Wow." The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Julie Walters and Emily Watson.
The film was shot in Swaziland, the director's homeland, he had a lot of difficulties with the producer, but the film came out and received very warm reviews from the audience, who were struck by the sincerity of Grant's story about his life.
Now in the actor's portfolio there are more than a hundred films, and the best of them are: "Whitnale and Me" (1986), "Dracula" (1982), "Spirits of Christmas" (1999), "My Little Angel" (2011), "Hudson Hawk "(1991).
Personal life
In 1986, Grant married vocal instructor Joan Washington, and they have two children: a son, Tom, and a daughter, Olivia.
Richard is involved in Olivia's perfume business: in 2014 he launched his new perfume for men, JACK.
In his spare time, Grant loves to watch football - he is a fan of the West Ham United football club.
