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Top 10 Colin Firth

Starting out in British TV dramas, Colin Firth’s career has been a steady climb, with popular rom-coms and his heartthrob status. But it’s now, at the age of 50 and thanks to his performances in A Single Man and The king’s Speech, Firth is at the top of his game. Winning awards left, right and centre, our Col has the whole world watching...

His Top 10 Films

Tumbledown (1998)

One of Colin Firth’s earliest film roles, Tumbledown saw him play a very different character from the romantic leads that made his name; a paralysed soldier returning from the Falklands. Firth’s gripping portrayal in this controversial and hard-hitting TV film earned him his first BAFTA nomination, for Best Actor.

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Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Firth’s break-through role was as eligible but bolshy bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy in this much-loved BBC mini-series. In one of the most played clips of all time, his emergence from the lake in a soaking wet shirt marks the exact moment he became a global heart-throb. Firth perfectly pitches Jane Austen’s Darcy as a snobbish but passionate aristocrat, and he has since revealed that he turned down the role repeatedly, but was eventually coaxed into it by producer Sue Birtwistle. The Mr Darcy nickname has stuck ever since.

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Fever Pitch (1996)

Fever Pitch finds Firth on romantic lead duties again, but far from the perfect gentlemen he is often typecast as. As Paul, a fanatical supporter of Arsenal FC, his relationship with girlfriend Sarah seems to follow the same highs and lows as his football team. Adapted from Nick Hornby’s novel, the film established a relationship between actor and writer, which later led to Hornby including a piece written by Firth in Speaking with the Angel, a collection of short stories he edited.

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Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

When Helen Fielding penned the bestselling Bridget Jones columns, she had Bridget idolize Firth’s portrayal of Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Which means this role, Mark Darcy, was literally written with Colin Firth in mind and, come the film adaptation, he couldn’t resist. Perhaps his most soppy character, Firth would reprise this rom-com lead performance in films like Love Actually and Mamma Mia!

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The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

Another aristocratic gentleman, this time in Oliver Parker’s adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play. Firth had worked with co-star Rupert Everett nearly 20 years before in Another Country, and though they had formed an instant dislike for each other when they first met, this film united them in a firm friendship. It forged a strong working relationship with Parker too, who has since cast him in his adaptations of Dorian Gray and St Trinian’s.

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Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

An adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s bestselling novel sees Firth as baroque painter Johannes Vermeer, whose maid Griet (Scarlett Johansson) becomes his new muse. One of his more serious roles, other characters with repressed feelings would follow, but Firth couldn’t be accused of losing his sense of humour – gamely signing up for St Trinian’s (2007), in which the girls plan to steal the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting, and his own character falls into a pond, emerging with a Darcy-esque wet shirt.

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And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2010)

Directed by Anand Tucker, one of the producers on Girl with a Pearl Earring, this character study sees Firth again take on a character of depth and substance. As writer Blake Morrison, he returns home, full of resentment, to see his dying father (Jim Broadbent). Based on Morrison’s painfully honest memoirs, this powerful and moving story really comes alive through Firth and Broadbent’s performances.

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Genova (2008)

In another highly emotive film, Firth here plays a father taking his two young daughters to live in Genova after the tragic death of their mother. The last few years have seen the actor excel in roles of emotional struggle, whether in relative or romantic terms, and this family drama from Michael Winterbottom is no exception.

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A Single Man (2010)

Again achieving international fame for another role he nearly turned down, Firth stars in fashion guru Tom Ford’s directorial debut. Following a day in the life of a gay English teacher in LA, who decides to commit suicide after he is left heartbroken, the film received multiple award nominations, including Firth’s first ever Oscar nod. Although he lost out on the night to Jeff Bridges, Firth did win the BAFTA for Best Actor and, by so doing, is perhaps serving notice that even better is yet to come.

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The King's Speech (2011)

The story of stammering King George VI is one of the main contenders during this year’s awards season and Firth’s profile has taken to a whole new level – he’s even got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Co-starring Geoffrey Rush as unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue and Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, The King’s Speech received a standing ovation when it screened at the Toronto Film Festival, coinciding with Firth’s 50th birthday. One thing’s for sure, Firth has come a long way since Mr. Darcy.

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Emma Green and David Morrison