Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant(bornRichard Grant Esterhuysen;5 May 1957) is aSwaziland-born English actorand presenter.He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedyWithnail and I(1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock inMarielle Heller's drama filmCan You Ever Forgive Me?(2018), winning various awards including theIndependent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He also receivedAcademy Award,BAFTA,Golden Globe, andScreen Actors Guild Awardnominations for Best Supporting Actor.
Grant is also known for his roles in the feature filmsWarlock(1989),Henry & June(1990),Hudson Hawk(1991),Bram Stoker's Dracula(1992),The Age of Innocence(1993),The Portrait of a Lady(1996),The Little Vampire(2000),Gosford Park(2001),Penelope(2006),The Iron Lady(2011),Jackie(2016),Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker(2019), andSaltburn(2023). He is also known for his roles in television, includingFrasier(2004),Dig(2015),Game of Thrones(2016),Hang Ups(2018),A Series of Unfortunate Events(2019), andSuspect(2022).
Grant was born as Richard Grant Esterhuysen on 5 May 1957 inMbabane,Protectorate of Swaziland(now theKingdom of Eswatini). He is the elder child of Henrik Esterhuysen and Leonne Esterhuysen.Henrik Esterhuysen was head of education for the British government administration in theBritish protectorateof Swaziland.Grant hasEnglish, Dutch/Afrikaner, andGermanancestry.He has a younger brother, Stuart, an accountant inJohannesburg, from whom he is estranged; Grant has stated that they "never had any relationship".
As a boy, Grant attendedSt Mark's School, a local government school in Mbabane, which had only recently become racially integrated. When Grant was 10, he witnessed, sitting in the back seat, his mother commit adultery in a car with his father's best friend, which subsequently led to his parents' divorce.This event inspired Grant to keep a daily diary, which he has continued to do ever since.
Grant attended secondary school atWaterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, an independent school near Mbabane. In May 1976, he arrived at theUniversity of Cape Townto studyEnglishanddrama.He adopted hisstage name(truncating his Afrikaans-sounding surname to a single letter) when he moved to Britain in 1982, a year after his father's death, and registered withEquity.
Grant was a member of theSpace Theatre CompanyinCape Townbefore moving to London in 1982. He later stated, "I grew up inSwazilandwhen it was mired in a 1960s sensibility. The kind of English spoken where I grew up was a period English sound and when I came to England people said, 'how strange'.Charles Sturridge, who directedBrideshead Revisitedfor TV, said, "you speak English like someone from the 1950s."
Grant's first film role was the perpetually inebriated title character in thecult classicWithnail and I(1987). Following this, he started appearing in Hollywood films, taking on a range of projects from blockbuster studio movies to small independent projects. Since then, Grant has had supporting roles in the filmsHenry & June,L.A. Story,The Player,Bram Stoker's Dracula,The Age of Innocence,The Portrait of a Lady,Spice World,Gosford Park,Bright Young Things, andPenelope.
While filmingL.A. StorywithSteve Martin, the pair communicated byfax. Martin wrote: "I kept these faxes, which grew to a stack more than 2 inches thick, because they entertained me, and because I thought they were valuable aesthetic chunks from a screeching mind, astream-of-consciousnessfaucet spewing sentences – sometimes a mile long – none of it rewritten, and bearing just the right amount of acid and alkaline."
In 1995, Grant starred as the titular character inPeter Capaldi's short filmFranz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. The film won the 1995Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. In 1996, he portrayedSir Andrew AguecheekinTrevor Nunn'sTwelfth Night.He released a single and accompanying video "To Be Or Not To Be" with Orpheus in 1997.
Grant has twice portrayedthe DoctorfromDoctor Who, both outside the main continuity. In the comedy sketchDoctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, he portrayed a version of theTenth Doctor, referred to as the "Quite Handsome Doctor." He also voiceda version of the Ninth Doctorfor theBBCoriginal animated webcastScream of the Shalka. The latter had intended to be the officialNinth Doctorprior to the revival of the TV series. His version of the Doctor also appeared as a projection in "Rogue" (2024), during a sequence in which the faces of theFifteenth Doctor's previous incarnations were shown floating around his head.He made his first officialDoctor Whoappearance in the 2012 Christmas special, titled "The Snowmen", in which he plays the villain, Walter Simeon. During the episode, Simeon is erased from his body and it is taken over by theGreat Intelligence, voiced byIan McKellenin the episode until the takeover. Grant reprised the role in "The Bells of Saint John" and in the Series 7 finale, "The Name of the Doctor".
Grant appeared as "The Voice" in2+2+2atAmerican Nights at TheKing's Head Theatre, from 3 to 29 July 2007, and in 2008 co-starred in the London-based comedyFilth and Wisdom. Grant presented the 2008Laurence Olivier Awards.In 2008, he made hismusical theatredebut withOpera Australia, playing the role of Henry Higgins inMy Fair Ladyat theTheatre Royal, Sydney, a role he reprised in 2017 at theLyric Opera of Chicago. In 2009, Grant played Alain Reille inYasmina Reza's one-act playGod of Carnageat theTheatre Royal, Bath, and subsequently atCheltenham,Canterbury,Richmond,Brighton, andMilton Keynes.
In 2010 he starred in short filmThe Man Who Married Himself, which won Best Comedy at LA International Shorts Festival andRhode Island Film Festival.Later that year, he made an appearance in a music video, when short-lived Bristol band The Chemists hired him to appear in their video for "This City"; the band split the same year. This appearance followed Grant's involvement with the band the previous year, in which he spoke the lyrics to "This City" to background music as part of the intro and outro tracks on their only album,Theories of Dr Lovelock.
In March 2013, Grant starred as intelligence analystBrian JonesinDavid Morley'sradio dramaThe Iraq DossierwithPeter Firth,Anton Lesser,David Caves, andLindsay Duncan. It recounted the story of how British Ministry of Defence Intelligence expert Jones had tried to warn that his government'sSeptember Dossieron Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was inaccurate.In 2014, Grant was cast on theHBOseriesGirlsafter series creatorLena Dunhamsaw him inSpice World.
On 9 May 2015, Grant gave a reading atVE Day 70: A Party to RememberinHorse Guards Parade, London. In 2016 he joined the HBO seriesGame of ThronesinSeason 6asIzembaro.In 2017, he appeared as the villainous corporate scientistZander RiceinLogan.
Grant's critically lauded performance as Jack Hock inCan You Ever Forgive Me?(2018) earned himAcademy Award,BAFTA,Golden Globe, andScreen Actors Guild Awardnominations. The part also won Grant aNew York Film Critics Circle Awardand several other critics awards.
In 2019, Grant appeared inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.In March 2020, Grant joined the cast of theDisney+/Marvel Cinematic UniverseseriesLokiasClassic Loki, an older variant ofLoki. Grant portrays Sir Walter Elliot inCarrie Cracknell's 2022 adaptation ofJane Austen'sPersuasion. The film was released 15 July 2022 onNetflix. In 2023 he was cast inEmerald Fennell's psychological thrillerSaltburnoppositeBarry Keoghan,Jacob Elordi, andRosamund Pike.
Grant wrote and directed the 2005 filmWah-Wah, loosely based on his own childhood experiences. A screenwriter recommended he write a screenplay after reading Grant's memoirs of hisWithnail and Iexperience. The film took him over seven years to completeand starredNicholas Houltin the lead role, withGabriel Byrne,Miranda Richardson,Julie Walters, andEmily Watson. Grant kept a diary of the experience, later published as a book (The Wah-Wah Diaries). The book received positive reviews from critics, many of whom were impressed by the honesty of the tale, especially in regard to his difficult relationship with the "inexperienced" producerMarie-Castille Mention-Schaar.
Grant stated in subsequent interviews that she was a "control freak out of control", and he would "never see her again as long as [he] live[s]."In aBBCinterview, he again mentioned his "disastrous" relationship with Mention-Schaar. He related that he had received only five emails from her in the last two months of pre-production, and that she rarely turned up on the set at all. She failed to obtain clearance firstly for song rights and secondly to film in Swaziland. For the last infraction, Grant was eventually forced to meet with theKing of Eswatinito seekclemency. During an interview with an Australian chat show, he mentioned thatWah-Wahwas not released in France, and as a result, his producer did not make money out of it.
Grant married voice coachJoan Washingtonin 1986 and had two daughters with her, Tiffany who lived for only half an hour and Olivia, and a stepson, Tom. After being diagnosed withstage IVlung cancer,Washington died on 2 September 2021.
Grant abstains from drinking alcohol, as he has analcohol intolerance.If he does drink alcohol he is violently sick for up to 24 hours.After casting him as the alcoholic Withnail, directorBruce Robinsonmade Grant drink a bottle ofchampagneand half a bottle ofvodkaduring the course of a night so he could experience drunkenness.
Grant is a fan ofBarbra Streisandand has done a tour of Streisand'sNew York, visiting her early home, her high school, and theVillage Vanguard, among other places.
Grant is a dual citizen ofEswatini(formerly Swaziland) and the United Kingdom.He is fluent inSwazi, the national language of the country.He used to wear a watch on each wrist, one of which was given to him by his dying father and set to Swaziland time.
In 2008, Grant toldThe Timesthat he is anatheist.He is an avid supporter of Premier League football clubWest Ham United. In April 2014, Grant launched his newunisexperfume, JACK, exclusively atLibertyofRegent Street, London.Grant runs the perfume business in collaboration with his daughter.
In 2022, Grant released a memoir,A Pocketful of Happiness, mostly written in the last year of his wife's life.