Joseph Alberic Fiennes was born on May 27, 1970, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, to novelist Jennifer Lash and photographer Mark Fiennes. Joseph and his fraternal twin, Jacob, today a conservationist, are the youngest of seven children: Ralph, also an actor, Sophie and Martha, who are filmmakers, and Magnus, who’s a composer. They also have a foster brother, Michael Emmery, an archeologist, and are related to Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the famous explorer.

The Fiennes children had a rather adventurous upbringing. They were based in West Cork, Ireland, but moved 14 times during Joseph’s childhood and adolescence! Although art was very present in the Fiennes household, Joseph has admitted to have been a very naughty boy.

He left school at the age of 16, and went on to Italy seeking adventure. He worked in construction and carried a drawing notebook around. Upon his return to England, he worked with the Young Vic Youth Theater in the wardrobe department. He continued his education at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where other famous actors, such as Daniel Craig, went.

Joseph’s first stage appearence was in the West End, in the play The Woman in Black, followed by A Month in the Country, alongside Oscar winner Helen Mirren. He then spent two years as a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His television debut soon followed, in The Vacillations of Poppy Carew, and in 1996 he had his first movie role, in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty.

But 1998 would be Joseph’s biggest year: he played Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth and starred in Shakespeare in Love, both Oscar winners. Following the success of Shakespeare in Love, Miramax Pictures offered Joseph a five-picture deal, which he turned down. He decided to take some time off in Índia instead, and then return to the theater. Joseph is known for being highly selective of his projects and has reportedly turned down parts in major motion pictures to appear on stage.

Some small, independent films followed before Joseph voiced the character of Proteus in the 2003 DreamWorks animation Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, opposite Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer. He then portrayed the title character in Luther, and also appeared in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice as Bassanio, opposite Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino.

2006 was a busy year for Joseph. He appeared in two new independent films: The Darwin Awards, alongside Winona Ryder, and Running With Scissors, in which he reteamed with his Shakespeare in Love co-star, Gwyneth Paltrow. He then went to South Africa to film Goodbye Bafana, based on a book by Nelson Mandela’s prison guard, James Gregory.

In 2008, Joseph released two new projects: The brit-indie The Escapist and the WWI German drama The Red Baron. He also made his directing debut with a short film called The Spirit.

In 2009, Fiennes should work on a new ABC series, called Flash Forward.