Mark Rylance

Mark Rylance was born in Ashford in 1960. His parents were language teachers, which explains part of his obsession with the text. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but his real school was the stage itself.

He turned down working with Steven Spielberg in 1987.

That snub happened because he preferred to keep his theater commitments rather than jump into commercial Hollywood films. Rylance has always put the word ahead of the camera. For ten years he directed the Shakespeare's Globe in London with almost military discipline.

There he imposed a purist vision that sometimes bordered on obsessive. He performed in the rain or with audience members just inches from his face. He took on that role in 1995 and left it in 2005 after reviving the essence of Elizabethan theater.

But film didn't interest him much at the time. He preferred physical contact and the risk of forgetting a line in front of a thousand people.

The supporting actor who stole the screen

Steven Spielberg called him back decades later for Bridge of Spies in 2015. This time he said yes. His performance as Rudolf Abel earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the 2016 ceremony. He won the statuette over competitors including Sylvester Stallone.

And the industry realized late what it had in front of it.

In 2016, he provided the voice and gestures for the lead character in The BFG. It was a complex motion capture job that required weeks of digital post-production at Weta's studios. Then came Dunkirk in 2017, directed by Christopher Nolan.

There, he played a civilian who crossed the Channel in his own pleasure boat. His style is based on economy of movement. He doesn't need to shout for the viewer to feel the tension of war.

The Art of Silence

In 2020 he took part in The Trial of the Chicago 7, bringing to life the lawyer William Kunstler. His working method avoids the dramatic excess that tends to win over awards audiences. Rylance prefers restraint and minimal gestures.

In 2022, he shot Bones and All with director Luca Guadagnino. His character was a wandering cannibal who unsettled audiences just by staring fixedly at the camera.

He accepted the role because the script let him improvise certain mannerisms.

For 2024, he returned to his role as Thomas Cromwell in the series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Filming for this BBC production stretched over several months in real locations across England. The series uses period lenses to capture the natural candlelight in the interiors.