Background

Ethnicity: Richard E. Grant's father had English and Dutch/African ancestry and his mother was of English and German descent.

Richard E. Grant was born on May 5, 1957, in Mbabane, Hhohho, Swaziland. He is the son of Leonne and Henrik Esterhuysen. He had a tough childhood. Henrik was an alcoholic who could become abusive, and his mother Leonne ran off with her husband's best friend. He told The Independent in 2006 that he was estranged from his younger brother Stuart. His parents divorced when he was eleven and he and his brother lived with their father.

Education

Richard E. Grant attended the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa. In 1979 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cape Town.

Career

Richard E. Grant’s acting career took off after he moved to the United Kingdom in 1982 at age twenty five. After several years of struggling to find work, he finally broke into films in 1986 when writer/director Bruce Robinson cast him in the British cult hit Withnail and I. Grant since has had a prestigious acting career in theater, television and the movies. Some of his most famous him work includes roles in Mick Jackson’s L.A. Story (1991), Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Robert Altman’s The Player (1993), Martin Scorsese’s Age of Innocence (1993), Altman’s Pret-a-Porter (1995), Trevor Nunn’s Twelfth Night (1995), Jack and Sarah (1996), and Altman’s Gosford Park (2001).

Grant’s experiences became the subject of his first book. With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant. The author looks personally at the bizarre world of filmmaking and its people. Grant’s story begins with the start of his own career when a starring role as a starving, drunken actor in Withnail and I changed his life. The critical success of this him won him the attention of directors and casting agents in both England and America.

He wrote and in 2005 directed the film Wah-Wah, loosely based on his own childhood experiences in Swaziland. Grant kept a diary of the experience, later published as a book The Wah-Wah Diaries. He appeared as "The Voice" in 2+2+2 at American Nights at The King's Head Theatre, from July 3 to July 29, 2007 and in 2008 co-starred in the London-based comedy Filth and Wisdom. In 2009. he played Alain Reille in Yasmina Reza's one-act play God of Carnage at the Theatre Royal, Bath: and subsequently at Cheltenham, Canterbury, Richmond, Brighton and Milton Keynes.

Grant appears in films like Love Hurts (2009), 1st Night (2010), Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011), Kath & Kimderella (2012), Dom Hemingway (2013), Logan (2017), etc. In 2014, he launched a unisex perfume called JACK, which has notes of mandarin, lime, pepper and marijuana. In 2018 he took part in Can You Ever Forgive Me?. He portrays Allegiant General Enric Pryde in the 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.

Achievements

• Richard E Grant is best known for his breakout role in the 1987 movie Withnail and I, where he played the titular Withnail opposite Paul McGann. He also achieved recognition as John Seward in 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Grant received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, starring alongside Melissa McCarthy.

Works

More photos

• book

  • By Design

    (Elmer and Marga of E Enterprises, Bel Air, have a pact - ...)

    1998
  • The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film

    (Here are the very personal diaries of Richard E. Grant's ...)

    2006
  • With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant

    (Richard E. Grant’s acting career has included memorable r...)

    1996

• movie

  • Withnail & I

    (Acerbic and irresistibly self-destructive Withnail and ne...)

    1987
  • Gosford Park

    (As a hunting party gathers at the country estate, no one ...)

    2001
  • Twelfth Night

    (Twelfth Night – one of William Shakespeare’s most wild an...)

    1996
  • Wah Wah

    (Ralph Compton (Nicolas Hoult) witnesses the disintegratio...)

    2005
  • The Serpent's Kiss

    (In England, during the 17th-century, a Dutch garden archi...)

    1997
  • Hidden City

    (Sharon Newton (Cassie Stuart) leads the uncooperative Jam...)

    1987
  • Dom Hemingway

    (Jude Law steals the show as DOM HEMINGWAY, a larger-than-...)

    2013
  • Horrid Henry - The Movie

    (When Henry inadvertently sets off an unexpected and curio...)

    2011
  • 1st Night

    (Fearing he is little more than a city suit, a frustrated ...)

    2010
  • Warlock

    (A warlock and witch-hunter time travel from the 1600s to ...)

    1989
  • Penelope

    (A modern romantic tale about a young aristocratic heiress...)

    2006
  • The Player

    (Academy Award-honoree Robert Altman directs this Golden G...)

    1992
  • Jackie

    (Natalie Portman stars in this powerfully stirring drama a...)

    2016
  • The Little Vampire

    (Tony befriends a young vampire named Rudolph who asks Ton...)

    2000
  • The Age Of Innocence

    (Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer star in a ravishin...)

    1993
  • Love Hurts

    (Ben Bingham slips into tailspin of tears and booze after ...)

    2009
  • Can You Ever Forgive Me?

    (A celebrity biographer turns to forging letters from famo...)

    2018
  • How To Get Ahead in Advertising

    (Dennis Bagley can sell shampoo to a bald man, but mountin...)

    1989
  • Food Of Love

    (A group of ex-university students reunite to perform a Sh...)

    1997
  • Palm Beach

    (A group of old friends reunite at Palm Beach to celebrate...)

    2019
  • Filth and Wisdom

    (Ukrainian immigrant A.K. (Eugene Hutz) finances his dream...)

    2008
  • Mountains Of The Moon 1990
  • Henry & June 1990
  • Hudson Hawk 1991
  • Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life 1993
  • Jack and Sarah 1995
  • The Cold Light of Day 1996
  • The Portrait of a Lady 1996
  • Spice World 1997
  • St. Ives 1998
  • Monsieur N 2003
  • Kath & Kimderella 2012
  • Logan 2017
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019

Religion

In February 2000 Richard E. Grant told The Daily Mail that, "Like [my father], I absolutely believe in the here and now. I have no expectation that there's anything beyond. Life's to be grabbed with every fibre of your being." He described himself in April 2014 to The Telegraph newspaper as a "confirmed atheist."

Politics

Richard E. Grant doesn't express his political views openly.

Views

Richard E. Grant believes that straight actors should not play gay characters. The Oscar-nominated star is opposed to what he sees as heterosexual performers taking the parts of their homosexual colleagues. He has taken a stance in a growing debate around the legitimacy of actors inhabiting the roles of gay, black or disabled characters without themselves belonging to these groups. He said: "The transgender movement and the #MeToo movement means how can you justify heterosexual actors playing gay characters?" “We are in a historic moment,” the Withnail and I star added. “If you want someone to play a disabled role, that should be a disabled actor."

He is a supporter of many charities including My Million To One.

Quotations: "Always have an answer - even if you change your mind five minutes later."

"Proving yourself in a field where the casualty rate is so notoriously high is an ongoing challenge."

"Ensure that your script is watertight. If it's not on the page, it will never magically appear on the screen."

Membership

Richard E. Grant is a member of the British Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, Amnesty International.

Personality

Richard E. Grant wears a watch on both wrists. One belonged to his father and is set to Swaziland time. He is a fan of Barbra Streisand. Grant is allergic to alcohol. He can have a drink and keep it down for about 10 minutes, but will be severely ill for 24 hours afterwards.

Physical Characteristics: Richard E. Grant is 6ft 2in (188cm), according to Celeb Heights.

Quotes from others about the person

• "He is enormously talented (don't let that fey, shriveled little wallflower of an ego fool you). He is enormously talented and he knows it. He can act, he can write, he can play the fucking flute. And he costs less than Burt Reynolds!" -director Bruce Robinson to The Guardian, August 22, 1998.

Interests

• deep sea diving

• Sport & Clubs

  football, West Ham United

• Music & Bands

  Barbra Streisand

Connections

On November 1, 1986, Richard E. Grant married Joan Washington. They have a daughter, Olivia. He also has a stepson, Tom, Joan's son from a previous marriage.

Father:

Henrik Esterhuysen

Mother:

Leonne Esterhuysen

Spouse:

Joan Washington

Daughter:

Olivia Grant

stepson:

Tom Washington

Brother:

Stuart Esterhuysen

Friend:

Steve Martin

colleague:

Paul McGann

Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann starred together in the movie Withnail and I.

colleague:

Richard Griffiths

Richard E. Grant and Richard Griffiths starred together in the movies Withnail and I.

colleague:

Andie MacDowell

Richard E. Grant and Andie MacDowell starred together in the movie Hudson Hawk.

colleague:

John Barry Humphries

John Barry Humphries and Richard E. Grant starred together in the movie Kath & Kimderella.

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2010
• The Official Website of Richard E. Grant