Trivia

Was originally cast as the voice of Paddington Bear in Paddington (2014), but was replaced by Ben Whishaw during post-production of the film. According to director Paul King he decision was done since "It slowly just became clear that Paddington does not have the voice of a very handsome older man, who has the most beautiful voice on the planet".

Considers former girlfriend Meg Tilly's children Emily and David (from her first marriage to Tim Zinnemann) to be his own.

According to Colin Firth, when he was first offered the role of Darcy, his brother incredulously remarked, "Darcy? But isn't he supposed to be sexy?"

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 13, 2011.

On the DVD audio commentary for Love Actually (2003), Hugh Grant continuously mocks the looks, age, acting abilities, and alleged vanity of Firth (his sometimes on-screen rival), eventually encouraging his fellow-commentators writer/director Richard Curtis, and co-stars Bill Nighy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster to join in on the mocking. Firth appears to have taken these comments in good nature and said that he and Grant seem to have a "Bette Davis-Joan Crawford" kind of relationship.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

He named Spencer Tracy, Paul Scofield and Peter O'Toole as some of his acting idols.

Became a father for the third time at age 42 when his wife Livia Giuggioli gave birth to their son Matteo Firth in August 2003.

Became a father for the first time at age 30 when his [now ex] girlfriend Meg Tilly gave birth to their son William Joseph Firth on September 20, 1990.

Although he usually gets along quite well with other actors, he had a well-publicized verbal feud with Rupert Everett, although the source of this tension is not known.

Speaks Italian fluently.

Had a relationship with Jennifer Ehle, whom he met while filming Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Has played a Mr. Darcy on four occasions: Pride and Prejudice (1995), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016).

He and Nicole Kidman circled the same five movies, within two years. In 2012, they first worked on The Railway Man (2013) and followed it by Before I Go to Sleep (2014). In November 2014, they filmed Genius (2016). Firth was also cast in Stoker (2013), but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and worked on Paddington (2014) before he was replaced by Ben Whishaw. Kidman co-starred in all these five films. She considers Firth to be one of her favorite collaborators and says that "He's the best of the British actors".

Resided outside Maple Ridge, British Columbia from 1989 through 1995 with then girlfriend, actress Meg Tilly.

He has appeared in four films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The King's Speech (2010) and 1917 (2019). The first three won in the category.

Moved to Nigeria, when he was 2 weeks old, where his father had taken a teaching position, and lived there until age 4.

Attended King Alfred's College in Winchester, Hampshire (now the University of Winchester).

Has English, along with some Scottish and Ulster-Scots (Northern Irish), ancestry.

Became a father for the second time at age 40 when his wife Livia Giuggioli gave birth to their son Luca Firth on March 29, 2001.

In addition to his various roles as Darcy, Firth played at least one other person sharing a name with a Jane Austen character: Henry Dashwood, his character in What a Girl Wants (2003) is the name of a character in Miss Austen's "Sense and Sensibility".

Co-starred as the character Mark Darcy in the film adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), while appears himself as a character in writer Helen Fielding's sequel, which was adapted to the big screen as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).

Has twice lost his screen wife to a member of the Fiennes family - to Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient (1996) and to Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Attended Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh. His film teacher still teaches there (as of November 2008).

Named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (2001).

Both of his Oscar nominated roles came from playing a character named George. George Falconer in A Single Man (2009) and King George VI in The King's Speech (2010) for which he won the award.

He played King George VI in The King's Speech (2010). His younger brother Jonathan Firth had previously played the King's great-grandfather Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, in Victoria & Albert (2001).

Relationship with Meg Tilly began while filming Milos Forman's Valmont (1989).

His almost 20-year public feud with Rupert Everett began when both appeared in Another Country (1984). Their widely different personas didn't get along, with Everett publicly branding Firth "boring" and classified him as "a ghastly guitar-playing redbrick socialist". In Everett's autobiography, he admitted that he felt threatened by Firth's talent, but the two eventually settled their differences in 2004. Firth claims that "there's nobody I love more in the business now", and they have frequently worked together since.

Is one of 14 actors to win the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are: Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012), Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008), Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010), J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (2014), Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant (2015), Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour (2017).

Resided in the United States for a year when he was age 12.

Contributed a short story, "The Department of Nothing", to the collection "Speaking With the Angel", edited by Nick Hornby. Colin Firth starred in the film adaptation of Hornby's semi-autobiographical novel, Fever Pitch (1997).

Brother of Katie Firth (a vocal coach) and Jonathan Firth.

Is the second person to win the best actor BAFTA two years in a row and the Oscar in the second year (For A Single Man (2009) and The King's Speech (2010)). The first one was Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker (1964) and In the Heat of the Night (1967).

Colin Firth and his wife, documentary film producer Livia Giuggioli, dined with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Wills and Kate) at an ARK charity in March 2011.

He played a veteran of the First World War in The Secret Garden (1987), A Month in the Country (1987) and Easy Virtue (2008). In the latter two, his characters were traumatised by their experiences of the war.

Met wife-to-be Livia Giuggioli on the set of the BBC drama Nostromo (1996).

Friends with Emily Blunt, and Julianne Moore.

Unlike the rest of his family he didn't excel at school and found his calling in acting and soon got his first professional role in the stage production of Another Country then he was taken out of the play for the film version.

Has an Erdös-Bacon-Sabbath number of 7, which is among the lowest on the planet.

Is one of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a real-life king. The others in chronological order are Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Robert Morley for Marie Antoinette (1938), Basil Rathbone for If I Were King (1938), Laurence Olivier for Henry V (1944) and Richard III (1955), José Ferrer for Joan of Arc (1948), Yul Brynner for The King and I (1956), John Gielgud for Becket (1964), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Richard Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989), and Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness of King George (1994).

Second marriage to Livia Giuggiolo who he met while making the television version of Nostromo.