Richard E. Grant facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Richard E. Grant
Grant in 2018
Born	Richard Grant Esterhuysen (1957-05-05) 5 May 1957 (age 68) Mbabane, Swaziland (now Eswatini)
Nationality	Swazi British
Other names	Richard Grant
Education	University of Cape Town
Occupation	Actor, presenter, Perfumer
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Joan Washington ​ ​ (m. 1986; died 2021)​
Children	2
Awards	Full list

Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen on 5 May 1957) is an actor and presenter. He was born in Swaziland (now Eswatini) and is also British. He became famous for his first movie role as Withnail in the comedy Withnail and I (1987).

Richard E. Grant has acted in many popular films and TV shows. He received great praise for his role as Jack Hock in the movie Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). For this role, he won several awards, including the Independent Spirit Award. He was also nominated for major awards like the Academy Award and the BAFTA.

Some of his other well-known movies include Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Little Vampire (2000), The Iron Lady (2011), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), and Saltburn (2023). On television, he has appeared in shows like Frasier (2004), Game of Thrones (2016), and Loki (2021).

Early Life and School

Richard Grant Esterhuysen was born on 5 May 1957 in Mbabane, which was then called the Protectorate of Swaziland. His father, Henrik, was in charge of education for the British government there. Richard has English, Dutch, and German family roots. He has a younger brother, Stuart, but they are not close.

As a boy, Richard went to St Mark's School in Mbabane. This school had recently started allowing students of all races. When Richard was 10, his parents separated and later divorced. This sad event made him start keeping a daily diary, which he still does today.

He later attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, another school near Mbabane. In 1976, he went to the University of Cape Town to study English and drama. He changed his name to Richard E. Grant when he moved to Britain in 1982 to start his acting career.

Acting Career

Before moving to London in 1982, Richard E. Grant was part of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town. His first big movie role was in the popular film Withnail and I (1987). After this, he began appearing in Hollywood movies, working on both big studio films and smaller independent projects.

Grant at the 2007 BAFTA Awards

He had supporting roles in many films, including L.A. Story, The Player, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Age of Innocence, Spice World, and Gosford Park. While filming L.A. Story, he and co-star Steve Martin often sent each other faxes, which Steve Martin found very entertaining.

In 1995, Richard E. Grant starred in a short film called Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. This film won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He also played Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the 1996 movie Twelfth Night.

Richard E. Grant has played different versions of the Doctor from Doctor Who in comedy sketches and animated shows. He also appeared in the main Doctor Who TV series in 2012 as the villain Walter Simeon, who was later taken over by the Great Intelligence. He returned as this character in later episodes.

Grant as The Voice for 2+2+2 at Heavy Entertainment, London.

He has also performed in theatre, including playing Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady in Australia and Chicago. In 2010, he appeared in a music video for the band The Chemists.

In 2014, Richard E. Grant was cast in the HBO TV series Girls after the show's creator saw him in Spice World. In 2016, he joined the cast of Game of Thrones as Izembaro. In 2017, he played the villain Zander Rice in the movie Logan.

Grant at the premiere of Can You Ever Forgive Me? in 2018

His role as Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) brought him many awards and nominations. These included nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for this role.

In 2019, he appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In 2020, he joined the Disney+ series Loki as Classic Loki, an older version of the character. He also played Sir Walter Elliot in the 2022 Netflix movie Persuasion and Sir James in the 2023 film Saltburn.

Directing Wah-Wah

Richard E. Grant wrote and directed the 2005 film Wah-Wah. The movie was loosely based on his own childhood experiences. It took him over seven years to finish the film. The movie starred Nicholas Hoult, Gabriel Byrne, and Julie Walters.

He kept a diary while making the film, which was later published as a book called The Wah-Wah Diaries. The book was praised for being very honest about the challenges of making the movie.

Personal Life

Grant in 2014

Richard E. Grant married voice coach Joan Washington in 1986. They had a daughter named Olivia and he also had a stepson, Tom. Sadly, their first daughter, Tiffany, lived for only a short time. Joan Washington passed away in September 2021.

Richard E. Grant is a big fan of singer Barbra Streisand. He once took a tour of places in New York City that were important in her early life.

He is a citizen of both Eswatini and the United Kingdom. He can speak Swazi, which is the national language of Eswatini. He used to wear a watch on each wrist: one for local time and one set to Swaziland time, given to him by his father.

Richard E. Grant has said he is an atheist. He also supports the football club West Ham United. In 2014, he launched his own unisex perfume called JACK, which he runs with his daughter.

In 2022, he released a book about his life called A Pocketful of Happiness. He wrote most of it during the last year of his wife's life.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film

Richard E. Grant' film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Withnail and I	Withnail
	Hidden City	Brewster
1989	How to Get Ahead in Advertising	Denis Dimbleby Bagley
	Warlock	Giles Redferne
1990	Mountains of the Moon	Larry Oliphant
	Killing Dad	Ali Berg
	Henry & June	Hugo Guiler
1991	L.A. Story	Roland Mackey
1991	Hudson Hawk	Darwin Mayflower
1992	The Player	Tom Oakley
	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Dr. Jack Seward
1993	The Age of Innocence	Larry Lefferts
	Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life	Franz Kafka	Short subject
1994	Prêt-à-Porter	Cort Romney
1995	Jack and Sarah	Jack
1996	The Cold Light of Day	Victor Marek
	The Portrait of a Lady	Lord Warburton
	Twelfth Night: Or What You Will	Sir Andrew Aguecheek
1997	The Serpent's Kiss	James Fitzmaurice
	Keep the Aspidistra Flying	Gordon Comstock
	Food of Love	Alex Salmon
	Spice World	Clifford
1998	St. Ives	Major Farquhar Chevening
1999	The Match	Gorgeous Gus
2000	The Miracle Maker	John the Baptist	Voice
	The Little Vampire	Frederick Sackville-Bagg
2001	Hildegarde	Wolf
	Gosford Park	George
2003	Monsieur N.	Hudson Lowe
	Bright Young Things	Father Rothschild
2004	Tooth	Jarvis Jarvis
	The Story of an African Farm	Bonaparte Blenkins
2005	Wah-Wah	N/A	Writer and director
	Corpse Bride	Lord Barkis Bittern	Voice
	Colour Me Kubrick	Jasper
2006	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties	Preston	Voice
	Penelope	Franklin Wilhern
2007	Always Crashing in the Same Car	James Booth
2008	Filth and Wisdom	Professor Flynn
	The Garden of Eden	Colonel Philip Boyle
2009	Cuckoo	Professor Julius Greengrass
	Love Hurts	Ben Bingham
2010	Jackboots on Whitehall	Campbell Babbitt	Voice
	1st Night	Adam Drummond
	The Nutcracker in 3D	Father
	The Man Who Married Himself	Oliver
2011	The Last Fashion Show	Federico Marinoni
	Foster	Mr Potts
	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Vic Van Wrinkle
	How to Stop Being a Loser	Ian
	The Iron Lady	Michael Heseltine
2012	Zambezia	Cecil	Voice
	Kath & Kimderella	Alain
2013	About Time	Lawyer in Play	Uncredited cameo
	Khumba	Bradley	Voice
	Dom Hemingway	Dickie Black
2014	Queen and Country	Major Cross
2016	Jackie	William Walton
	Their Finest	Roger Swain
2017	Logan	Zander Rice
	The Hitman's Bodyguard	Mr. Seifert
2018	Can You Ever Forgive Me?	Jack Hock
	The Nutcracker and the Four Realms	Shiver
2019	Palm Beach	Billy
	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	Allegiant General Enric Pryde
2020	Robin Robin	Magpie	Voice; Short subject
2021	Earwig and the Witch	The Mandrake	Voice; English dub
	The Spine of Night	The Guardian	Voice
	Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard	Mr. Seifert
	Everybody's Talking About Jamie	Hugo Battersby/Loco Chanelle
2022	Persuasion	Sir Walter Elliot
2023	The Lesson	J.M. Sinclair
	Saltburn	Sir James
2024	Argylle	Fowler	Cameo
2025	Death of a Unicorn	TBA	Post-production
	Wildwood	Roger Swindon/Elgen	Voice; in production
TBA	Nuremberg	David Maxwell Fyfe	Post-production
	Savage House	TBA	Post-production
	The Thursday Murder Club	TBA	Post-production
	100 Nights of Hero	TBA	Post-production

Television

Video games

Other (selected)

Tours

• An Evening with Richard E Grant (2022) Australia
• An Evening with Richard E Grant (2023) UK

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Richard E. Grant para niños