Biografia

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.

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

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?"

On the DVD audio commentary for Love Actually - L'amore davvero (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.

The English people, a lot of them, would not be able to understand a word of spoken Shakespeare. There are people who do and I'm not denying they exist. But it's a far more philistine country than people think.

And I always thought the biggest failing of Americans was their lack of irony. They are very serious there! Naturally, there are exceptions... the Jewish, Italian, and Irish humor of the East Coast. (Italian Vogue)

[on his success in playing the two Mr. Darcy roles] I was delighted to become a popular culture reference point. I'm still delighted about it actually, and I still find it to be weird.

Forget "trying" to be sexy. That's just gruesome.

[on losing the girl to both Ralph and Joseph Fiennes] If I want my career to go on, I'm going to have to find some more Fiennes brothers! However, any similarity between them basically stops at their last name. I was in no way reminded of Ralph by working with Joe. I got on fantastically with both of them. I have huge admiration for them as actors but I couldn't compare them.