Colin Firth remains one of Britain’s most respected and versatile actors, with a career spanning more than four decades — and 2026 has proven to be one of his busiest and most acclaimed years yet.
Born on September 10, 1960, in Grayshott, Hampshire, England, Firth grew up in an academic family — his father was a history lecturer and his mother a religious studies lecturer. He began acting professionally in the early 1980s and became a household name in the 1990s, most notably for his role as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” a performance that remains one of the most iconic in British television history.
Firth’s career has spanned romantic comedies, period dramas, and prestige films alike, including “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Love Actually,” “The English Patient,” “Nanny McPhee,” and the “Kingsman” franchise. His most celebrated role came in 2010’s “The King’s Speech,” in which he played King George VI, earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor, along with a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.
More recently, he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for his portrayal of Michael Peterson in HBO’s “The Staircase” (2022), a role that showcased a darker, more ambiguous side of his range. In 2026, awards trackers have flagged him as an early Emmy contender again, this time for a supporting role, with nominations opening in July.
Firth has stayed remarkably active this year. He appears in Guy Ritchie’s Prime Video series “Young Sherlock” as Sir Bucephalus Hodge, released in March 2026 to strong acclaim. He also stars in Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction thriller “Disclosure Day” alongside Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and Colman Domingo, which premiered in London in June 2026. Additionally, he’s attached to “Bare,” the feature directorial debut of writer-director Lorna Tucker, and has been filming a limited series for Sky Atlantic and Peacock dramatizing the life of Dr. Jim Swire, the British doctor who lost his daughter in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and spent decades campaigning for the truth behind it.
Firth was married to Italian producer and sustainability entrepreneur Livia Giuggioli from 1997 to 2019. The couple share two sons, Luca and Matteo. The marriage hit a rocky patch in 2018, when Livia disclosed that she’d had an affair with an Italian journalist in 2015–2016, during a period when she and Colin were privately separated. The two reconciled after the affair came to light, but ultimately divorced in 2019. Despite the split, they’ve maintained a close, amicable relationship ever since. Livia has since relocated to Italy, where she runs a sustainable farming business and has a new partner, climate activist Callum Grieve — with whom Firth is reportedly on good terms.
Following his divorce, Firth dated American television writer and producer Maggie Cohn, whom he met on the set of “The Staircase,” from 2022 until the relationship quietly ended. He is now in a relationship with Eleonora Perboni, who has kept an extremely low public profile. The couple reportedly dated privately for about two years before making their first public appearance together at a screening of “Hamnet” in October 2025, followed by a red carpet appearance at the London premiere of “Disclosure Day” in June 2026.
At 65, Firth continues to balance an active screen career with a private, low-drama personal life — still based in the family home in West London, close to his sons, and now settling into a new relationship out of the spotlight he’s spent decades navigating carefully.
