Joseph Fiennes | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

Born and raised in England, Joseph Fiennes grew up in a creatively fertile household. His mother was a writer, his father a photographer, while his brother, Ralph Fiennes, went on to become a notable film actor in his own right. Needless to say, there was never a time in Fiennes' formative years when he didn't envision a life devoted to the arts. Fiennes began his professional acting training in his teens, and eventually went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He spent the next three years at the school honing his craft before graduating in 1993. Upon graduation, Fiennes embarked on a professional screen-acting career. He nabbed parts in "Stealing Beauty" (1996) and "The Very Thought of You" (1998), before nabbing his first big break in 1998 by landing the lead role in "Shakespeare in Love." That film earned Fiennes a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor, while "Shakespeare in Love" would take home the Oscar for Best Picture at the 1999 Academy Awards. With his star on the rise, Fiennes landed a number of high profile film acting roles throughout the 2000s, including "Enemy at the Gates" (2001), "The Merchant of Venice" (2004), and "Running with Scissors" (2006). By the early 2010s he began appearing on various critically acclaimed television shows, including "Flashforward" (ABC, 2009-10), "Camelot" (Starz, 2011) and "American Horror Story." Then in 2017 Fiennes began playing the role of Fred Waterford on Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale." The series, which was adapted from a novel of the same name by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood, earned Fiennes his first Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.