John Hurt

John Hurt was born on 22nd January 1940 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, UK.

He is one of Britain's most esteemed and prolific actors, the appropriately-named John Hurt (no one does hurt like Hurt) has fashioned a career as a consummate screen chameleon who lives his parts to the fullest without revealing the man behind the mask.

The son of a rigid Anglican minister, he first went to art school before succumbing to his passion and attending London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After making both his professional stage debut "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger" and his feature debut "The Young and the Willing" in 1962, he earned raves the following year onstage in Harold Pinter's "The Dwarfs". Though he came to Broadway in the title role of "Hamp" (1965), it was his work in a 1966 London production of "Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuch" which convinced director Fred Zinnemann to cast him as the Judas role of Richard Rich in the Academy Award-winning film version of Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), bringing the young actor his widest exposure to that time.

He won 3 BAFTAs, 1 Golden Globe, nominated for 2 Oscars awards.

John Hurt must be commended for his amused acceptance of one particular fact. After all these years and all those brilliant performances, millions know him best for hacking, gurgling, collapsing over a table and having an alien burst out of his chest.

"I've done some stinkers in the cinema," he's said.