"One of the things I've always been taught as a drama student was not to play the emotion.

That doesn't mean to say you don't express it, you don't have it, you don't find it.

The emotion is the obstacle. The person doesn't want to be unhappy, and the unhappiness is the obstacle that gets in the way."

Primary school:

Colin was born in 1960 into an academic family - his father David is a history lecturer at King Alfred's College, in Winchester, his mother a lecturer on comparative religions at the Open University. Their son's desire to become an actor was formed at infant's school when he played Jack Frost in the Christmas pantomine, though he never expected to make a career in such a fundamentally unreliable profession. When he was 3, the family returned to Hampshire (leaving Nigeria), and Colin enrolled in the local elementary school–much to his dismay. "There were moments I enjoyed and [a few] teachers I found inspiring, the rest of it I despised."  Colin was successful already at the age of five: dressed for a school production of Jack Frost in white satin trousers, blue sash and polystyrene crown, he brought the house down. "I remember doing some sort of dance which amused everybody, and I remember getting a lot of praise."

Colin's dad David says: "Colin always had a very vivid imagination. He loved dressing up and really liked Batman."

Sister Kate Firth: Colin and I used to dress up, I was the princess in jumble-sale ball gowns, he was the prince in cloak and breeches. We were competitive but also protective of one another. At infant school he gave me instructions not to leave until he collected me from the classroom. At break he always made sure I had enough money to buy a Thunderbirds chocolate bar. 

A year in St. Louis

When Colin was 11, the family moved to America, setting up home in St Louis, Missouri. Colin's high-school teacher Carol Welstahoff remembers: "I think it was a lonely time, but he spent a lot of it reading. He was a very conscientious, top-of-the-class student."

Colin's dad David explains: "He would have found it difficult fitting in at any school - partly because of moving and partly because he wanted to go off and follow his own interests. He started a band with some friends, playing the guitar and being the lead singer."

Colin: I'd been bumped up a year because the English start school a year earlier than the Americans. We go into first grade (the equivalent of first grade) when Americans go into kindergarten. So the reasoning was that I should be put in a class of kids a year older than me. It was a bit of a shock attached to that, because I was an elementary (what we call a primary) school boy, and I found the kids around me at this high school much, much more sophisticated. So it was a difficult adjustment to make. I have to say though, that some of the teaching I had that year is the best teaching I've ever had. I still remember very clearly, particularly my English teacher, my history teacher, my science teacher, and I sometimes look back over my school years and wonder if I really learned anything at all. But despite the fact that it was a mixed experience, I think it's one of the years I can single out as having specifically remembered what I learned.

Back in England the family settled down in Winchester, where Colin went to Montgomery of Alamein secondary school.

Secondary School: Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School:

The teachers despised him, he believes: "I had the intelligence, but never worked out how to do exams. Arrogance got me through school."

He didn't rebel against school authority at school in a spectacular way; like most good-boy-at-heart rebels, he simply withdrew into a world of music, fantasy and playing hooky. "I was rather a hippy, passive type. I grew my hair extremely long, pierced my ears and, you know, just wore the wrong clothes."

College: Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, Hants, Hampshire (1977 to 1979):

Picture left: In his student days, he wore flares, an orange waistcoat and dodgy rocker hairdo as he larked around with friends for the 1979 end-of-year photo at Barton Peveril sixth-form college at Eastleigh, Hants. Colin was not very happy at school and rebelled against learning things which he considered of no interest to him. He failed his school exams and did not continue beyond his compulsory education.   "My education was deeply stifling. Nothing that I had experienced in the classroom has had anything to do with life. At that age your entire being is invaded by your sexual consciousness, and all you're getting is algebra and French! I'm delightfully happy as an adult, but I was not very happy as a child. I'm very suspicious of people who romanticize their childhood." He had his first taste of acting as a child when he appeared in a school play. He soon discovered that he enjoyed acting, which seemed to be the only thing for which he was praised - according to his own recollection. As a result, from the age of 14 he was determined to become an actor.  "I announced to myself and everyone else that I would become an actor. I'm not sure how serious I was at first. It was a nice thing to be able to say at school. It was a good way to abdicate responsibility for academic matters. I had no idea what acting as a way of life entailed." His time at college did mark a turning-point: he took part-time jobs as a dustman and paperboy, but never seriously contemplated anything but acting. *** In 2010 Colin was nominated by Barton Peveril College for a AoC Gold Award, in recognition of his stellar acting career. Colin received a Gold Award from the Association of Colleges at the House of Commons on 15 June 2010.

At the presentation Colin Firth said: "I really value what College did for me. Barton Peveril College saved me, I've always felt very grateful for the extraordinary level of faith they managed to maintain in me. It's left me with a belief that everybody deserves a second chance. My two years at Barton Peveril were among the two happiest years of my life. I must have been paying some attention as I can still quote randomly from Thomas Hardy and Lord Byron. Receiving this award gives me an unusual opportunity to thank my College and the person who helped me the most, my extremely fine English teacher Penny Edwards."

Penny Edwards, who taught English and Drama said: "Colin was very sociable and a lot of the girls liked him. Colin was very sensitive to literature and had this stage presence. I wasn't surprised he did so well. Underneath the laddish exterior was quite a shrewd character who knew exactly what he wanted to do."

Read more about the AoC Award here

***

After graduating in 1979, he spent a "bleak" six months answering phones at London's Shaw Theatre and six more months working in wardrobe at the National Youth Theatre there. In 1980 he was accepted at London's prestigious Drama Centre and for the first time felt excited by his studies–most of them. 

London Drama Centre on Prince Of Wales Road in London's Chalk Farm area:

At 18 he decided to dump college and took off to London where he joined the National Youth Theatre. It didn't send him shooting up through the ranks, he got no further than "third fairy on the left", but he was keen and once his run was done he would stay on at the theatre, sitting in a little cubbyhole answering the phone for the rich and famous. Often, he's said, he was "alone in the building, alone in London".

But he was in the building, with all its contacts and rumours of job-openings, and before long Colin had signed on as a tea-boy in the wardrobe department at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre. This in turn led to an idea - if he was to be good, he had better learn his craft.

He enrolled at the London Drama Centre on Prince Of Wales Road in London's Chalk Farm area. This was a hi-octane learning establishment, drawing heavily on the theories of Stanislavsky and thus combining a Russian emotional freedom with a serious Jewish introspection.

He flourished at a place that was confrontational, physical, full of ideals of struggle and change. There he was recognized, taught that "if you're under the spell of something, you can cast a spell".

He lived in a rundown bedsit in North London, and times were hard. A friend recalls: "I went to see him and he didn't have much money - he had holes in his shoes and was going to walk two miles to a play. But he was determined. I thought: 'This boy is going somewhere.' And he has. He's a lovely person. He might be a heart-throb, but he's still got his feet on the ground. He never stops talking, and he's very funny - very kind." 

Colin studied drama at London's prestigious Drama Centre 1980-1983.

	“176” opened last September at Chalk Farm north London. “176” is managed by The Zabludowicz Art Trust. They own over 1,000 works for their collection and this art space aims to extend the Collection’s reach by inviting the public. The gallery can be found on 176 Prince of Wales Road, The building itself was built in 1867 and until the 1960s was the central Methodist Chapel for the Kings Cross and Camden area. Huge Greek style pillars welcome you and guide to the rather modern reception area. It has two large exhibition spaces and eight smaller rooms which create a complicated maze. The upper tier, circling the main hall, a relic from the gallery’s drama school history, still exist and allow you to view the exhibitions from other angles. Narrow staircases and dark passage make creaky sounds which gives an additional effect for some of the more disturbing art that is sometimes exhibited.

 "I chose the Drama Centre because it had a reputation as a hard school, and I thought my resolve should be tested. Either you bend under pressure or you respond to the challenge. I can be very lazy and complacent unless I'm pushed so I knew I'd be weeded out very quickly if I was making a mistake." 

Firth knew it would be tough, that's why he chose it, but having learned "the reality of the inner world" under coach Freda Kelsall (a TV writer), he soon excelled. Studying 6 days a week for 3 years (1980 - 1983), he won the lead in the likes of Tartuffe, King Lear and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, often being asked to play flamboyant types, either paranoid or psychotic.

In this interview Colin talks about his days on Drama school and coach Freda Kelsall

It seems Colin made it through the Drama Centre relatively unscrathed. The only eyebrow raised during his three years of training was when he was cast as Hamlet. But all doubts from fellow students were quashed when young Colin proved to be a surprisingly impressive Dane.

When a casting agent saw his performance, he recommended Firth to replace a departing Rupert Everett in the acclaimed Queen's Theatre production of Another Country–based on a real-life group of elite British schoolboys who eventually became Soviet spies in the '30s. Firth left school early to take the part, was later cast in the 1984 movie version and has kept busy ever since.

"He was the kind of student who almost never occurs," says school founder Yat Malmgren (whose previous students included Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery). "He had everything I expect and rarely find: imagination, intelligence, logic, common sense." Indeed, the 37-year-old institute decided to stage its first and only Hamlet just for him. "You can't do five Hamlets a year," says Malmgren. "You've got to wait until you find your Hamlet. We found ours in Colin." 

Christopher Fettes:

As a boy and a young man, Colin was a person of conspicuous intelligence. Real intelligence. It is very rare to have the privilege of training people for the theatre who are by nature poets. And Colin is." 

The principal Christopher Fettes says "I knew instantly that he had quite an extraordinary talent. He brought intelligence to his performances and he has a very special quality that sets him apart. He has an inner sense of culture and class and a maturity which is seen in only a few actors. When he was here we cast him as Hamlet. There are a few students actors who can carry off Hamlet but he did and he was spotted and offered a part in Another Country". 

Headmaster Christopher Fettes told him that he could be the next Paul Schofield. The principal did add a very prescient proviso, though. He said Firth should beware the effect of his matinee idol looks. Even then, Mr Darcy lurked within.

***

In 2007, Colin received an honorary degree from the University of Winchester, which he said was a great moment in his life. Read more on his honorary Degree