Alan Rickman gained a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London and went on to study graphic design at Chelsea School of Art (now Chelsea College of Art and Design) and then at the Royal College of Art. He later co-founded the design agency Graphiti in Soho before pursuing his love of the performing arts and auditioning for a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He retains this link by serving on the RADA Council as Vice-Chairman.
Rickman's films include; Nobel Son, Bottle Shock (Best Actor Seattle Film Festival), Sweeney Todd, Perfume, Snow Cake, Love Actually, The Search for John Gissing, Blow Dry, Galaxy Quest, Dogma, Dark Harbor, Judas Kiss, Michael Collins (BAFTA Nomination), Sense & Sensibility (BAFTA Nomination), An Awfully Big Adventure, Mesmer (Best Actor Montreal Film Festival), Bob Roberts, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (BAFTA Award Best Supporting Actor), Close My Eyes, Truly Madly Deeply (Evening Standard Actor of the Year), Closet Land, Quigley Down Under, The January Man, Die Hard, as well as Rasputin (Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards) and Something the Lord Made (Emmy nomination) for HBO and Play (Beckett on Film) for Channel 4, The Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince recently released (July 09).
For the theatre, Rickman has starred in: The Lucky Chance, The Seagull and The Grass Widow all at The Royal Court, Private Lives West End and Broadway (Variety Club and Theatre Goers Awards for Best Actor and Tony Nomination), Antony & Cleopatra at the National Theatre, Tango at the End of Winter at the Edinburgh Festival and West End (Time Out Award), Hamlet at the Riverside Studios and UK Tour, Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the RSC, West End and Broadway (Tony Nomination). Other work at the RSC includes Captain Swing, The Tempest, As You like it, Troilus and Cressida, and Mephisto.
He has also appeared at the Bush, Lyric Hammersmith, and Hampstead Theatres. Also seasons at Library Theatre Manchester, Sheffield Crucible, Glasgow Citizens, Haymarket and Pheonix Theatres Leicester, Birmingham Rep, and Oxford Playhouse.
Rickman's work as a theatre director includes: The Winter Guest at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Almeida Theatre London. My Name is Rachel Corrie at the Royal Court Theatre, West End and New York (Best New Play and Best Director, Theatre Goer Awards) and Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse which will be seen at the Brooklyn Academy in New York next year.
As film director: The Winter Guest (Best First Film Venice Film Festival & Best Film, Chicago Film Festival).
